“Whatcha doing?” I asked my 8 year old son when I saw him sitting in his room.

“Nothing.”

As unusual as this is because he is usually very active, I thought about the last time I could answer that question the same way.

For some reason, I have myself convinced that if my four children aren’t doing something, playing with Legos or running around or coloring or something that they would be bored. But that’s the adult in me, isn’t it? The quality of just sitting, the “nothing” moments of being still have become lost amongst the everyday duties that we as adults have let consume us. We have task-lists and to-do lists and even honey-do lists for others. We fill up our days with so many things that we forget to just sit and see the beauty in the nothing moments.

Children do this and we think they are bored. Teenagers do this and we think they are lazy.

But think back to the times growing up when you laid in the grass and watched the clouds change shapes or swung on a swing set with only the creaking hinges as company.

We take so little time for “nothing” as adults, and yet we are constantly overwhelmed and stressed out.

So today I took a note from my children. I sat on the porch swing without using my phone or reading (which is a big deal for me) or anything else, and I did nothing but let the wind run tangles in my hair and whisper bits of clarity in my ear. It was only a few minutes, but it was enough to take a deep breath and give myself a moment to just be still.

Today, give yourself a “nothing” moment, and I promise it won’t be a waste of time!

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