Productivity Isn’t Everything
Trying to normalize being unproductive is hard.
Phew! What a drastic shift in such a short amount of time— from working as a digital producer for a newsroom that was constantly running against the clock to working from home in the tech world. As I was crossing the Bay Bridge, on my first day at a new gig, the shelter in place order took place in San Francisco. With a lot of uncertainty surrounding when I would go back to the office, I unknowingly embarked on a new journey.
It began with registering to every single virtual event possible and trying to pick up new hobbies. Who else wasn’t seizing every minute of this pandemic to be productive? I sure was. Now that I have all this “free” time at home. Spending more than two hours in traffic was no longer a reality, so I felt the need to start doing everything I always wanted to. Cooking was one of those things, considering it wasn’t necessarily my forte. I found myself searching all these YouTube cooking videos and video calling my mom to tell me all her kitchen secrets. I was engaging in various virtual events and as a result my inbox filled with invites and Instagram live notifications soon invaded my phone screen.
March passed, then April, May and so on. Eventually optimizing my time through productivity and filling space with learning new things I had always wanted to, became unproductive to fulfilling real needs in my life.
Was working more than 12 hours a day, filling in every empty minute of my life with “productiveness” worth it when behind a computer screen? No. I wasn’t enjoying the extra time I had to connect with myself. It’s okay not to fill every single minute of the day by completing projects or tasks.
I had misused the time that I had spent so long craving to have. It was okay to live guiltlessly as I simply relaxed and watched my favorite show or do what I love to do most - sleep!
Covid-19 taught me to lose the guilt and spend my time practicing more self-care. There was nothing wrong with doing nothing! My mind is always running, thinking about the past, present and future. It’s time to focus on the present and what it is actually teaching me and us, as a society. What are we doing to be better? What am I doing to be better? How can I be better?
One thing for sure that I can start with, is paying attention to my overall wellbeing and enjoying the simple pleasures life has to offer, such as having a bowl of extra flaming hot cheetos while watching TV or taking an extra 10 minutes with my night time skin care routine, and appreciate the moment while it lasts.
