We live in a culture that never stops moving. We celebrate hustle, chase goals, and fill calendars like they’re trophies. Whether it’s chasing academic success, climbing the career ladder, or trying to maintain a hyper-curated social life, the default mode for modern life is go, go, go. But here’s the truth: constant motion is not the same as meaningful momentum. At some point, the engine burns out. The buzz fades, the joy leaks out, and the smartest thing you can do is stop. To rest, to reset, and maybe even spark joy in tiny ways.
- Rethinking Rest: Why “Doing Nothing” Is a Power Move
- 7-Day Digital Detox You Didn’t Know You Needed
- Time Travel Is Real: How to Make Summer Feel Longer
- What Lights You Up When No One’s Watching?
- The Slower You Go, The More Summer You Find
So what if this summer, instead of speeding up, you tried slowing down. Not out of laziness, but out of wisdom?
Let’s explore how embracing stillness, small joys, and digital silence can help you feel more alive, not less productive. Experience the power of doing less and living more. Because in the stillness, we often discover exactly what we’ve been chasing all along.
Rethinking Rest: Why “Doing Nothing” Is a Power Move
We’ve been conditioned to think of rest as something you earn after burnout. Neuroscience suggests that rest is essential for long-term mental health. When you’re not actively focused on a task, your brain switches to the Default Mode Network (DMN). This system lights up when you daydream, reflect, or even just sit quietly. It has been linked to increased creativity, enhanced emotional regulation, improved memory consolidation, and better problem-solving.
So when you choose to do nothing, you’re actually doing something powerful: letting your brain integrate, recover, and dream up better ways forward.
“Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing.” —Lao Tzu
The Dutch Have a Word For It
The Dutch call it niksen, the practice of doing nothing. Not checking your phone, not planning dinner, not even meditating with purpose. Just being. Deliberate moments of niksen reduce anxiety and prevent burnout. Your mind needs idle time to turn raw experiences into growth.
How to Practice Doing Nothing (Without Feeling Guilty)
- Stare out a window. Not at your phone. Not at your inbox. Just watch the clouds pass.
- Take a “thinking walk.” No podcast. No playlist. Just footsteps and thoughts.
- Block 10 guilt-free minutes a day. Set a timer. Sit. Breathe. Watch your thoughts float by.
- Doodle, hum, fidget. Any low-focus activity that lets your brain wander counts.
Doing Nothing vs. False Rest
Important distinction here, doing nothing is not the same as being passive. Many activities seem restful (like doomscrolling), but keep your brain stimulated and reactive. These forms of “false rest” often leave you feeling more drained, not restored. True idleness is intentional. It means letting your mind meander, your senses rest, and your body be still, without distraction or purpose.
Want to see the difference?
Why Students (and Overachievers) Need This More Than Ever
We talked about Summer Side Quests and explored how playful detours can make life more fulfilling. A study found that students who took intentional mental breaks showed improved attention and long-term retention. When your mind is relaxed, it becomes more open to novel ideas and lateral thinking. It’s giving your brain space to make connections it can’t form in constant “grind mode.”
7-Day Digital Detox You Didn’t Know You Needed
We get it, disconnecting is hard. Our phones are practically extensions of ourselves. (We’re right there with you, trying to figure out a healthier balance.) But we often forget that our attention is one of our most valuable resources, and every ping, swipe, and scroll quietly chips away at it.
Technology is deeply woven into our lives, and much of it adds ease and connection. Yet, the device we use the most, our smartphones, can quietly drain us more than we realize. From the moment we wake up, it’s often the first thing we reach for, just to turn off the alarm. And what happens next can set the tone for the whole day.
Do we stretch, make the bed, and brush our teeth? Or do we immediately dive into notifications, news, and social media? We often reach for our phones in search of dopamine, distraction, or connection. But what we find is often fatigue, comparison, and noise. Maybe you’re thinking, “But I only scroll for 30 minutes before I get up, it’s harmless.” And hey, no judgment. We all do it. (And we’re trying to take a step back) But it’s worth asking, how do you really feel after? Refreshed, calm, motivated? Or a little frazzled before the day has even begun?
This detox isn’t about guilt. You’ll find that there are so many ways to spark joy without your smartphone. It’s about giving your brain space to breathe and noticing what shifts when you do. Don’t worry, we’re doing it too. Promise!
Reclaiming Your Attention, One Day at a Time
Day 1: Screen-Free Mornings Start your day without your phone. Instead, drink your coffee in silence or go for a walk.
Day 2: Phone-Free Meals No screens during lunch or dinner. Be present with your food or your company.
Day 3: Notification Cleanse Turn off non-essential alerts. Your brain will thank you.
Day 4: Nature Hour Spend one hour outside, screen-free. Listen. Look. Breathe.
Day 5: Analog Joy Pick up a paperback, draw something, or write a letter. Let your hands remember what they can do.
Day 6: Social Media Cleanse No Instagram, TikTok, or Twitter for 24 hours. Journal what you notice.
Day 7: Reflect & Plan How did your week feel? What boundaries can you keep going forward? Did you spark joy this weekend?
🧘♀️ Mantra of the Moment
“Rest is not a reward. It’s the source.”
Time Travel Is Real: How to Make Summer Feel Longer
Remember how summer used to stretch on forever when you were a kid? That wasn’t just because you were younger. It’s how your brain processes time. Time perception is heavily influenced by novelty. New experiences create more memory markers. When days blend into routines, your brain compresses them, and time feels like it flies. Here’s the good news: you can stretch time again.
- Try something new every week: A new route, a new recipe, a new podcast. Your brain will take note.
- Break your routine: Change your schedule, your music, your morning drink.
- Practice mindful noticing: Pause and absorb your environment. Sounds, smells, textures. What does cut grass smell like? What color is the sky at 7:45 PM?
- Keep a sensory journal: Each evening, write down three things you saw, heard, or felt that day.
Tiny Joys, Big Impact: The Dopamine Reset
You don’t need a European vacation to spark joy. Your brain loves small wins. Dopamine (the “feel-good” neurotransmitter) is released not only from big accomplishments, but also from micro-moments of delight.
Easy Joy Hits:
- Eat cold watermelon outside
- Stretch in the sunlight
- Listen to a nostalgic song
- Send a voice note to a friend
- Light a candle with a summery scent
- Wear your comfiest shirt
- Make your favorite cup of tea
A study also found that people who intentionally savored micro-pleasures reported greater overall happiness. Joy isn’t about magnitude. It turns out, the small, everyday moments (the kind we often overlook) can have the biggest impact on how we feel.
10 One-Minute Joy Challenges:
- Splash cold water on your face
- Smile at someone on purpose
- Say your favorite word aloud (do you have one?)
- Watch a cloud change shape
- Take three deep, slow breaths
- Listen to one song, eyes closed
- Try a new fruit
- Compliment a stranger (or yourself)
- Watch a bird or bug for 60 seconds
- Write down what felt good today
What Lights You Up When No One’s Watching?
If someone asked you what you love to do for fun, what would you say? Pause and think about it.
The quiet joys. That doesn’t come with trophies or timelines. No one’s clapping, no one’s watching, and that’s exactly the point. The small, glowing things you do just for the sake of it? They tether you to yourself. And sometimes, they’re the clearest mirror of who you are, beneath the noise.
Surprisingly, many people struggle to answer this. In the rush of school, work, and routine, hobbies often fall away. They seem “optional,” non-essential. But they’re anything but.
These Are the Moments That Spark Joy in Tiny Ways
Hobbies are where joy, identity, and growth intersect. They give you something to look forward to in the middle of a stressful day and remind you who you are beyond your GPA or job title. They sharpen your mind, build resilience, and anchor you to something meaningful.
Science backs this up: A study found that people with hobbies had lower blood pressure, reduced cortisol levels, body mass index, and better overall psychological well-being. Work is good. Hobbies are great. But both together? Even better. Another study found that people juggling both, especially part-time work and a hobby, reported the lowest levels of depressive symptoms.
And purpose? That matters too. A 2021 article found that people with a strong sense of purpose had a 13% lower risk of sleep problems. They also reported higher optimism and were less likely to experience depression, regardless of income or education.
It’s never too late to spark joy. Some of the world’s most celebrated creatives started “late”:
- Laura Ingalls Wilder published her first book, Little House in the Big Woods, at 65
- Raymond Chandler didn’t begin writing his detective fiction until his mid-40s
- Anna Mary Robertson Moses (aka Grandma Moses) began painting in her late 70s
A hobby doesn’t have to become your career. It just has to light you up. Gardening, sketching, rollerblading, learning a new language, pottery, improv comedy, whatever nudges you out of autopilot and into flow.
✨ What’s your lazy genius move this summer?
Start a hobby? Quit doomscrolling? Learn the ukulele?
Let us know in the comments!
Living Smarter, Not Harder
“Work smarter, not harder” has become a cliche. We’ve all heard it countless times, but it is true. Rested brains make better decisions. Rest is part of what keeps your brain sharp and your creativity flowing. Productivity drops sharply after about 50 hours of work per week. Meanwhile, intentional rest has been linked to improved strategic thinking, resilience, and emotional regulation.
So what if rest wasn’t some luxury you have to earn, but something you build into your life, like a foundation? Smart living isn’t about maximizing every moment. It’s about recognizing which moments are worth prioritizing and making space for them. You don’t need to prove you’ve earned rest. You just need to believe it’s worth protecting.
The Slower You Go, The More Summer You Find
This summer, let the to-do list sit for a bit. Watch the sky change colors. Laugh with someone you love. Sit by a window and just be.
So go ahead: waste a little time. Wander. Rest. Spark joy in tiny, subversive ways. In the end, slowing down doesn’t mean stepping out of life. It means stepping into it. More fully, more freely, and more awake than before.
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