I don’t know about you but I bet you had those days wherein you are just scrolling on Instagram and all of a sudden you are bombarded with posts encouraging you with tips on how to be productive like: Read a book. Come out with a new talent. Work out more. At the same time some posts say that “It’s okay not to anything. Don’t beat yourself up and You are not your productivity.” So… which one is it?
At some point most of us experience the “Productivity Craze”. Initially we wanted to make this quarantine the time to work on our best selves and add a life skill like learning a new language, how to bake, trying out a new hobby, bullet journaling, or gardening. We all thought that this is the time to continue the flow, get our asses moving without leaving the house and so we did.
Until we felt bad for ourselves for not being productive enough just like everyone else. “Why can’t I be as productive as them?” “Her banana bread looks better than mine” “He read more books than I did”. We became harsh on ourselves. We felt unmotivated, tired, and lazy.
But we made ourselves feel better by saying that “It’s fine to just stay in bed all day doing nothing. Just relax. It’s okay, take your time for yourself.” Because you gotta admit growing up and ‘adulting’, a huge chunk of our time hasn’t felt like exactly our own. We feel like we owe other people something with our time. Be it “I could spend my weekends doing side hustles or I should spend my free time with friends or a date with my lover.” At some point we have to take off that guilt that we have to do everything with our time. Because right now, amidst the whole world in a pandemic, one cannot focus on other things such as work deadlines or staying productive. When it comes to this quarantine productivity race, we are forgetting that there are no hard and fast rules.
PS.
Not everyone can turn a pandemic into something positive and it should not be expected so. That’s why a small part of me has been hesitating about putting this out there. But these thoughts have been in my head for so long and I just want to put it into words with nothing but good intentions.
Stay safe and sane.
-N.
DESTROYING INHIBITIONS 