the magic is in the work you're not doing

02.08.2024

Today, after work I was feeling kinda overwhelmed and anxious. I didn't have any plans, didn't want to be stuck indoors, but at the same time I didn't really have energy to go out and do something. Also the weather sucked. One of those evening when I was contemplating if I should just give up programming and become a goose farmer, because, well, sitting 10 hours in front of a screen, alone, in your studio apartment is not really the best thing for your mental (or physical) well-being. And today I was really feeling the negative effects.

Anyway, I didn't have energy or interest to do anything special but I also didn't want to just waste the evening lying on the sofa. The only thing that remotely interested me was to eat chocolate and watch Oliver play Outer Wilds. But I didn't have any chocolate. And it was raining. And if I went out to buy chocolate, it would not only mean getting wet, but having to buy groceries as well, because my fridge was almost empty and if I went to the market why wouldn't I use the opportunity to also buy what I actually need? Wow I'm really making myself sound like a lazy-ass person stuck indoors here aren't I? :D

So after thinking about it for a while I decided whatever, if that's the only thing I feel like doing, then I should do it. Walked to the nearest marked despite the rain, bought a chocolate bar and skipped the groceries, and got back home. Sat on the sofa, started watching Outer Wilds gameplay and ate the damn chocolate.

And I enjoyed it.

And after a while I didn't feel unmotivated and lazy anymore; because I had actually done something I wanted to do.

I watched the let's play for a while and then stopped. After that I:

Made a Hollow Knight necklace (for which I had already bought materials)
I played some video games (which sounds nothing special, I love gaming but it's something that kinda requires effort from me)
Formatted my Xbox so I can finally sell it
Tried a dock setup for Steam Deck
Wrote this blog post

And the point is, none of that felt like work. Before the chocolate trip, I wouldn't have even considered doing any of that. After I did the one thing I wanted to do (bought chocolate and watched Outer Wilds :D) rest of the evening just magically happened, felt relaxing and I didn't have to force anything.

Point of the story is less thinking and more action. As a person with tendencies to overthink it's a skill I've had to force myself to learn. Overthinking how you spend your time is seldom the answer. When you're looping inside your head, the best thing you can do is stop, ask yourself "what's the one single thing I feel like doing the most" and act on it. Everything else will magically just fall in place. The magic is in the work you're not doing.

Be like Luffy 🏴‍☠️