Dare to be Unproductive
We live in an age where our worth is measured by our productivity. How much money we make, what kind of job we have, side Hustles.
There's even a "rule" that you need five hobbies, and one is a hobby that makes money. This completely defeats the purpose of what a hobby even is. If the objective of your hobby is to make money then it's not a hobby, it's a job.
We have to have the optimal morning routine, night routine, optimal workout routine, optimal sleep that's monitored by a $400+ device. We can't even have leisure without being productive. You're gaslit into thinking you're out of the norm if you're not reading 25 books a year. You feel a twinge of guilt when you take a day off.
We are groomed to never be bored and to always be grinding away. This is obviously unsustainable and only leads to burnout.
So, I suggest an opposition. Being radically unproductive. This is not to endorse doomscrolling. I'm endorsing intentionally doing what society would call "lazy".
In Avatar: The Last Airbender, there is something called neutral jing in which you "do nothing". Except it's not really "doing nothing", but rather active waiting or even a state of active rest before you have to engage in positive and negative jing.
If you just sat on a couch for an hour, people would call you lazy, but if you meditated for an hour then you're admired. Both are functionally sitting and doing nothing and yet both can be good for us under different contexts.
If you sat on a couch, drank some tea, and just sat in quiet for a bit or even enjoyed a comfort show. You didn't really do anything productive, but you engaged in a sort of active rest. Where you are conscious, but are doing things that "recharge the battery" so to speak.
Meditation is about sitting in quiet, possibly repeating a mantra, and focusing inward on your breathing or some other anchor. A thought comes in and you let it float away as you go back to your anchor.
Something that engages your neutral jing is one that lets you simply appreciate things deeper. It allows you to actively engage in something without having to "produce".
If we don't have one thing that actively tells us to engage in neutral jing, we will never actually recover fully. A battery doesn't recharge when it's in use.
When it comes to hobbies, I propose a new list of 5 "hobbies".
Hobby 1: A physical Hobby. A hobby that gets you up and moving. Calisthenics, martial arts, swimming, whatever. Something you can do for an hour a day 3x per week. Getting active is good for the mind, body, and spirit. You sleep better, your head is clearer, and you've done something for your longevity.
Hobby 2: A creative hobby. A hobby that allows you to express yourself in some form. Webcrafting, art, writing, whatever lets you express yourself in a creative way.
Hobby 3: A social hobby. A hobby that gets you interacting with people. This can be a club of some kind. Being in theater, sports or hiking (which would double as a physical hobby), online gaming with friends. If you are actively talking with people while doing something it's a social hobby.
Hobby 4: A mental hobby. A hobby that exercises the mind. Something like chess, reading, or meditation. While I would consider meditation a neutral jing hobby, it is one that also applies here.
Hobby 5: A "Neutral Jing" hobby. This is a hobby that isn't about really "doing" anything. Playing a video game and being mindful of various aspects (game design, setting, etc.), watching the sunset, tea drinking, brain dumping in a journal, meditation. Something that allows you to just purely unwind. Low mental and physical stimulation and lets you appreciate things deeper.
Be unproductive. If you're called "lazy", then so be it. When they're burned out and constantly exhausted because they've ran their motor into the ground, you can sit back and enjoy a nice cup of tea.