Can We Normalize Doing Nothing, Please?

Can we normalize doing nothing, please?

I work with kids. These kids are at my program before and after school, and then some of them have sports/dance/music sometimes all of the above before they finally go home, eat dinner, and go to sleep. Then rinse and repeat everyday, and games and more classes on the weekend, etc.

I’m all for extracurriculars, but this turns into the teen who is not only in the school play, but they’re on the newspaper, the football team, and seven different clubs. In college they take double the courseloads, and then once they graduate…what?

They work themselves raw because they arent used to downtime. They’ve been told they can always be doing something, and they don’t know how to relax. This turns into the adult that has anxiety because there’s nothing left to clean, the adult that desperately wants to watch that TV show but can’t force themselves to sit long enough for it.

Then they turn into the moms and dads who spend all their free time ferrying their kids to extracurriculars.

Like, these kids don’t know what downtime is? I told a kid I did nothing last weekend, and he looked at me like I was crazy. He asked what I was doing this weekend and I said “Probably sleeping, mostly,” and he actually gasped. Then he rattled off a bunch of things I could do, to which I had to stop him.

“No, you don’t understand. I plan on sleeping. I’m booked.”

“But you could–”

“Nah. I’m just gonna rest.”

It was as if I had said a bad word or something. I asked what he does when he gets sick, and he says he goes to practice anyway. I asked him what he does if he doesn’t feel like going, and he said he goes anyway. I asked when he takes time to rest, and he said when he sleeps at night.

Bring back lazy Sundays. Bring back Saturday morning cartoons. Bring back the idea of relaxing and soaking in your day before moving into the next thing. Bring back the right to breathe, the right to rest.

Bring back mental health days, and taking a break. Bring back taking a walk or watching a show or setting a timer to remind yourself to stop cleaning and relax.

If you’re running at 100% all the time with no time to recharge, then your battery is going to die spectacularly, and probably at the worst possible time.

no, i do not have cameras in your home (yet)

We really do live in a society lads

Shout out to disabled people who are, ya know, existing with symptoms - whatever they may be. Who are exhausted/fatigued some (or all) days. Who are in pain. Who live in a world that doesn’t understand them, a world that isn’t built for them.

I hope you have the time to cuddle your favorite stuffed animal. I hope you watch an amazing episode of your favorite show. I hope you meet a doctor that smiles and sees you and works with you. Much love to you all.

Before describing being semi verbal if you are fully verbal:

Hate when people try to describe being semi verbal as just "its when you have speech loss sometimes! :) " no , semi verbal isn't "sometimes speech loss" other wise it would just be "speech loss episode " or something , no semi verbal is a permanent state , semi verbal is more like : have difficulty specking not the way people seem to think . Easiest explanation is : unreliable speech all the time , I can talk but its hard for me , its more than just "speech loss sometimes" its like need words but the thought of the word won't form and I feel like my mouth is wired shut like forcing it to open to make a word. I just seen this description of it and please stop trying to simplify being semi verbal when you aren't and are actually describing it incorrectly as just "losing speech" . Being semi verbal doesn't equal "just speech loss" . Even when I do talk I have a very specific way of talking , a bit hard to explain but a lot of pauses obvious struggling , I've seen a youtuber that is also semi verbal and I talk like them more or less

Can we stop blaming people who were bullied for the bullying?!?!

When you were the one who was bullied, people always blame you. Somehow its always your fault. When you were quiet when you were bullied then you "should have spoken up about it", when you were scared when you were bullied then you "need to toughen up" when you got angry and defended yourself its also your fault because "you were just provoking them to bully you".

Can we stop blaming people who were bullied and finally start blaming the people who's fault it actually is! The people who bully, the people who witness the bullying but decide to look away, the people who support the bullies!