The pursuit of "productivity" has confined us to a life of stress, schedules and races that keep ticking like a time bomb. Everyone always seems to be in a hurry, always trying to reach somewhere, even when they’re simply sitting. Where do we all have to go? Doesn’t it get exhausting – forever running toward some destination we can’t even name.

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Why Are We So Afraid of the Silence?

Maybe we aren’t running toward anything at all, but running away. From what? Ourselves?

No, that’s too harsh. We have this need to be busy all the time and not stop. Just be on the run. We seem terrified of stopping, of looking back, because if we did, we might realize we haven’t come that far. Or perhaps the silence our stopping brings would compel us to think. And I can’t name one thing scarier than being alone with our thoughts. I mean, what could be more terrifying than that?

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So we pack our days with endless tasks, convinced that being busy makes us worthy. That completing a schedule means we’ve done something right. That its the act of doing that validates our humanness.

That’s why I guess people have such aversion towards boredom. They hate it, and I mean really hate it. They loathe waiting. They resent stillness. Because how dare something force them to face themselves?

I love doing nothing. Not in a lazy way. I just like to sit sometimes, to ponder, to appreciate perhaps.

To exist without needing a reason. Boredom isn’t empty; it’s space. And space is where things grow.

At some point, we have to stop running and just be. Not every moment needs to be filled, not every second needs to be productive. Some of the most important things in life happen in the quiet – in the pauses between all the doing.

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Talk to Yourself – It’s Healthy

I fail to grasp how talking to yourself is considered a form of insanity. How is that a symptom of some kind of mental illness? It’s ridiculous that we think talking to the one person who’s been there with you since your beginning, who knows you like no one else, and who has your best interests at heart, is not healthy.

Next time your mind is muddled with thoughts, instead of shoving them so deep that they are lost to a void, take a moment and try to process them. It’s your mind craving to talk to you. Listen and re-learn the ease we have forgotten to live with.

Stop, Breathe, and Just Be

Life is too fleeting to stress over exams, your place in the world, or your job. You already have a place here. You exist, and sometimes, that is enough.

So stop. Feel the wind. Watch a mosquito take flight. The world is in your palm. You are brimming with life, and it colors everything around you. Read. Listen to music. Watch the sun. Experience life through your actions.

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I just want to sit and pause for a moment. And I wouldn’t mind if the moment stretched into a few more, or an hour. Life is beautiful, even without scenic mountains or a sunset on the beach.

You are here and you belong. Breathe. Listen to your heartbeat. You are alive, for a purpose greater than success.

Maybe if we stopped seeing stillness as wasted time, we’d finally learn how to live. Because, sometimes, slowing down can be the most productive thing we do.