A friend wrote recently about one of the few true aphorisms in her credo – that Nothing is Ever Wasted, Nothing is Thrown Away. She talked about methods of living, and her inability to commit, and how that generated the useless side effect of inertia/indecision in non-critical matters.
“Non-critical means not to do with work, family needs, food, groceries, or paying bills, but stuff like housework, hobbies, and overall the right use of personal time. It’s created a kind of motivational paralysis, trying to decide the next best thing I should do at any given moment while being painfully aware of opportunity costs.
But the aphorism reminds me that it doesn’t matter what I pick because the effort expended, the task I choose, will go to good. Because the things I do are worthy. Even if it’s just petting a cat for five minutes. Relentlessly applying logic/exercising triage on my personal choices isn’t necessary.”
I suffer from anxiety/executive function paralysis all the time, and thought this was a brilliant insight. I think I’ll go pet my cats.
I was just having a conversation in a group I facilitate yesterday about the loss of dreaminess as an “activity” in our culture, where we are always supposed to be doing, doing, doing.