I’ve just come back from a couple of nights camping in Sandwich with a mate and Stanley, my dog and, if I’m being honest, my best mate in the world.
It was a boys’ weekend, and it’s made me realise something rather important: I’m not very good at switching off!
I work for myself, and I love what I do. I also love being a councillor and getting involved in my community. I genuinely enjoy being busy, helping people, getting things done and, usually, having about ten things on the go at once.
But there is a downside to loving what you do, it can become very easy to always be doing it.
Having my office at home certainly doesn’t help. It’s incredibly convenient, but it also means the office is always there. It’s very easy to think, “I’ll just check my emails quickly,” at some ungodly hour.
When I’m out and about in the community, it’s just as easy to think, “I’m passing nearby, I’ll just pop in and see that resident or visit a business.”
Of course, none of that feels like hard work for me. I’m lucky enough to enjoy it, but that doesn’t mean I should be doing it all the time.
Then came my little camping escape.
There was something wonderfully simple about being away. No office. No popping in to check something. No thinking I should just get one more thing done.
Just a tent, some fresh air, good company and time.
At one point, I was sitting with Stanley, watching the world go by and I had that slightly strange moment where I thought:
“Okay… what next?”
The answer was, absolutely nothing.
At first it made me feel a little edgy.
I’m so used to filling the gaps, checking something, replying to something, going somewhere, sorting something out, that simply sitting there with nothing I needed to do felt very strange.
My brain was looking for a job to give me!
What made it slightly easier was that, rather helpfully, my phone battery also decided to give up. There I was. No battery, no emails, no messages, no temptation to quickly check something. The only reason I did miss not having my phone, was for my step count app, as the numbers that night would have helped me crack the 10,000 average I’ve been trying to achieve since Adam was a Cowboy, but more importantly helped me feel a little bit better in the morning!
Just me, my mate, Stanley and the world going by, it felt rather good.
I also discovered there are some very good little pubs in Sandwich, which helped keep us busy for rather longer than it probably should have done!
Strangely, in one little pub tucked away, I bumped into a friend and his wife, who have a restaurant in Chislehurst. So what started as a quiet couple of drinks turned into a really good catch-up, which was a lovely surprise.
We managed to visit quite a few that afternoon and evening, which seemed like the ideal way to spend a boys’ weekend.
The only slight problem came when we decided it was time to head back to the campsite. We couldn’t get an Uber that would take dogs, so there was only one thing for it, we walked.
Through the pitch-black countryside, across fields, with little idea where we were going, trying to remember the way we walked to get to Sandwich.
Thankfully, we eventually found our way back to the campsite, Stanley loved it, as he had plenty of little sleeps and cuddles, pats and treats from people we met in our travels. I decided that perhaps we should have left the last pub slightly earlier – nothing new there! You would have thought I would have learned that lesson years ago!
We talk a lot about keeping busy, being productive and getting things done. We can almost feel guilty when we’re not achieving something.
Sometimes, doing nothing is doing something. It’s recharging the batteries. It’s giving your brain a chance to slow down. It’s having a laugh, enjoying good company and simply watching the world go by without feeling that you need to get involved.
My couple of nights away have reminded me that taking time out isn’t being lazy, and it isn’t wasting time.
Sometimes, it’s exactly what we need. The next challenge for me, is to get that balance a little bit better.
To keep doing the things we love, but also to remember to stop occasionally. To put the phone, or in my case, wait for it to die!
To step away, to spend a little more time with the people and things in your life and every now and again, to simply sit down, look around and think:
“Absolutely nothing needs doing right now.”
If you happen to find yourself in Sandwich, I can highly recommend doing absolutely nothing in many of its pubs.
Mike Jack is Director of the one Consultancy