I think almost all of us can agree that we wish we had time to stop being productive for the sake of being productive.

For all the years I’ve tried to get better, mental health-wise, I felt like occupying my time with things to get my mind off the bad stuff would help. Filling my life with stuff to do has helped me tremendously. But then I realize that you can end up comparing yourself to someone who may have recovered and living a possibly better life than yours.

This scene from Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead Volume 8 made me think about how society shames us for being “lazy.” It shames us for not doing anything productive. If you’re not grinding, you’re not winning or so they say. I would make the counter-argument that winning isn’t everything and if you’re so focused on winning all the time, you start to sound like a person who probably can’t handle life when it hits you hard or have good people in your life you can trust when it does.

Life is mostly a bore and for the most part, it’s fine. If everything’s exciting, then nothing is. I also do know that when people do end up going on breaks, they feel forced to do something fun for the sake of having something to do. Leisure has be natural to work. You don’t have to be “on” for those moments.

The scene is also a reflection of the “do nothing” movement, which is slowly making waves among a lot of younger people. I read a book about this not too long ago myself.

There’s a fun quote in the end of this chapter where Thomas Hobbes is quoted. “Leisure is the mother of philosophy.” Proper rest can lead to great thing and by god, not many of us are getting it and becoming the zombies we love and dread.