Who’s Afraid of Being Idle?

I recently came across an article titled “Japanese aghast at prospect of extra-long holiday to celebrate coronation.” It came out almost 4 years ago, when, to celebrate the transition to the transition to a new emperor. Japan passed a bill that gave an unprecedented 10 days off to celebrate the momentous occasions. One person quoted in the article said “To be honest, I don’t know how to spend the time when we are suddenly given 10 days of holidays.”

You know that that got me wondering: are we afraid of time off? Of being idle? Of the opportunity to stop and smell the roses?

I’m not referring to the folks who are paid by the hour and may need that money to survive. I’m referring to the idea of being idle. Which is strange in societies where the first─or second─question most frequently asked when meeting someone is “what do you do?” Have you ever tried to respond with “what I want” or “nothing” and see Munch’s The Scream forming on the asker’s face?

Our society’s opinion about idleness is etched in our inner souls from statesmen to theologians, from authors to poets.

“The devil finds work for idle hands to do.” ─ Marcus Tullius Cicero

“Idle hands are the devil’s playthings.” ─ Benjamin Franklin

“You should not have idle hands, you should always be working. All your life.” ─ Ivan Bunin

Even the word retired itself, indicating that one is no longer working to make a living, has only nasty connotation, as in Is Retired the End of the Road? And I will admit that even though I am joyous and jubilant in our Endless Weekend, I sometimes do feel sheepish in updating an acquaintance about our joyous status; even though it’s by choice, even though we worked hard to get to it, even though I’m still exuberant about it, it still feels… wrong?

And yet I heard a colleague lament once that the only time he can “think” is when he showers. At all other times, even when he sits “on his royal throne” he is busy handling email or … something. There are no devices that intrude on his shower as of yet, though give water proof screens a little time and they’ll come to roost on our shower walls, too.

Have you noticed that some of the best ideas seem to crop up when our brains are “idle”? During a walk outdoors, or while brushing teeth, or doing dishes? What about the great stories of Archimedes coming up with a how to detect “fake gold” while taking a bath? Or of Newton coming up with the law of universal gravitation while sitting idly under a tree?

Some of our greatest thinkers said believed in the joy of being idle:

“The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” ─ Bertrand Russell

“There is nothing more notable in Socrates than that he found time, when he was an old man, to learn music and dancing, and thought it time well spent.” ─ Michel de Montaigne

“Beware the barrenness of a busy life.” ─ Socrates

And so I ask you:
where do you stand on it?
Do you need to be busy every minute of every day?
Do you prefer to relish the smell of the roses and think deep thoughts?
Are you somewhere in between on that spectrum?
Do you think there is a “right” balance for us humans?

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