Doing nothing is not the same as not making progress.
Change can be elusive. It’s common to expect change to produce tangible results, or worse still, to produce them immediately. This is the growth in our lives that we notice most — change that is upwards and outwards. As Jerry Colonna puts it, we expect our lives to move “up and to the right”.
There’s a feeling that if your progress isn’t visible to others, that you’re somehow failing or falling behind. We measure what can be seen externally, particularly in and by other people, as that is the easiest and, often, instinctive thing to do.
When we conflate change with visible progress, we put ourselves at risk of acting for the short-term, for the cosmetic and for the wrong reasons. We chip away at our own trust in doing things that may or may not produce results now, but are the things we feel we should be doing for some deeper purpose.
Although this idea of growth might be how we measure our lives, it’s not, in reality, how they’re lived. They’re messier, less predictable, move in different directions and at different rates.
Change happens at different speeds and with results that play out in ways we might not even notice. We often assume that change, growth, and development can only happen if we are consciously creating it. And therefore, we must, always, be taking some conscious action to create change.
Yet change isn’t always linear or observable. Sometimes it’s hidden, silent, gestating. Even if we’re looking for it we might not see it. Consider your own life 10 years ago, compared to now. Is every single difference or change down to your own conscious intentions? Or are there aspects you couldn’t have predicted, didn’t plan for and yet have worked out for the best?
“There’s work happening now — even if we’re not actively pursuing it”.
- Ingrid Fetell Lee
Genetic science shows that, at a molecular level, how we experience our environment can actually change how our genes express themselves. The implications of this are profound — whatever environment we are in, we will experience deep-rooted change whether we realise it or not.
And so here we are, right now, in an environment that we wouldn’t choose. Many of us are pushing, battling, fighting to create some visible, conscious growth. We’re committing to personal projects, building new relationships, setting ourselves learning targets and goals, scheduling and juggling our time for these and wider personal commitments.
These are honourable and important pursuits. And yet, in the middle of all this, we probably aren’t taking enough time to do the opposite — to do nothing, to reflect and to recognise that we are already changing, adapting and growing. We just don’t know it. Perhaps we can go easier on ourselves?
Reflecting on the modern inclination to avoid boredom, Alain de Botton suggests that the next time we find ourselves bored, instead of rushing to find a distraction, we instead rest in that space and imagine ourselves preparing to give birth to some great idea or thought.
Sometimes change is downwards and inwards.
