Being Still is the Hardest Work. #shorts

I live as part of a society where we have been mostly rewarded for how productive we are. We are constantly setting goals, chasing after deadlines, work, and trying to fill up all of our time with what we have convinced ourselves is “meaningful” or “productive” use of our time. But the one thing most folks fail to do, or simply can’t do, is STAYING STILL. In a first world, developed nation like Singapore, we have been brought up since young to accept that “WORKING HARD” is a good thing and sitting still and not doing anything is considered as “BEING LAZY”.

As a result, most of us never truly ever SLOWED DOWN long enough to actually BE QUIET with our own thoughts 💭. Even when many of us claim that we enjoy moments of self-reflection (myself included), I am willing to bet that most of us can’t sit still for very long. Not really. At some point, that stillness just becomes really uncomfortable and we just want to get up and move on. Sometimes, being really still and quiet means allowing a thought or memory to surface, something we have been avoiding for weeks, months, and even years. So it’s not surprise that the moment we decide to STOP RUSHING towards the next appointment, or that next deadline, or that next social gathering, that thought, or emotion that we have been refusing to deal with would resurface, forcing us to face it and deal with it, or to run from it.

We have all been guilt of that, including myself. I’ve spent many years of my life constantly chasing after that next thing. And I’ve never once really gave myself the chance to just sit down, be still, quiet, to just deal with all of the emotions and thought patterns that have been buried deep down. As much as I love to move on, to get on with the work that brings me the greatest fulfilment, I also understand now that in order for me to be able to enjoy what I do fully and for it to last longer, I must first take the time to deal with years of buried stuff. We can’t be truly happy, or operate at our best capacity until we are willing to deal with all of the ugly stuff that we have buried deep within.