The Dutch lifestyle that urges us to be idle
Dawn Geddes learns the benefits of “niksen”, a Dutch lifestyle concept urging us to be idle.
IN today’s busy world, it’s tempting to be as productive as possible. Even during lockdown, when the world was at a standstill, we still felt compelled to work.
Should we be using “down time” to take on new exercise routines and start DIY projects, or should we be using it simply to do nothing?
Olga Mecking, author of self-help book “Niksen: Embracing The Dutch Art Of Doing Nothing”, would advise the latter.
“Niksen is a Dutch word that literally means to do nothing,” she explains.
“People have different ideas of what it means to do nothing, but the definition that I’m using in the book is to do nothing without a purpose.
“It’s not reading a book or browsing Facebook – because when you spend your time doing those things, you’re still doing something.
“The other thing about niksen is that it should have no purpose attached to it.
“You don’t do it because you want to be calmer, or you want to be a better person: you do it just because.”
Originally from Poland, Olga has been living in the Netherlands for 11 years.
The writer says that she was delighted when she came across the Dutch term.
“It’s nice to have a word for the thing that I’ve been doing since I was a child!
“I was quite busy at the time.
“I’m a mother of three, I run my own writing business and I’m responsible for the house, too.
“There was this moment when I was so exhausted that I collapsed on the couch.
“I remember thinking: when was the last time that I just did nothing?”
Olga began to explore the concept further, implementing it back into her own life.
After writing an article for “The New York Times” which went viral, Olga decided to write a book on the subject.
“We can niksen by sitting on our couch and looking out of the window, watching people at a café or just gazing up at the clouds.
“Doing nothing has lots of benefits, and one of them is that it gives our brain a break.
“We know we can’t physically work all day long without a break, but we expect our brains to do exactly that. It’s just not reasonable.
“We find it difficult to sit still because we want to be productive.
“We want to be useful. We want to work and work is an important value to us.
“Work isn’t just what we do for money, either.
“It includes the work we carry out around the house and the work we do with our children.
“When we’re not doing these things, we feel guilty.”
Olga says that doing nothing can make us more productive in the long run.
“Productivity expert Chris Bailey says that we feel guilty when what we’re doing is not aligned with our values.
“We value work and we value being productive as something that is useful, but maybe we need to start valuing feeling rested and calm, too.
“Doing nothing makes us more creative and helps stimulate ideas.
“One of the best ways to solve a problem isn’t to think about it very intensely – it’s to do something completely different, like take a walk or have a bath.
“That’s why people always have their best ideas in the shower!” ■
“Niksen: Embracing The Dutch Art Of Doing Nothing” is out now, published by Little Brown Book Group.