These days ‘doing nothing’ has a name. It’s called meditation. There any many ideas on what meditation is but according to Naval Ravikant, entrepreneur and investor, it’s the art of doing nothing, which he defines as the “skill of listening to yourself.” In the same 2019 Joe Rogan podcast he also says the only way to survive modern life is to retreat from “the epidemic of abundance.”
I recently got a glimpse into the practical application of this theory after I spent a month in Ireland where life is expensive, fast-paced and crowded. When I finally got back to Spain, to the rural town I call home, the first thing that struck me was the Quiet. There were no people crowding the footpath, no bumper-to-bumper traffic, no sirens, horns or noisy kids – it felt like a ghost town.
But as the days passed, the quiet started to gnaw at me. With the noise of busy life eliminated, I had no choice but shift my focus back to the craft that swayed my decision to live off-grid. But I was out of practice, my work life interrupted by my time in Ireland. Then the quiet got very loud, as I struggled under the weight of all the things I should be doing while really needing a goddamn break. Enter cannabis.
WHAT IS DOING NOTHING?
I can’t think of anything more boring than sitting around all day smoking joints or bongs or whatever just to get high. And I don’t know anyone who consumes this way, not anymore. Sure, when we were younger and scoring was a novel event, it was normal to sit around and get high with friends. But from an early age, my routine was me at my laptop, writing, a joint in the ashtray.
To anyone watching, the sight of me picking up that joint and taking a few drags while staring into space may look like ‘doing nothing.’ Au contraire, I’m busy, my mind untangling a sentence or a scene. For me, getting high and getting creative go hand-in-hand. I’m rarely idle when stoned and know of many stoners who use cannabis to make their busy days run smoother.
I’ve also used cannabis for long enough to know the dark side, that point where you’re sparking up every morning, watching days slide away from you while your anxiety and sense of alienation mounts aka The Vicious Cycle. When I was using cannabis in this way, low self-esteem and a lack of confidence were just some of the drivers.
The way to break it was not by quitting cannabis or berating myself for not being able to quit cannabis. There was an easier way and it began by adding things in, it began by keeping a promise to myself. But first I had to listen to myself to know what mattered to me. This is where cannabis is unrivalled.
HOW TO RETREAT
If the intention is to have a good old heart-to-heart with yourself, spark up. This is a practice I honed over time with the help of nature because I found that if you want to change a conversation inside, it really helps to change the environment outside to somewhere calm and soothing, a beach, lake, mountainside, forest, riverbank, whatever is soothing to you.
The goal is simple: get curious. When a thought gets you all hot and bothered, write it down, or better yet, keep a journal and write all the thoughts down, or just the ones you value. Ask why you value them, why they bother you, how they shape you, do they serve you, ask as many questions as you need to. Cannabis is the ideal tool for this kind of exploration.
Except this is hardly ‘doing nothing.’ It’s the most important work you can do: taking time out to reflect on where you’ve being and where you’re going gives life meaning. But this kind of reflection cannot be a place where you live. I spent way too much time over the years day-dreaming instead of doing and can attest that leads nowhere but The Vicious Cycle.
In this instance, it’s important to differentiate between the art of doing nothing and the art of keeping promises to yourself, and if cannabis interferes with the keeping of promises, have a look at your use. Is it making it hard to keep commitments, get up on time, prepare for work or school? If so, could you change when you use to make it easier to meet those demands? Or is a T-break necessary?
IS LESS MORE?
I chose to live in an off grid economy curbing my ability to generate wealth, chose to focus on my craft, turning away from opportunities to make money. But that perspective makes the assumption that money alone can provide a rich life, which goes to the heart of “the epidemic of abundance.”
But what if you can improve the quality of your life by choosing less? This is what I did, and by doing so, gave myself the chance to live a life that would never have been possible in my native Dublin. To my family, the weekends I spend in my vintage van writing fiction look like madness. To me, it’s a vital practice that challenges me and enriches my days.
But it’d be a lie to say i don’t sometimes ask if this life of less is enough. Ultimately, this kind of thinking stems from Comparison. A core tenet of “the epidemic of abundance” is that you’re nothing unless you have more than your neighbour. With the help of cannabis, I can identify this and acknowledge I could care less what my neighbour does or doesn’t have.
I was busy in Ireland and arrived home in ‘busy’ mode, adrenalin pumping. I was primed to keep going. I’d forgotten that I’d chosen to live off-grid specifically to give myself the space to be the kind of creative I want to be. I needed to Netflix and chill, another perfect time to use cannabis, if not THE most ideal time. After a few days, I remembered this ghost town is my paradise and I was home.
The Healthy Hashhead 