the value of mindless tasks
Everyone deserves at least one mindless task. For me, who is forever trying to escape my own mind and the countless thoughts that bounce around my brain, having some sort of mindless task, where I can simply disappear into the doing, has given me more peace than I could have ever expected.
I have accumulated several kinds of mindless tasks over the years. Some are more mindless than others, but I guess my brain sometimes appreciates a bit of a challenge, a full distraction.
The most notable is crochet. I’ve been crocheting for eight years maybe? I can’t for the life of me remember when I started, sometime in high school probably. Crochet can be complicated, especially if you have to count stitches or pay close attention to a pattern. But there are more than enough completely mindless tasks that you can take on too. My favorite is adding to my scrap yarn swatches, because all I have to care about is which colors should go next to each other. I also really enjoy making flowers, but that takes slightly more effort. That little bit of effort though translates into some really beautiful things. I’ve just started making daisies and they are so charming looking yet so easy to make.
Another is coloring in coloring books. This is a more recent hobby, but I wish I had started it earlier. I think I was always too cautious as a child to really enjoy coloring books. I panicked too much about the color placement, about coloring inside the lines, about messing up the picture. I guess that as I grew older I became a bit more impulsive, and that all mattered a bit less to me. I have begun to embrace the possible messiness, but that perhaps is less profound in this case than it could be. I mean it’s not the end of the world if I color outside of the lines, and I highly doubt I could create a horrible color combination; I do have some sense of aesthetics. I guess I’ve just begun to trust myself more in the process, and thus it’s become less terrifying.
I also doodle, but these instances are very few and far between. Much like how I approach coloring books, I decided to mainly use a pen now as I draw, to force myself to adapt to any decision I might make, whether good or bad. I’ve always had trouble creating enough contrast in my art. I was such a delicate line artist, but using pens has really helped me move past that. My lines now are decisive and clear, no longer fading into the background.
Reading can be mindless for me, but only if I’m reading a romance book. Those are all about experiencing the plot as it races at you, not really paying attention to the words and how they’re fitting together. I do mainly read well written/constructed romances, but that aspect just matters a little bit less than the story. Otherwise, I’m a very active reader. I like to deeply analyze what’s on the page, to really understand what the author is trying to tell me. It’s the classicist in me, I know that, but it’s fun whenever my brain wants something more challenging.
I’ve mentioned scrapbooking before, and it, like reading, can be mindless in certain circumstances. If all I have to do is stick stuff to a page, yeah that’s mindless. But if I have to plan things out, of course that’s more complex and requires more of my attention.
Sudoku and solitaire are games for when I want that challenge, I want to fully engage my brain. I think I played hundreds of rounds of these games over the course of my life, so they’re straightforward at this point, but they still offer a challenge that’s good for my brain.
I don’t think I can describe myself as a peaceful person, too wrapped up in anxiety and paranoia to be truly relaxed. But these tasks do help me get to a place of peace, of real rest, of escapism that’s good for me. They’re a solid break, not a flimsy distraction like so many other things can be. I can feel rewarded by these tasks, I can have a sense of accomplishment, and that’s extremely valuable.
~dys