Idle Hands & Other Metaphors For Doing "Nothing"
I started “going to therapy recently, which also meant I had to do an intake session to start therapy recently which involves summarizing your life in not so many words, or maybe so many words. Either way, I am not a stranger to talking.
The fun thing about all of that is that you both discover and forget things during such a monologue. For example, you may acknowledge that you like to keep busy to stave off any impending sense of doom and you may forget how the expression “Idle hands…” actually finishes.
The full phrase is “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop” which is not exactly the vibe I was going for, but this is what happens when you only remember portions of an idiom.
Anyways, in a more recent session, I explain to my therapist my habit of “scripting” things, picturing the words that I want to say and how I want to say them. I acknowledge that this isn’t always what gets said, but that I like having that baseline for many situations, including therapy. At the end of the session, my therapist challenges me to… not do that and to see what happens when I go in without a preset dialog tree.
So here we are. Trying not to do something that is by now a partial anxious habit and partial problem solving tool, but it also got me thinking about this concept of “not doing something.“
Stage 1: A Knowable Referenece
One of my favorite lines I ever wrote during my poetry era was part of a series of DC Comics persona poems, specifically the Flash.
When you’re used to moving faster than the speed of light, standing still feels awfully like going backwards.
I talk a lot about being an momentum-centric person. Someone who relies on inertia, who very rarely rests because resting means taking the time to start back up. The line is such an explicit acknowledgement of the grindset, of perspective, of relative frames. The fear of what happens when one stops. But there is also a tacit acknowledgement that sometimes we need to rest. That sometimes doing nothing is the right thing to do. Neutrality, not as inaction, but as necessary to redirect.
Late last year, the algorithm shared Jim’s Big Ego’s the Ballad of Barry Allen, which I found curative honestly.
Stage 2: A Mostly-Knowable Reference
So despite being a Cancer Sun, Pisces Moon, Leo Rising (my friend Ren likes to joke that Cancer and Pisces’s water signs drowned out my Leo’s fire sign), I mostly readily identify with Earthbending, something that the editorial staff at Black Nerd Problems agreed with (back in the 2010s, after 50+ bylines, they commissioned some fan art).
I loved how Avatar: The Last Airbender explained Jing. How Firebending was characterized by Positive Jing, or aggression. How Airbending was characterized by Negative Jin, or defensive posturing. How Waterbending was characterized by a flow of both Positive and Negative Jing, much like the tides.
Earthbending’s fundament of course was Neutral Jing. Not quite doing nothing, but observing, by listening, by waiting. There is power in being aware of the field. There is truth to be found in stillness. Letting yourself feel the thing instead of trying to analyze the thing, y’know?
Stage 3: An Esoteric Reference
So are you familiar with Homestuck? I’m not going to explain Homestuck. My friend Ben explained Homestuck in a much more efficient manner than I ever will. What I will quickly explain about Homestuck is the classpect system as it pertains to this particular essay.
Classes in Homestuck are not traditional video games, although they do have some correspondence.
Aspects in Homestuck are not traditional elements, although again, some correspondence.
The interpretation of Classspect is best described as One who [Class Verbs] [Aspect].
Pertinently, my OC was a Knight of the Void, or One Who Protects by Doing Nothing.
I like(d) the concept of protecting people. I like(d) this concept of the Void. I wrote the following in 2024, but it’s relevant here.
I say this a lot, but wow, I very much was fumbling my way to discovering my nonbinaryness for so many years.
There is an instinct to protect, but I think there is also the recognition that sometimes we can’t intervene. Sometimes, we can’t stop the terrible things. We just have to be there after the fact.
I’ll close with another line from my poetry era. Also a persona piece, but this one from the perspective of Igor.
Some monsters you help make so you can help unmake them.
Some things you build just to watch burn.
Some things happen not because you want them to
but because it has to.
There is an honesty in being a witness first. You’re not doing nothing. You’re letting yourself simply exist.