Do you ever get a feeling of “I should be doing something else?”
I’m not talking about that feeling you get when you’re sitting in the couch, “watching” something on Netflix, scrolling through Insta or TikTok, and eating chips, and you know you should be doing literally anything else.
No – I’m talking about a much bigger feeling of restlessness:
“I should be doing something else with my life”
I’m going to go ahead and get this out of the way:
I don’t have all the answers, but I do have some. If you’ve come here, welcome to the party! We’ll be here a while.
The Itch
Personally, I have a strong desire for “new” – I want to experience new things, I thoroughly enjoy change, and I like shiny, intriguing, never-before-experienced experiences; I grow restless quickly. Sometimes, this is on the grand scale – like going to a different amusement park or staying in a completely different place for vacation. Sometimes, this is on a minor scale, like “it’s time to completely redesign my office again”
If I could buy every board or table game in existence and try them all at least once I would be ecstatic. Or at least every expansion for Dominion.
(Truth be told, this is one of the reasons i like Dominion so much – every game is essentially different (until it isn’t and then you need a new expansion to change it up).
So – what’s this Itch?
I have times where nothing satisfies. I’m trying to work, and I feel what can only be described as “pressure” in my head.
So I try to distract from that pressure by browsing Reddit for a minute, or reading and replying to stories on Medium.
But then that just makes me feel like I’m wasting time, so now I’m feeling the pressure and useless.
So i go for a walk, to clear my head, or i write, to try to identify the feeling, or I draw, to do something with my hands.
And sometimes – many times – that works.
But it’s still there – this restless itch.
“You should be doing something else.”
I don’t know what it is. I don’t know where I should look.
I don’t have a neat and tidy answer (I rarely do!) because, frankly, this restless itch doesn’t have a neat and tidy solution. What I do have is a sort of acceptance, a truce, if you will.
When it whispers “You should be doing something else” I’ve learned to reply “maybe, but this is what I am doing for now, and that’s okay.”
I acknowledge that itch, and give it it’s moment – and then keep going with whatever I’m doing – or not doing, knowing along the way that the itch might just be a sign, a guidepost toward something bigger.
So I take a moment, listen to that pressure; see where it wants to direct me. And then, knowing more about where I am, and where I might be headed, I accept the discomfort, and drive on through this moment, trusting that I will arrive at the right destination in the end.
