When people think of difficult challenges, they think of athletic feats or complex mental puzzles. But very few look at something that may be the most challenging of all. Sitting down for a lengthy period of time and doing nothing.

There’s a certain frustration that comes with creating something new. It’s the writer’s block that we are all familiar with. The overwhelming paralyzation that just makes us sit there doing nothing.

And we don’t want to do that. So we look for stimulation. We check e-mail for other “urgent” work to do. We check our messages to respond to friends. We surf the internet to find “important” articles to read and videos to watch.

We’re looking for something to do. All the while avoiding what we really need to do. The emptiness just seems suffocating. But when your senses and mind are overcrowded, you give little room for new things.

Out of nothingness, a lot of curious things can emerge though. Certainly things that couldn’t emerge otherwise. What’s so scary about sitting with yourself for so long? Maybe it’s time to find out. And simply observe ourselves, our mind, and our environment for a moment. Observe our obsessive need for action and sense. And stop our impulses for it from taking over.

It can be a little exciting to try something new. And even more so to discover something new while doing it. Which I’m sure you’d be bound to do if you just wait long enough.