It was a small moment, really.
An elevator conversation – one of those accidental pauses between the day’s rush.
We discovered we both love baking and crafts, and for a moment, the office walls didn’t feel so gray. She smiled but then said something that lingered with me:
“I love doing those things, but sometimes I feel like I’m being unproductive.”
That word – unproductive – stayed with me.
We live in a world that measures worth in output. If it doesn’t make money, move numbers, or fit neatly into a calendar block, it’s labeled a waste of time. But anything that fills your soul is never a waste of time.
I told her that when I’m at work, I give it my full attention. I show up, do my best, and pour my energy where it’s needed. But the moment I leave, I leave. I let work stay where it belongs. I’ve learned to immerse myself in my life – the quiet one that begins when the workday ends.
The truth is, it took me a long time to get here.
To let myself rest without guilt.
To bake a cake for the simple joy of watching it rise.
To sit in the garden without reaching for my phone.
To create something with my hands just because it makes me feel alive.
To listen to music without doing anything else.
To dance around the kitchen when no one’s watching.
To sing softly while washing dishes.
To read simply for the pleasure of reading – not to learn, not to achieve, but to feel.
The world has convinced us that joy must be earned, that peace is a reward, that rest must be justified. But what if those are the very things that keep us whole enough to show up again tomorrow?
Crafts, baking, dancing, singing, music, tending plants, reading, long walks, slow mornings – these are not distractions from life. They are life. They are the spaces where we remember who we are when we’re not performing.
So no, you are not being unproductive when you do something that nourishes you.
You are being present. You are being human.
Until next time,
Xoxo, JPP
