Sometimes it’s nice to switch looking down at a screen for looking out at the world. Photo: File.
What’s the last thing you did that was totally, completely pointless?
I’m not talking about that run to Bunnings just to find they don’t stock the very particular garden tool you’re looking for.
I’m talking hobbies.
Not the kind that improve you, or your home, like the gym or reno projects.
Not the kind that you try to improve at, like a sport or an art.
Not even the kind that creates something, like baking or knitting.
I mean pure, 100 per cent pointless indolence.
This is different to mindless scrolling, or rewatching the last season of Celebrity Survivor.
Somewhere on the spectrum between productivity dressed up as leisure time and disassociation masquerading as relaxation are a whole swathe of activities.
Bird watching. Star gazing. Exotic mushroom hunting. Jigsaw puzzles. Painting tiny figurines.
Activities that get you nothing more or less than the enjoyment you feel while you’re engaged in them.
I’m not saying I’ve got this whole wellbeing thing figured out, but I reckon we spend too much time on self-improvement and scented candles, and not enough time being fun little weirdos.
And being fun little weirdos is where the magic lives.
Some of my best childhood memories are my dad teaching me which birds made the different calls in our backyard, or my uncle pointing out the different constellations in a cold winter sky.
Knowing those things has resulted in precisely zero net achievements – although maybe next time I ask for a pay rise I should point out that I can tell the difference between a willie wagtail and a piwakawaka.
They have, however, given me plenty of satisfying experiences I’d be deaf and blind to otherwise.
Packing a picnic to watch a meteor shower, or just taking a moment to look up and find Orion after a big night out never fails to inspire awe.
Identifying the birds that live in my backyard always makes me feel at home after a move.
Everything in my life might have changed but I know mynahs and corellas will start fights, cockatoos will end them, and if I spot a bowerbird lurking about I can follow it to find my missing blue pegs.
So many important things compete for our attention all day, every day – family, friends, work, current events, the incessant pinging of our phones.
It’s easy to spend the little leisure time we have in the endless pursuit of self-betterment, or numbing our brains and bodies to try and wind down.
But every once in a while it’s worth skipping that spin class to explore the pointless things that delight your inner little weirdo.
