the art of doing nothing

"Think of the calm before a storm. Think of the calm after."

I read this passage in A Quitter’s Paradise by Elysha Chang and the words have been circling around in my head ever since. In context, it’s about the narrator’s spiraling self-sabotage, the stalling of her career and life.

Here is the mark of a person who has read too many stories. We think excitement ought to beget more excitement. We think action will outdo itself with more action, that each explosion of great and singular activity will be followed by yet another, even greater one. This is not how nature works, of course. In nature, a period of great activity is followed always by a period of stillness, an interval in which dormancy and death are indistinguishable to the naked eye. Think of the calm before a storm. Think of the calm after.

It is an indictment, perhaps, of the narrator’s lack of pragmatism and experience in life. It is framed as a lesson learned, or a lesson in the process of being learned.

But I felt a measure of comfort, even relief, when I read this passage. Yes, I t…