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Doing Nothing — Human Beings through the Life Cycle

Jonah Hall
5 min readOct 6, 2023

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Photo credit: Kernowfile on VisualHunt.com

Age 1:
Sitting up is very hard. Head is so heavy. About to discover mobility. Doing nothing is the gift of immobility. It means absorbing everything. Life is new. Put life in mouth.

Age 4:
Sitting up. About to move. Doing nothing is impossible. So many toys. So many markers. So many needs. So many ways not to do nothing.

Age 6:
Doing nothing is super boring. That’s what my friend said.

Age 10:
Doing nothing is cause for revolution. Need food. Need show.

Age 14–16:
Where’s my phone? You can do nothing. Leave me alone.

Age 17:
Wish there was more time to do nothing. So much pressure. College applications. Where did all those years go?

Age 18:
Wish someone said when to do nothing. All day? After class for one hour?

Age 22 — end:
Doing nothing is great. If only it wasn’t for this phone. I got that app that tells me when to breathe and stuff, but doing nothing is so hard. The brain starts up. What about that new girl/guy? What about that grad school application? What about moving across the country? If I do nothing, nothing will ever…

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Jonah Hall
Jonah Hall

Written by Jonah Hall

Writing. Poetry. Personal Essays. On the NBA, MLB, media, journalism, culture, teaching and humor.

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