REST, RELAXATION, AND THE ART OF DOING NOTHING!
How the Grind is slowly making you lose sight of the Importance of the Unwind.
After trading in the seemingly-charmed life of a gentleman for one of a swashbuckling buccaneer, Stede becomes captain of the pirate ship Revenge. Struggling to earn the respect of his potentially mutinous crew, Stede’s fortunes change after a fateful run-in with the infamous Captain Blackbeard. That’s the synopsis of Our Flag Means Death, a romantic period comedy-drama about real-life pirate Stede Bonnet’s escapades with legendary pirate, Blackbeard. The show was released in 2022 on HBO Max to critical acclaim.
The show boasts a charismatic cast of actors such as Rhys Darby, Con O’Neill, and Taika Waititi. But I’m not here to give you a deep-dive about the show’s cast, writers, directors, or its showrunner, David Jenkins, the latter who’s widely known for creating the TV show People of The Earth. So you’re probably wondering, what’s the connection between Pirates, Taika Waititi, rest, and productivity?
It’s not uncommon for a lot of my articles to be influenced by the media I consume, be it movies, books, video games, or tv shows. In one article, I wrote about how Silent Hill (Yes, the survival-horror video game) inspired me to explore things outside of my comfort zone and taught me the importance of travel. In this article, I want to share how Our Flag Means Death reminded me of the importance of doing nothing.
In episode 2 of the show, subtitled ‘Damned Man,’ Captain Stede Bonnet gives his crew a day off — allowing them time for a vacation. To his surprise, Captain Bonnet learns that his crew does not know what a vacation is. To give you some context of the show, Captain Bonnet is not a great pirate! In fact, he is a terrible one. He is to piracy what Ted Lasso is to soccer (Football.) After having a mid-life crisis that saw him abandon his wife and children to pursue his childhood dream of becoming a pirate, Stede Bonnet finds himself leading a gang of misfits on a pirate ship known as the revenge. Stede isn’t very experienced at being a captain or being a pirate. If he were, he’d understand that pirates don’t take vacations.
This, for me, was the part that I found most interesting…that when given a day off, Stede’s band of misfits didn’t know how to fill their time as they had no idea how to relax and enjoy some downtime.
This, is a common theme I see in many people today. Outside of work or school, we rarely ever know how to fill our time. We haven’t taken the time to define who we are outside our occupations so we end up feeling restless when afforded some free time that we find ourselves doing work on days when we’re supposed to be off — cause’ that’s all we know how to do. It’s what we’ve been accustomed to that taking a break feels foreign and even illegal to a degree.
We feel we constantly have to be productive or our lives are meaningless. Our self-worth has become rooted in how productive we can be on a particular day. But when did life become all about work that we forgot how to cultivate quality time for ourselves?
I think anyone who sees this particular episode of Our Flag Means Death will most likely say something in the lines of “Could never be me” in regards to showing up for work after an employer or your hustle/business/ School has afforded you an opportunity to take a day off. We have fantasies of sleeping and soaking in a bubble bath on our off days, but I’m willing to wager 8/10 people fall into the trap of continuing to work even when they absolutely do not need to. If we do find time to lay in bed or soak in the tub the notifications don’t go off. We still see “Kind regards” even in our sleep.
When was the last time you spent an entire weekend invested in yourself that you didn’t touch your work during your you or family time? I’ve always hated that we only get to “live” on the weekends, but even the weekends do not belong to us anymore; they belong to our hustles and the people we work for as Sunday-Sunday we are at the beck and call of the grind-slaves to the rat race.
How we spend our time is a reflection of our priorities, I believe. But it seems most of us rarely spend our time making room for growth, healing, personal development, and entertainment outside of consuming recreational drugs and alcohol to take the edge off. This is a testament to the fact that a lot of us do not prioritize ourselves — but exult the grind above all else.
I know people who live in constant fear of a none-existent red devil with horns, a pointy tail, and a pitchfork waiting to poke at them any time they aren’t being productive. This red devil doesn’t want them taking spa days or sitting at home watching Netflix on the couch, a couch and Netflix they had to work for in order to pay for, mind you. But now, we can’t even enjoy the fruits of our labor cause’ the fear of not being productive has us shackled like a ball and chain. We don’t realize that the need to constantly be productive is slowly sucking at our souls — killing us slowly. Sometimes it’s not that we don’t realize this, we actually do, we just don’t allow ourselves the grace to do what we know we should do in order to rejuvenate our minds and bodies to curb the burnout and fatigue, which is, relax!
In the game of chess, there’s a move called Zugzwang. A simple definition I can give of Zugzwang is to do nothing! A slightly more fleshed out way to define Zugzwang is when a player is put at a disadvantage because of their obligation to make a move. I’m here to tell you that in this game of life, you don’t always need to make a move. That could be a disadvantage to your physical and mental health, as well as your personal relationships. It’s okay to step away from making moves and just rest and relax.
I first came across the term Zugzwang in the 2009 Sci-Fi film Mr. Nobody. In one particular scene, 118-year-old Mr. Nobody, the last mortal on earth, references Zugzwang to a journalist interviewing him. Mr. Nobody mentions to the journalist that each path in life is the right one. The context of each path in life is the right one is a lot different and far more complex in the scene, but I will still use it here to drive my point that both productivity and relaxation are good! Both have their place in our lives - but society has glorified the former over the latter when sometimes the best move is not to move.
So while productivity is great, remember, that not moving is also a viable option. You don’t constantly have to be in motion. It’s okay to slow things down and enjoy life outside of school/work. If anything, you become a lot more efficient at doing work after taking some time to rest and relax, as stressed work is rarely ever your best work.
