The Opposite of Being is Not Doing, it’s Dying

Being isn’t about what you’re doing, it’s about whether your Self is actually in it.

Sometimes Being looks like rest, and sometimes it looks like emails on the ride home, grocery runs for forgotten milk, or staying up until 2AM working on something you actually care about.

Being is intention.

It’s not the opposite of Doing, it includes Doing.

Doing, on the other hand, doesn’t always include Being.

We all know the feeling of mindlessly scrolling, shopping online, driving to the store and wondering How the hell did I get here? The body moves, but the self is just not there.

That’s the danger—doing without being there at all. And that’s terrifying because, well, where the hell are you?

So, here’s my light request for all you internet people:

Return to yourself. Return to yourself in whatever mundane or exciting thing you’re working on.

Resting. Walking. Eating. Emailing.

Whatever you do, do it with yourself inside it.

This is what makes you feel alive.

Marina Abramović famously asks: “Do you even know how to drink water?”

If not, then start there. Because if you can’t drink water with your whole self, what else are you losing as you move through this life half-gone?