Dolce Far Niente: in Aruba or anywhere

The Sweetness of Doing Nothing (Unapologetically)

Mar 12, 2025

Yes, the week in Aruba was…heavenly. There is no other way to describe the pampered paradise I just enjoyed with the hubby. After seven days of doing nothing but—well, you know, napping in the hammock by the pool with a book bobbing on my belly…lounging on a beach chair with a piña colada, contemplating the shimmering turquoise water, occasionally dipping in the waves to cool down…I shall not be piggish about this so I’ll stop—but now, back home in Maine, I am bursting at the seams with gratitude.

I’m so energized with renewed resolve to tackle the busy every-day life I left behind in my (still snowy!) home state, that I’m almost giddy. Trigger happy, in a good way! I’ll again throw myself into planning the next Maine Writers Studio Literary Salon & Open Mic, building literary community one event at a time; getting back to editing clients’ work; planning my impending book launch; WRITING (oh yeah, there’s that), and of course, playing pickleball laughing, swearing and sweating. (Or “whiffle-ball” as hubby likes to call it in his grumbly response to my over-scheduled week.)

Despite my propensity for mucho activity, I have a confession to make:

I love doing nothing, unapologetically.

I have another confession to make:

I do it once a week (in Maine, not in Aruba!)

Nap. Read. Eat. Drink. Cuddle. Nap more. A wee, leisurely walk (maybe). Read more. And yet more. Lots of lazy, meandering thoughts. Occasionally, the spark of a great idea.

Imagine one day a week with no appointments, no deadlines to meet, no shopping or running errands, no scrolling the internet or responding to emails, no TV noise, no cleaning the house or doing laundry…the list goes on, doesn’t it?

Nothing but breath, being, and chilling.

Talk about re-charging the batteries. Don’t we all need this, though, not just those of us with ADHD who tend to be a little over-the-top in the activity department? A brief break in the hubbub of our over-scheduled, over-screened, over-achieving days. Yup, I think so.

YOU DESERVE IT.

I relish in the existentially welcome (dear I say, necessary?) treat of dolce far niente every Shabbat, as I take a few slow, deep breaths before lighting my Shabbat candles, inaugurating the traditional 24hr period of rest—really a pause from creating—that my husband and I observe. Our own little paradisiacal island in time.

What’s your island in time to cultivate some of that *dolce far niente?*

In our Maine home during the winter months this means wool blankets, cozy slippers, a comforting warm soup on Friday night with a rich cabernet sauvignon, and not piña coladas, bathing suits, and palm trees, but it matters not where we are, for the experience of true rest is the same. So welcome. So delicious. So necessary.

Of course, that doesn’t mean I won’t dream of the next time I can do nothing in a spot just like this:

Thanks for checking in today!

Wherever you are, I hope you can make time for some dolce far niente in your week. You deserve it, too.

Nina

Hey, I tried making the photo of my forthcoming memoir smaller, not so bold, but I haven’t figured out how to do it yet…And I’m still floating on cloud 9 about the cover, so where it is :-)