Niksen is the Dutch concept of doing absolutely, utterly nothing, arising from an unusual verb, “to nothing”, niks, in Dutch (Groskop, 2024; Mecking, 2021). The idea is that we basically let go of the outcome, a free ourselves of achieving any particular goals. A walk is just a walk. A meal is a chance to explore flavour. A conversation is exploration. Nothing is for anything in particular... we are just being in the moment (Groskop, 2024).
Olga Mecking (2021) is the rather surprised author of a book about niksen, who also popularised the idea globally in 2019 with an article in the New York Times. Then came Covid-19, and the whole world suddenly had the time to embrace niksen in a whole new way. Being busy was necessarily out. Doing nothing was in. Ms Mecking was on trend, and got a book deal (Groskop, 2024).
But the idea of doing nothing is a pretty hard thing to get our minds around in our culturally acceptable climate of being busy all the time. Busy, busy, busy. I have been trying to opt out of that whole treadmill thing for a while, and am still a work in progress on that path. I get busy, but try to keep it to a minimum, and try to say no, as I really don't like who I become when I get stressed: short with others, distracted. not listening well, and constantly adrenalised.
So this book attracted me. I was interested to learn that the author is Polish and living in the Netherlands, so can see the art of niksen as an outsider (that often seems to be the way: those outside cultures can more clearly see what is actually going on within it). She saw niksen as doing things where we are not "chang[ing] or improv[ing]" ourselves (Mecking, 2021, 6%); it is having NO pressure to perform, is is wasting time (8%); it is "doing something without a purpose, like staring out of a window, hanging out, or listening to music" (13%); "It’s a Sunday morning kind of feeling. [...] It’s loose, unstructured" (14%); "something you can do on the bus, waiting in line, and other in-between moments: just make the decision to observe as much as you can, without judgment, and with a willingness to be surprised" (14%).
There are "other Dutch words with similar meanings [to niksen are] lanterfanten", and luieren, which means 'hanging out'. Another author, "Elise de Bres explains that lanterfanten is like niksen in that 'you can just do as you please and there is no aim in whatever you do'" (Mecking, 2021, 12%). It is not being lazy, not procrastinating, but more like freewheeling. It is not researching, not watching TV, not reading, not working, not browsing social media, not deliberately recreating, and not mindfulness.
It is about being OK to slow down. To create space. It is about taking a break.
It is doing nix.
Sam
References:
Groskop, N. (2024, February 7). The art of doing nothing: have the Dutch found the answer to burnout culture?. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/feb/07/the-art-of-doing-nothing-have-the-dutch-found-the-answer-to-burnout-culture
Mecking, O. (2021). Niksen: Embracing the Dutch art of doing nothing. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
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