Wanna know why? 

I didn’t have the space to write it. 

Oh, the irony. 

In the health world, we talk a lot about the food we eat, our sleep, how we move our bodies, our breathing, heck we even spend time talking about putting our bare feet on the earth and sunlight exposure. But rarely do we talk about one of the most common “deficiencies” I see in both my own life and that of my clients: whitespace. 

Just the other day I posted about it on Instagram and even the word… W H I T E S P A C E … triggered a reaction.

In our ever-connected, phone-in-pocket, perpetually-available world, it’s rare that we have a moment to ourselves to really just sit and BE. Even with all the downtime imposed by the pandemic and shutdowns, did that really result in more space? Or did we just fill it with endless news cycles, social media feeds, and Netflix binges? 

One of the single most valuable things we can do for our mental (and physical!) wellbeing is to create space to just be. 

W H I T E S P A C E 

I like to write it like that, with space, because it inspires exactly what we’re trying to create – a feeling of flow, of freedom, of flexibility, of possibility. Magic happens in the space in between. 

When my 8-year-old daughter comes to me complaining “I’m bored…!” I look at her and say, “Oh, that’s so exciting! I wonder what you’ll come up with?” 

Of course, she doesn’t have the same attitude about it. She looks at me with disdain, utterly annoyed, and grumps out of the room. And yet, later I’ll find her tucked inside a book, or drawing, or concocting some dramatic scene with her legos, and I’m reminded just how useful boredom is, and just how little of that we have in our lives these days. 

Whitespace is not easy to find in this world. It has to be created. 

Let’s be honest: 

With the entire world accessible through the phone in our pocket, do you flip into scroll mode when you have a few minutes to spare? Or do you take advantage of that downtime to sit and just BE. 

Witness people standing in line waiting for a table at a restaurant or at an airport (remember when we used to do those things?) Almost without exception, they’re heads down, neck cricked at an awkward angle, staring intently at their phones, oblivious to the world around them. 

Trust me, I’m as guilty of this as anyone. 

I often bemoan my lack of time, and yet, when there IS time, rather than take it, I go on autopilot, grab my phone, and tune out. Distraction is an addiction, just like any other. The dopamine rush notifications and “just a quick check of email” give us is a real thing. And so, like any addiction, we’ve got to step outside of it and break the cycle with intention. 

Recently I’ve made it a priority to build whitespace into my days. During lunch, I leave my phone in my office, take my lunch somewhere without screens, and force myself to just sit and eat. It’s unreasonably hard! After lunch, I pour myself a cup of tea, and once again, go sit on the couch in my office and to just BE. No phone calls, no writing, no reading, just BEing. It’s disturbing how hard it is to do. 

If I give it long enough, the ideas start popping in. Problems solve themselves, ideas are born, insights are revealed, answers are given. From a physiological perspective, my stress levels drop, I am back into parasympathetic state, and I am emotionally recalibrated. 

And when I do head back into the busy-ness of my day, I’m refreshed, I’m more productive, I’m ready to take on whatever challenges present themselves. I’ve just filled up on my daily Vitamin W. 

How do you build whitespace into your day? What is ONE thing you can do TODAY to turn off distractions and tune into yourself? Please share in the comments below.