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🇮🇩 Indonesia /Culture & Society

Feeling Anxious During Downtime? You Might Be Experiencing 'Leisure Guilt'

From Tempo · () Indonesian

Translated from Indonesian, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

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  • "Leisure guilt" describes the anxiety felt when not being productive during free time or after completing tasks.
  • Experts attribute this to "hustle culture" that equates self-worth with productivity, fear of confronting one's thoughts, and constant digital overstimulation.
  • Overcoming leisure guilt involves practicing short periods of "doing nothing" to allow the nervous system to recover and foster creativity.

Many people experience anxiety when they are not being productive, a phenomenon psychologists call "leisure guilt." This feeling arises when individuals feel uneasy during work breaks or after finishing projects, questioning why their minds resist relaxation.

This pattern often forms since childhood in a family environment that always praises achievement, but ignores the importance of enjoying life.

— Margaret SigelSigel explains how hustle culture, often ingrained from childhood, leads to feelings of guilt during relaxation.

Licensed marriage and family therapist Margaret Sigel explains that "hustle culture" is a primary driver, instilling a mindset where self-worth is solely measured by productivity. This pattern, often formed in childhood with praise for achievement but neglect of enjoying life, leads adults to feel guilty when they try to relax. Social media exacerbates this with FOMO, making individuals feel left behind when seeing others' busy lives.

Joanna Hardis, a therapist specializing in anxiety, notes that unstructured free time can make people uncomfortable as they confront their own thoughts. Some use constant busyness as an escape from these uneasy feelings, reinforcing a cycle of activity. Clinical psychologist Miranda Denison adds that incessant phone notifications and constant digital access worsen leisure guilt. The human nervous system, needing calm, becomes overstimulated by the continuous processing of information.

This strategy does indeed counter short-term discomfort, which is why our brain keeps repeating the same busy pattern.

— Joanna HardisHardis discusses how people use busyness to avoid uncomfortable feelings, creating a cycle.

Sigel stresses that rest is not laziness but essential for the nervous system's repair. Research suggests that creative ideas often emerge when the brain is relaxed, not focused on demanding tasks. To combat leisure guilt, experts recommend starting small, such as resisting the urge to check a phone while waiting in line, gradually increasing these moments of "doing nothing" to allow for genuine relaxation and mental recovery.

Rest is not a form of laziness, but an important moment for the nervous system to recover (repair work).

— Margaret SigelSigel emphasizes the restorative function of rest for the nervous system.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Tempo in Indonesian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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