Doing nothing is something Northern Europeans are very good at. And this is not a bad thing: According to Time Magazine, doing nothing is becoming a trend and this trend should be followed by the ever busy Americans. But is doing nothing something typically Dutch? According to Ruut Veenhoven, happiness professor at the Erasmus Happiness Economics Research Organisation (EHERO), this is not the case.
The need for reflection and relaxation is universal and in every culture there are resting days. However, in societies with a fast pace of life - such as the Netherlands - it is less common to do nothing. Therefore, it will stand out more if you make time for doing nothing. Americans also have a very fast pace of life, and it is for that reason that they are also interested in the art of doing nothing. Moreover, doing nothing is not useless. In fact, it could be very useful: when you do nothing, you relax. People who are very active need relaxation. This is the case in the Netherlands: people are always busy busy busy, but we cannot keep running all the time.
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Read the entire article on RTL Nieuws, 17 July 2019.
Listen to the entire item on Veronica Inside, 18 July 2019.
