you can just (not) do things

And you know what? It was the best thing that could have happened to me.

Let me challenge something I keep seeing on Twitter lately:

"You can just do things. Stop overthinking and execute."

This sounds empowering, right? Just do it. No excuses. But here's the truth: this isn't empowerment - it's cultural gaslighting. It's part of what philosopher Byung-Chul Han calls the "excess of positivity" that's burning us all out.

When someone tells you to "just do it," they're not offering freedom - they're denying reality:

• Your physical limitations

• Your mental health needs

• Your finite time and energy

• Your right to say no

I had to lose the use of my hands to learn this. But you don't have to.

The thing about "just do it" culture is that it pretends constraints don't exist. It treats every limitation as an excuse, every boundary as weakness, every "no" as lack of ambition.

But here's what I learned when my hands gave out: those limitations aren't weaknesses - they're the outline of what makes us human.

We've become what Han calls "achievement-subjects" - simultaneously the slave driver and the slave. We've internalized the productivity mandate so completely that we feel guilty for basic human needs.

I see it in myself and in my peers in tech:

• Feeling guilty about taking weekends off

• Turning every hobby into a side hustle

• Working through lunch because "real hustlers don't take breaks"

• Ignoring physical pain because "pain is weakness leaving the body"

The tragedy isn't just that we're burning out. It's that we've learned to see burnout as a badge of honor.

Here's what happened when I was forced to stop "just doing things":

1. I discovered who I was beyond my productivity

   • My worth wasn't tied to my output

   • My relationships deepened when I had time for them

   • I found joy in simply being, not constantly becoming

2. I learned to value deep rest as much as deep work

   • Rest isn't recovery for more work

   • Rest is a fundamental human need

   • Without rest, there is no deep thought, no creativity

3. I found ways to have impact through teaching rather than doing

   • Sometimes doing less lets you achieve more

   • Impact doesn't always mean action

   • Teaching others multiplies your effect

Instead of another list of things to do, here's your permission slip for what not to do:

• Not optimize every moment

• Not turn your hobbies into hustles

• Not feel guilty about rest

• Not push through physical warnings

• Not say yes to every opportunity

• Not treat your body like a machine

• Not measure your worth by your output

• Not compare your rest to others' hustle

The most radical act in today's achievement society isn't doing more - it's doing less. It's saying no. It's setting boundaries. It's choosing rest before exhaustion forces it upon you.

I had to lose my hands to learn this lesson. I had to be physically unable to work before I learned that work wasn't everything. But you don't have to wait for your body to break down to learn this lesson.

You can just not do things.

It's not lazy. It's not weak. It's not giving up.

It's human.

And in a society that's trying to turn us all into productivity machines, being human is the most radical thing we can do.