> [!tldr] A behavioral trap that needed a name I often find myself in a situation where what I **need** to be doing is one thing, what I **want** to be doing is another thing, and what I **am** doing is *neither* of those things. It's not *quite* doomscrolling, because it's not necessarily engaging in negativity. Often I'm just reading some dumb thing or watching a video I don't actually care about... but sometimes I'll just, *sit and stare*. At nothing in particular. It's sort of like [[Numbing vs Pleasure|numbing]], but it feels more [[Anxiety]]-producing. Waffling back and forth between "I should do this" or "I want to do that", but both of them take too much energy, so you end up doing nothing. It's like being on the fence, but instead it's like being between two fences. ![[Languishing in No-Man's Land 2026-03-23 10.48.04.excalidraw.svg]] %%[[Languishing in No-Man's Land 2026-03-23 10.48.04.excalidraw.md|🖋 Edit in Excalidraw]]%% Less fun fact: I wrote this note while languishing firmly in no-man's land. ## Escaping No-Man's Land Honestly I'm not sure. Probably [[Accepting the Negative is a Positive|acceptance]] and re-direction. Get the ball rolling in **any** direction and let the chips fall where they may? **** # More ## Source - self