As someone with an ADHD brain and a large family, space for thinking and reflecting can be hard to carve out. It’s even harder when I forget to prioritise it. This week I took a 4 day weekend with the public holidays around Easter and then didn’t rush to fill my schedule. I have 7 clients instead of the usual 12. I often comment that days with only 2 clients feel like a holiday! Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE working with my clients, it truly is a joy and a privilege. It also consumes a large amount of energy and head space, with not a lot left over for quiet contemplation.Most of us know we need more space. Fewer demands on our attention, fewer items on the list, a moment to actually think rather than react.We also know how rarely we give it to ourselves.There is usually a reason for that. Often several.Why space feels impossibleWhen we are deep in the doing, the clients, the kids, the admin, the obligations, space starts to feel like a luxury. Something for later, when things calm down. When we finally get on top of it all.The problem is that later rarely comes on its own. We fill it before it arrives.For those of us with busy brains, high-demand lives, or both, the pull toward productivity can feel almost compulsive. Rest carries its own weight of stories. That we should be doing more. That slowing down means falling behind. That needing a break is somehow a failure of planning or discipline.None of that is true. It is conditioning.What happens when we actually slow downWhen we stop filling the gaps, things surface. Ideas we didn't know we were carrying. Clarity on problems that had felt intractable. The bandwidth to notice an opportunity and actually respond to it.There is something that happens in unstructured time that cannot happen in the middle of a full schedule. The brain needs space to connect things. To process what it has been absorbing. To imagine something different from what currently exists.This is not a productivity hack. It is a basic human need that we have collectively agreed to treat as optional.The questions worth sitting withRather than asking how to create more space, which in the middle of overwhelm can feel like one more thing to figure out, try starting here:What is getting in the way of giving myself time to think and simply be?What stories am I telling myself about needing to be productive?What beliefs about rest are keeping my plate so full I can barely function?These are not rhetorical questions. They are the beginning of something. Sit with them. Notice what comes up without immediately trying to fix it.Where this fits in CSCThese questions sit at the heart of the CSC framework. If you want to explore the Curious Observer a little further, we've written a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.corestatecuration.com/blog/the-curious-observer-how-to-stop-being-so-hard-on-yourself/">guide</a>. That noticing, without judgement, with genuine curiosity, is where the real work begins.Alt text for accessibility:A misty morning landscape. A path leads through open grassland toward trees half-hidden in fog. Warm early light filters through the haze.Photo by <a target="_blank" href="https://unsplash.com/@yvesmoret?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText">Yves Moret</a> on <a target="_blank" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/road-in-forest-Wn3dj9_fflA?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a>

Why space and rest are not luxuries, and the questions worth sitting with when overwhelm makes it hard to think.

Creating Space for Creativity and Reflection

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Creating Space for Creativity and Reflection

Creating Space for Creativity and Reflection

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