To say ‘I don’t have time’ is to say ‘I don’t want to.‘
Busyness – an affliction too many of us are suffering the ill effects of.
“I don’t have time”
“I’m just so busy”
“I’m too busy to think”
“I’m too busy to stop”
“I’ll think about that when I get time”
The intrusive nature of modern living (‘faster’, ‘bigger’, ‘more of more’) and other distractions mean many of us are constantly on the go. Our days have all the white space squeezed from them. There never feels like there’s enough time.
Stress and burnout are direct consequences of chasing too much of this type of living. Yet, we stay on the wheel.
But is all this busyness getting us closer to our goals?
What’s the cost to our own health and wellbeing if we are busy being busy all the time?
Are we guilty of placing importance on things that really don’t matter much? To paraphrase Pareto, are we chasing the trivial many, or the vital few?
Importantly, where is all this busyness getting us? We’re busy but what is actually getting done?
Being busy is mostly something we've created. We scurry around, chasing our tails because that's what the masses do. We're in this together. No time to think why we're in it. Technology that was meant to help us just creates busier. We're plugged in constantly so find it harder and harder to disconnect.
We wear busy as a strange badge of honor. Almost boastful in our protests that we’re just too busy.
It is time to break free.
It is time to reclaim our days.
It is time to protect the white space.
It is time to slow down, to reset. Time to take our self-care practices seriously.
It is time to get decidedly unbusy.