I have been wondering lately, and it seems like it keeps coming up, why are we so “busy”? You ever ask somebody how they are doing and they say “I’m ‘busy'”. Since when did “busy” become a reflection of the emotional state of our lives? “Busy” is something we do, not something we are.
“Busy” is an excuse not a reason. I say that because “busy” seems to be a way for me to become so preoccupied on a day-to-day basis that I am missing out on life. Like lately, I have been to “busy” to blog. I haven’t really been so preoccupied that I couldn’t sit down and write something for the great ether to diseminate, just that I didn’t want to make the time to do it. I that case, “busy” could mean lazy.
I don’t like to hurt people’s feelings or to miss out on opportunities so I continually commit to more and more “stuff” when I should just say no. Besides, idle hands are the devil’s playground or some garbage like that. Then all of the sudden I look around and go, man, I am running ragged trying to keep up all of these commitments. You know what I mean. You can feel it deep within, that tiredness, the gradual dread of the next day because there is just too much to do. Life gradually becomes a series of blurred events, of how many things can I cram into 24 hours? “If only there were more hours in the day.” What if, instead of more hours in the day there was less “busy” sucking all my time away. In this case, “busy” could be afraid.
What if, I could stop racing through life and really take the time to “stop and smell the roses”. What if, I stopped drawing all of my sense of self-worth from the things that I “do”. What if, I stopped living for me, myself and I? What if, I decided to stop being so selfish with my time and really starting living for the greater good of all?
Once again I find myself battling me. My wants, my desires, my needs, my status, my politics, whatever. “Busy” is meaningless. If I am serving others I am not busy, I am serving. Somewhere, somehow in this twisted society we have created “busy”. Something to be admired, to strive for. Something were we start to equate busy with successful or powerful (aka business, yes, that is busy-ness). Perhaps “busy” means my life is screwed up and I don’t want to really engage with another human being about it. Besides, they are probably to “busy” to care.
We are a twisted lot, aren’t we.
Daniel, I agree. It seems most people in our society now medicate themselves with Busy-ness. It is no longer enough to relax on a porch with some friends, you have to be DOING something.
I would also say, the word, “NO” is underused. Take a step back from your life, go out of town for a weekend, talk to a mentor, but take stock. Decide what is really important and then begin trimming the rest.