Did You Get the Memo? The Gig Is Up And The Word Is Out: BUSYNESS, which has long masqueraded as the ultimate identifying trait of significance and productivity is finally being recognized and widely regarded as what’s it’s always been: an unsustainable, seldom productive, stress producing, potentially life-threatening condition. SO GIVE IT UP! STOP IT RIGHT NOW! Busyness is no badge of honor… it’s just plain CRAZY!
Your life is not a dance card that someone else is filling in for you. No one appropriated your precious Google calendar and triple booked your life. It was not a stranger who signed you up to bake two-dozen homemade cookies for the luncheon or forced you to edit your neighbor’s son’s resume. Your friends did not twist your arm or threaten you with certain death if you did not invite them over for a dinner party next weekend, and no one is making you go to that play that you don’t even want to see.
When the phone rings you don’t actually have to answer it – some people believe in the magic of voicemail. Facebook, Candy Crush, Instagram, You Tube, Words With Friends and your email all have off buttons. The only person making you so overwhelmingly, crazy busy, is you. Isn’t it time you were a little nicer to the person who feeds you and chooses your underwear?
Busyness, especially in the extreme, is a choice, not a condition. I like to stay busy; it makes me happy. Or at least that’s what I’ve always declared – and what I’ve always done. Being referred to as the prototype for the Energizer Bunny has always filled me with pride. When I’m “crazy busy” I get so much done. I feel so accomplished and valuable. Productivity is a party for my ego and I love a good party… BUT (There’s always a ‘but’, isn’t there?) maybe I have my priorities messed up.
What if busyness is a detriment to productivity (scientific fact: IT IS!) and multi-tasking is it’s creepy, sneaky partner (another scientific fact: IT IS!)? What if never napping or sleeping in ISN’T proof of greatness, as my father always told me?
Okay, time for me to take a look at whom I’ve been “BEING” in the area of busyness.
Could it be that I’ve been using my busyness as a safety net – a way to avoid the things that might enhance my life… but, then again, might not? When there was a task that I didn’t get done (or done really well or completed on time), did I use busyness as my popularly accepted, credible excuse? “Oh, I was soooo busy.” And when I was asked to do something that either scared me or that I simply didn’t want to do, did my almost manic busyness become my unrecognized, built in excuse – politely declining because I was, well, “so crazy busy”?
I get it. My busyness is not really serving me. It needs a serious overhaul. My beingness needs a workout plan. When I have my plan worked out, I’ll share it with you… If I’m not too BUSY!