The day starts, full of promise and glittering sun. Each day holds the same number of minutes–time is indiscriminate. 1440 minutes.
When do you think we’ll learn to live within the age-old and firm-tight constraints of time? The velocity of our society and the advance of technology begs the opinion that we’ll never come to terms with it. Because we cannot create more time, we will create ways to use it more quickly and for more things.
“I’m so busy” is like a badge of honor for modern women. It’s a verbal tic like “I’m fine” or “I’m so tired”. We add it easily into conversation because it seems thoughtless and benign. Sure, isn’t everyone busy? And, anyway, isn’t busy good?
Busy is second nature in our culture, but busy breeds a litany of contemporary issues. Is your brand of busy really benefiting anyone, or are you simply busy for busy’s sake? Are you busy because you are breathing in each of our 1440 daily minutes in it’s full breadth? Or is your brain tricking you into thinking you’re busy because you’re frantically switching between Twitter and Facebook and your ding-a-ling email? Maybe you’re constantly running from one appointment or practice to another, buying into the suburban myth that if we can just give our kids every opportunity–they’ll turn out alright.
There is no more corrosive cancer in life and relationship than mindless busy. Mindless and aimless busy is often a band-aid and distraction from doing real life work. It keeps us from intimacy and creativity. It masks the things in our life that need tending.
If I am being honest, I feel important when I’m busy. I feel like I’m irreplaceable and awfully good. Our go-go-go mentality is bred from a fear of being still, a priority on productivity, and the lie that we’re in control.
What would you gain from cutting out the busy?