We need to banish busyness
It’s toxic and unsustainable.
This story was inspired by a recent (virtual) interaction with a work colleague.
“I’m so busy.”
We’ve all heard it, we’ve all used it, it’s ever-present. Busyness! Our new catch-all phrase for explaining away the intricacies of our lives. But in this author’s humble opinion, we’re over-using the term to our downfall. Busyness is unsustainable.
It started off innocently enough. A group email went out to our project team, letting us know of the time/date availability for an upcoming meeting I’m trying to coordinate.
I had assumed my team was on the same page, working toward the same goal, of booking a meeting…together.
Shortly after that email went out, my colleague sent me a personal note to inform me that they would not be able to meet for the next month because, “believe it or not, I’m so busy.” To be fair to them, they’re heading off on an international trip at the end of the month with lots to do beforehand, naturally. And, this is not the first time they’ve done this (hiding behind busyness to avoid getting together). So, I shouldn’t have been surprised.
But for whatever reason, on this particular day, their response sent me spinning. Perhaps I just hit a wall. I am fed up with the busyness bungle.
Busyness is the newest pandemic infiltrating our everyday lives.
“I’m so busy.”
I think busyness has become a badge of honour. Somehow, we’ve equated it with success. “I’m so busy” has become a not-so-subtle way of positioning. What we’re really saying is, “I’m so important. Look at me!” Or, in the case of my colleague, I read their statement as “I’m doing other things that are more important and I won’t make time to help with your project.”
Really, what I heard them say is, “I don’t care.”
It’s rude!
You must always be seen to be “doing something.”
Busyness is toxic. Busyness conveys: “I’m better than you.” Busy-ness is a cop-out, something we say because we’re afraid that if we don’t, people will think we’re less-than, lazy, and unproductive. How did this happen?!
Even our now-90-year-old German friend is like this: to her, you can never be seen to be doing “nothing.” When we call to ask how she’s doing, she always, always replies with, “Oh I’m so busy! There’s always something to do!” Sitting and staring at the clouds? Waste of time. Hanging out with friends enjoying a good meal and a glass of wine? Super waste of time! You must always be seen to be “doing something.”
STOP THE MADNESS.
Can we please stop saying this? Can we please, for the love of all that is good and holy, normalize doing nothing? Can we collectively come to the understanding that in fact, doing nothing might actually be considered “doing something???” Or maybe we need to rebrand what “nothing” is. Nothing does not equal laziness. Doing “nothing” allows our brains to relax, for creativity to flow through, and where insight is possible.
If we are perpetually “busy,” eventually we crash. Or, we die an early death because we’ve been so stressed out from perpetual busyness. Or we give ourselves ulcers. We eat bad diets, yell at our partners, and are generally in a bad mood. All of this is, ironically, the opposite of productive.
Busyness is, therefore, unsustainable. And, if we’re all trying to survive and also keep this planet from burning up, we must embark on journeys that are sustainable! This means…we need to banish busyness.
Nothing does not equal laziness.
Bring back interesting conversation
Rather than parrot the standard line of, “Oh, I’m so busy,” a friend of mine has taken to replying with, “I’m joyfully occupied!” when people ask her how work is going.
We are all busy these days. Busyness then conveys almost nothing significant! If we’re all busy, what does busy even mean? We are all allowed to be busy, but we don’t have to make a big deal about it. Let’s all just acknowledge that our plates are collectively full and come up with something more creative to respond with. Like…
“How are you doing?”
“I’m great, life is full and abundant, and I’ve got a lot of awesome stuff on the go. How about you?”
Sounds much better to me than, “I’m so busy!”
