Busyness is Ruining Us
Busyness, that stuff in my life that takes away from what I want
to be doing, from what I should be doing, from the relationships I need to be
nurturing and deepening to survive. It’s
that email or text I get at home that I just have to check on because I’m of course the only person that can fix the problem or answer the question. It’s the saying yes to everything that comes
my way, from ministry opportunities and extra assignments at work to filling up
every evening or weekend with dinner dates and activities.
None of these things are intrinsically bad, but when they
take away from the priorities in life, they can be detrimental not only to you,
but to those around you. Some say we, “…equate
busyness with worth. A means of gaining recognition and being affirmed as a
person, busyness also has nourished weeds that, in our adult years, now
threaten to choke our ministries, marriages, and family life.”[1]
Is this true, are we taking on the world, so that we don’t have to be alone, so
that we can say, ‘hey, look what I’ve done, look what I’ve accomplished, and
look at how many people admire me?’
The most recent issue of Relevant magazine has an interview
with Tony Hale of Veep and Arrested Development where he brings up a valid
point of why we are so busy, why we are trying so hard, he states, “If you
don’t find something greater than yourself who knows you – knows truly who you
are – and you feel known by them, then you’re going to spend the rest of your
life trying to be known by a ton of other people.”[2] Interesting isn’t it? We try to fill our lives with stuff, with
activities, with people we may not even really know, and this is what we get
for it…
Here’s a little list of busyness symptoms I came up with:
- Constant
stress/anxiety about today, tomorrow, and the future
- Inability
to concentrate on the simplest things
- Can’t
watch a full 22 minute TV show without whipping out the laptop/phone (this is
me)
- Checking
Facebook messages in the evening while in bed and answering late night texts
(late night for me is umm 9pm, haha)
- You
look at the calendar and feel overwhelmed
- No
time for prayer/reflection
- You
eat at your desk at work while still working
- Can’t
hold a conversation/listen because there are too many things going on in your
head that need attention
- After
going out with friends you feel even more drained rather than rejuvenated and
in good spirits
- Physical
ailments may be present as well i.e. headaches, feelings of depression, etc.
I’m sure there are many more, but for sake of brevity I’ll
stop. Feel free to make a list of your own distractions and symptoms.
In all, busyness is a real problem with real consequences
and our ‘do more get more’ society isn’t helping a bit. Technology was supposed to simplify life
instead of congesting it. Work now
follows us home and in many cases we are expected to respond even though we are
not compensated. Our true, real, and
most important relationships are suffering greatly and for what, seriously, for
what? Tune in next week for the answer.
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