The Deal with Busyness

So what do you have to do today? Seriously. What do you really have to do today?

 

I have been thinking a lot about how "busy" I claim to be lately and how long my "to do" lists as a mama have gotten. I find myself getting so carried away with unrealistic deadlines for myself to meet and POOF!!! Before I know it the week has blown by and I am clinging on to bits and pieces of sporadic enjoyments that I "found time" for amongst laundry, dishes, errands, bills, patients, pointless worries and getting ready for the day ahead. I often feel accomplished for what I have done, not for what I have experienced and I strongly desire that to be the other way around. An article that a friend of mine shared recently really captured the essence of my ego's struggle for a perfectly checked off "to do" list, well perfectly. The author defined this as "busyness" and actually labeled it as a sickness. I absolutely agree. Read on.

 

"The American Psychological Association has published its Stress In America survey since 2007. They find that the majority of Americans recognize that their stress exceeds levels necessary to maintain good health. The most frequent reason they cite for not addressing the problem?

Being too busy.
It's a vicious cycle."

 

The author also shares a study in which people would rather deliver electric shocks to themselves verses being left alone to simply just be and think. This saddens me. We have become so reliant on external stimuli that the idea of meditation and relaxation are something that we avoid or simply cannot bring ourselves to find the time for. Meditation is only for yogis and hippies right? Imagine how the world might be if we all meditated for 15 minutes a day? What if this was normal? Like brushing our teeth? Or posting absolutely everything we did all day on Facebook?

 

After reading this article I set out to challenge myself. For the next 30 days (and hopefully longer), I would love to remove the words "I didn't have time" and "I don't have time" from my vocabulary. I would also like to stop creating my own deadlines (a.k.a Sheri stress) and invest more time in myself and loved ones. At my annual check-up I was so happy that my nurse midwife (I still go to a birth center for my primary care, they are the best!) spent majority of the visit discussing my role as a new mother with me and making sure that I took plenty of time to focus on myself. Right after that visit I spent the day leisurely looking around town and actually sitting down to savor lunch by myself.

 

The dirty dishes in the sink can wait. It is probably not vital that I check my email everyday. If I do not make it the store tomorrow we will survive. What cannot wait is snuggling with my son. Or making sure that my body is active or taking the time to meditate everyday for my mental well-being. Or getting beyond the small talk with my husband instead of saying I don't "have time" to chat. What is on his mind today?  Living my life CANNOT wait and this busyness thing has got to go!

With all of this said, I cannot argue with the fact that some things just gotta get done. I'm not interested in being a slob or giving up on my commitments, however I hope that I can learn to accomplish tasks that need my attention with mindfulness and with the permission to not be so darn attached to the results that I was expecting. I also hope that I can forgive myself for having an incomplete "to do" list at the end of the day.

"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of."

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Poor Richard's Almanac

 

So, what do you think about this busyness thing?

Read the rest of the busyness article I referred to here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-dannemiller/busy-is-a-sickness_b_6761264.html