“Okay, so I’ve got time to schedule milkshakes with you in between going to the gym and that meeting on Thursday, but I’ll only be able to stay for 45 minutes in order to make it back in time. Na, that works best because I’m flat out the week after”.
I was reading somewhere recently that it has become part of our culture to wear ‘busy’ as a badge of honour, with the response to ‘how are you?’ becoming ‘busy’ as if that is a compliment to how we must be so productive in order to live a successful life.
Yes, it is good to be productive, to get stuff done. I know I do this all the time! The question is therefore, what am I sacrificing if I am so busy? Is it my health, my relationships, my wellbeing, my grades? Does this line up with what my priorities actually are? I remember one of the biggest life lessons I have ever learnt was when I was sulking to a friend about how I never got invited to stuff, and he turned around and said ‘the issue was that you were never there – you were so busy’. Jeepers, that’s enough to make you re-evaluate things. Also, when my health crashed I had to make some decisions because I physically couldn’t maintain being so busy. In regards to the above comment about being successful – am I doing less of more stuff, therefore actually leading to an overall decline in whatever it is I am trying to succeed? Sometimes the honest answer to this is yes.
So, what’s the solution? One of them is to STOP. For me, my stop time is often when I sit down with my Bible in the morning. Yes, I schedule it in, because otherwise it doesn’t happen. That’s just how I work though – I work on a schedule, so I have to make time to sit down, breathe, and STOP. And sometimes I have to be aware that my schedule will go completely out the window, because sometimes spending some serious time with that friend is more important than spending an hour stressing over school work that I’ve already finished. Another one is to prioritise. If there is something that is being detrimentally impacted by being so busy, you may need to stop and look at things. While it can suck to let some things go, sometimes it’s important in order to get more balance back in your life. Sometimes it’s just for a season.
Basically, it’s all about balance, not busy. It can be really hard to do, because sometimes it involves saying ‘no’ instead of ‘yes’. Sometimes it involves actually thinking about how you are physically, mentally, emotionally, relationship wise holding up, which can be a hard wake up call. You will be okay though, I believe in you! So, you ready to stop?
K
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Relaxation Stress Self CareSpeaking to someone about your problems can be the first steps to a solution.
