The inessential busyness of life
“It’s not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is: what are we busy about?” ~Henry David Thoreau
Time flies. An overused statement but it's so true. It flies and I have NO idea what I've got to show for it. Seriously, some days I stop and think, "did all I do today was build someone else's dream?" That's it? "What did you do for self-improvement, Lucy?" Nothing.For the past four months, I've worked tirelessly on a project at work. Overtime, no paid time, weekends...I was not in the mood for conversation, meeting up with friends or any of my old pleasures like social media and blogs. I've been a zombie. A moody depressed one. (Wait, as opposed to...whatever.) My only escape were weekends. I told myself I'd catch up on sleep then. Not exactly. I busied them up with so many activities just to make up for a dull week. I hate idle time. You only have one life to live, right? YOLO, right?I became burnt out. Not only that, but I was still broke. That was last week. Fast forward to this week....lol. My project is finally over and now I can breathe again. I'm finally back to normal. But I still do not want to waste my time. I don't want to be so consumed by someone else's work that I forget about my own projects. I don't want to allocate time to frivolous events when I should be dedicating time into creating my ideal life. I'm not perfect by any means but I have taken tiny steps towards being less busy.
Three things I've found that work in being less busy:
- Less time spent on the internet - Over the last few months, I've realized that my love for social media has waned. I don't have much to say/share. Scratch that, I do. I just don't feel the constantly overshare anymore. I think we all need to learn how to balance our public personas and our privates lives. Keep the bulk of who you are a mystery. It's alluring.
- More time spent with humans - Nothing feels better than a sense of belonging. To have friends and family, a lover or even a pet. Knowing that you matter to someone really shifts your mood for the better. Carve out time for the ones near and dear to your heart.
- Alone time - This is so important to me. In a world where everyone wants a piece of you, it's important that you consider your needs as well. There are too many people spewing negative energy, waiting for you to soak it up. Sit still and organize your life! Write. As much as I love lists, I don't make enough of them. And really, they keep me sane.
Are you doing "too much"? Is there things/people/events in your life that can be cut out?