Are You Busy?

Ben Wheeler • September 17, 2017

Busy. I cringe when I hear that word. Everyone seems to be ‘busy’ these days and they seem to glorify it. For some reason, society has reached the stage where how busy you are seems to reflect success. So if you’re not busy? Well, what are you doing then? Guess what? I think it’s time we shift that notion of ‘thinking’ once and for all!

It’s no secret that today we are all, to some degree, getting busier (because everyone makes a point of letting you know) and there has definitely been studies on the strong correlation with the decline of our health. There is no doubt that the two are closely linked. So how do we make the change from being busy? Or how do you avoid saying it?

Words have their literal meanings, and then there are words which hold negative connotations that you just ‘feel’ as soon as you hear it. I believe that ‘busy’ is one of those words. It almost makes you feel instantly stressed as soon as you hear those two syllables. So I guess that the first step to avoiding that instant ‘stress’ you put out into the world, is to stop saying that you’re busy or you don’t have time. Ever heard of mantras or manifesting? If you keep saying that you’re busy and you don’t have time, guess what will happen? You’ll stay busy and you won’t have the time!

Think you have to ‘hustle’ to get it done? Not necessarily. I believe that this word is often overused and similarly to being ‘busy’, it’s also glorified. Of course, hard work does pay off, don’t get me wrong, and I’m certainly not discouraging that in any way. However, being balanced ensures that you’re in the right frame of mind to begin the ‘hustle’. So do what you need to do to achieve that balance. Prioritise. You can fit things in if they are important enough to you.

So when someone asks you how your day was, and you instantly go to tell them how busy you are, perhaps it’s time to rethink that. What can you say instead? Try it today, it’s not easy!

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