Busyness
Whooo! It’s a busy time of the year!
Is anybody else feeling Busy?
I’ve certainly been doing enough this semester, what with three jobs: Campus, Library, and Pulpit Supply; plus full time school, a serious relationship, and preparations to be made for job searches and ordination. On top of all of that I decided it would be good to have a compelling social media portfolio when the time comes So I’ve been working on a blog and such in my copious free time.
And yet, I felt busier in the summer, working one job as a Chaplain.
Here’s the thing: Everyone is always doing something. Even doing nothing is even doing something. Whether you are watching Netflix or meditating or doing paperwork or manual labor, you are doing that thing. Busyness is not a measure of the things you do in a day, it can’t be. That would make no sense.
Busyness is a statement about your anxiety level and your flexibility. It tells me how you feel about the things you do in a day. Your willingness to be interrupted.
In my experience, when I am feeling busy and stressed, like I can’t get everything done, doing less does not help. I’ve had busy times of my life with only one part time job and no school when I couldn’t find enough hours in the day. At camp however, amidst a plethora of activities, I feel relaxed and available.
So If you are drinking from the font of anxiety this holiday season, I want to urge you to chill out. Do the things you have to do, including rest. Don’t try to do more than 24 hours worth of activities in 24 hours. Let everything else drop.
You can feel good about your decision not to do the things you don’t have time for. It makes no sense to guilt yourself over your failure to dilate space-time itself in order to do more 1 second per second of actions.
I know it’s hard to do when external pressures force you to make priorities that don’t match your preferences. I know that emotions are not always responsive to reason. But choosing to feel unbusy really is the only way there ever has been to be unbusy. Busyness is a feeling