The Balanced Life, Huntsville Alabama

During coffee with a friend, I have not seen in a month, we discussed the current state of our lives and that of family and mutual friends. However, throughout the entirely of the 45mins coffee break my friend continuously checked her phone, responded to emails, and complained of how busy she is all of the time. Hence, the reason I have not seen her in over a month. She was obviously frazzled and overwhelmed. I could not help but to feel sad for her. However, she is not alone in her quest to check all of the boxes all of the time.

Unfortunately, adults are not the only one suffering from being too busy. Most children’s days are schedule down to the last minute leaving little time for play and/or boredom. Although, most parents would argue they schedule regular playdates for their children. The issue with scheduling playdates is twofold. One, children are robbed of the opportunity to forge organic friendships with other children. Two, scheduling play compounds the issue of busyness by adding an additional task to the schedule.  

Ultimately the disease of being busy begs the question; how did we get to this place of constant movement, doing, and stress, and how do we improve our quality of life without feeling like we have dropped the ball?

We got here by engaging in some imaginary competition with one another. Let’s think of it as adult gold stars. Meaning, whoever can work out consistently, make Pinterest worthy meals (from scratch), be physically present for every child-related activity, and also have an active social life wins. In reality no one wins, because everyone is exhausted, overwhelmed, and frustration attempting to keep up the pace without the inevitable crash.

Sadly, we are running ourselves into the ground, chasing gold stars, and checking boxes instead of chasing genuine enjoyment. The following are three steps to reduce the pressure of being busy. The first step is to be fully present in the moment instead of obsessing over our tech screens or the next appointment and/or activity on the schedule. Second, free yourself from less fulfilling obligations. Finally, every second of your day does not have to be accounted for. If you want to stare into space and doing nothing for an hour, it is okay, or if you want to spend an entire weekend in your PJs at home, also OKAY!

You’ll find being present, eliminating unfulfilling activities, and creating free time for yourself will alleviate some of the stress of being busy all of the time. Your time is valuable because it is one of the few things we cannot get back once we have use it, so use you time wisely!