Since the past few years whenever people are meeting, just after the hi how are you –you will always hear: I’m good but I’m busy.
Busy?
It first gave the impression that they were complaining about their heavy schedule, but after a close look I’ve notice that they were more like bragging about how busy they were.
- So where this paradox does comes from?
- Are we really busier than ever before?
- Or do we just feel busy?
- Or maybe our relationship with time did change?
We still have 24 hours per day like we used to in the past; and on top of that with economic progress and technological advances, working hours and chores have already been greatly reduced .For example washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, vacuum cleaners or even employing cleaners have taken our place for household chores. Moreover now we have laws where working hours should not exceed a certain threshold based on a weekly or monthly basis.
Then why is everyone pressed for time? For the past 2 weeks I’ve been going around hinting at possible explanation from people. And I’ve come up with 3 fundamental concepts where most people will found them into.
They are so focused on their goal that everything around them became dull, and I don`t blame them, I mean it`s really important to pursue something, like adding importance (meaning) to be alive, living. But the way they are doing it is completely wrong. It’s like peeking through a small hole in a ship`s hull, focusing only on the small island lying in front, instead of standing tall enjoying the whole journey admiring the scene ,bonding with people you value most.
You know life is really short (let`s say average 70-80 yrs. old) .and if you are planning to drop everything for your only goal; it’s like buying a movie only to watch the end without knowing the whole story/plot. Life is meant to be experimented and goals serves a guide to help us to choose our way, but the journey is yet to be experimented and that`s the joy of being alive.
They are just going with the flow: Taking back from my previous post on recognition, Nowadays people don`t think for themselves ,like what they value most in life , they have just taken a liking into following that is shown or referred to as being ideal in society.
Translating into busyness itself becoming a sort of trendy status; implying being busy certainly means that you are being productive and efficient.
But
Are we really?
The way I see productivity is completely opposite:
Having many “ important’’ things to do is only going to stretch you thin; it will be mostly like progressing mediocrely in all directions ; without excelling in what you are most passionate ; eventually missing that feeling of accomplishment for satisfaction. You will be more like it could have been better since you did not gave your 100% ,which will for sure bring down your morale ,weighing heavily on your happiness gauge.

Trading time for ‘mental rewards’. I`ll be having an in depth analysis for the mental reward system ; for now let`s just say it’s the things or action that your mind forces you to have or do in order to soi-disant have that fell good factor.
As time passed by, we all developed a materialistic mindset. Like the more we have, the better we feel – And the biggest part of modern necessities is technology:
Be it in terms of tv`s, pc`s, smartphones, smart houses, multipurpose sofas, adjustable beds…etc. The latter’s are really upgrading our life but at the same time trading for our time.
You will either be busy working relentlessly for having the required funds to buy them, or you will be self-absorbed in using it – wasting a lot of time to that modern drug. It’s so addictive that for the long run technology will be switching places and start using us.
Some socialise so much that they don’t` have time to be in their own company.
Type 1: The desperate
- This person crave for attention ;like really willing to give up their little time left on their day at the expense of being given attention.
Type 2: The troubled
- This one uses busyness as escapism. It does not only apply to interacting with people, but extends to activities or things to do. It’s mostly like they try to avoid the conflicting truth of inner self; making busyness a comfort pill.
My experience with being busy: I used to have a long list of all things that should be done each week.The list was so filled up that on reaching Sunday afternoon;there was still half of the list not done; so I would squeeze it onto the following week list; along with the new things to be done.
With the list was getting longer and longer each week,I started to have that rushing illusion :a trick that our brain plays on us making us feel like rushing is the only way to remedy the situation.
Eventually it did got worse to a point where I was now putting extra physical and mental effort to get things done and that`s when I understood that I need to rethink the whole process of catching up.
To sum up:
Well catching up seems to be a myth after all .The main problem is busyness itself. If we assess ourselves tactfully using the aforementioned concepts, there will be for sure no need for catching up. Update: I still have my list, but the activities/goals on it don`t have deadlines. It’s just in priority order. That way I can take all my time to focus on the things that’s really important to me , where with time the bottom list gets dumped as my excitement fades for those on the list.(yes we are easily motivated /interested by new things and concepts ,but only a few will remain in our interests for the long run. And this list helps me a lot to keep up.)