Too Busy Today – To Do What. Just How Busy Are You?
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Too busy today – to do what exactly? Let life pass you by? Hide in your busyness?
How many times have you read a newsletter that starts something like”? It has been such a busy time since” or “it seems like just yesterday”. In fact, my own words just recently were; “It has been an extremely busy time for us since writing the last newsletter”. It seems that even those of us who strive to live a quiet and peaceful life, are often busy and involved in things.
Now, this is quite ok as long as these activities are adding real value to our lives. Also, that they are not just an excuse to hide behind. Or worse still to keep ourselves numbed from realities we just don’t want to face.
Things that add value and meaning to our lives are more than acceptable. And while they keep us busy, they are more than a joy to perform. Likewise, the things that just keep us ‘busy’ are usually accompanied by feelings of angst. As well as feeling hassled and frayed. They are just debilitating, also they are robbing us of the real pleasures of life.
Here are a couple of questions though.
Are you busy with labours of love and fulfilment? Or, are you caught up in your busyness out of neglect? Maybe it is because you failed to take timely action in the past? Or, are you hiding in your busyness?
By taking time to analyze and take an honest look at what I was doing with my time, I found in my case that there was an element of each. I rediscovered that I still loved doing what I was doing in my work sphere. Also, that there were areas here that could be improved to make me more efficient. But for the main, I chose to ignore these in preference to effectiveness.
I am often guilty of retreating to the garden and paddocks and finding something to do. This is especially true when faced with an issue or job I don’t want to face up to. But I reckon as long as I am aware of this and it doesn’t get out of control this can be a healthy activity. All things in moderation they say, but done to excess this escape would require closer examination.
Is yesterday’s neglect compounding into today?
What concerned me the most was finding laziness and neglect in the past had contributed greatly to some of today’s activities that were keeping me busy. How do you fair here?
I well remember my father saying “Don’t put off till tomorrow what you can do today”. Or my mother, “A stitch in time saves nine”. By this, I am sure they didn’t mean we should overburden ourselves with our labours. Rather, that if the time was available, we should tend to those little chores today that will become large tasks tomorrow if left unattended.
Sometimes we will use the excuse of a supposedly more important task to cover up our laziness, or even our lack of foresight at the time. A couple of personal cases in point; About a year ago I noticed a very small patch of Rhodes grass growing amongst the couch grass. It would be a bit euphemistic for me to call it a lawn. This was the time to take action and a couple of minutes would have had it done. Today this patch is several metres square and is going to require a considerable effort to clear. No doubt making a great contribution to my busy-ness if I tend to it myself. Or quite a bite into my wallet if I pay for it to be done.
Similarly, we chose to let part of the vegetable garden lie fallow for a while. As above, a rogue sweet potato plant took over and is now requiring lots of effort to remove. Had we uprooted its first appearances, so much hard work could have been saved today.
Make an honest evaluation.
My point to all this is to encourage you to take a look at your own activities and make an honest evaluation. Then having done this, you will have the opportunity to change toward activities that are more enjoyable. Also, those that are fulfilling and that keep you active, busy, and alive. But you can remove yourself from the activities that just keep you frenetically busy and missing so much of the pleasure of life.
Also, by being aware, we can avoid the lack of actions that can make our lives so much harder and busier in the future. And here is the scary one. How much of our busyness is caused because we are habitually doing what we have always done and then we are trying to fit in some extra stuff? Lots to ponder, eh?
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© Ron and Sue Windred.
Disclaimer: The outlined metaphysical and healing properties in this website are for inspiration and reference. We gather this information and alleged properties from writings, books, folklore and various other sources. They are also dependent upon the attitude and beliefs of the individual. Furthermore they do not replace diagnosis or treatment by a qualified therapist or physician.