The busy life - Filling your calendar to the max

Most of us have that one friend who has his/her calendar filled with all kinds of work stuff, meetings and activities. We also might have heard the legendary phrase: "My life is so hectic, I wish I could just relax for a while every now and then...". Saying this is usually either "humble bragging" or a statement of a real problem. Either way, how do we end up spending all our time being in a hurry or already late from something?

Before we go, I'd like to say that this is not a "stop working and live your life"-post, more like a "use your pastime wisely" one.

Being busy is something to pursue

In the modern society we live in, they say time is valuable. However at the same time a complete lack of time is considered cool and even mature. A proper adult should have things to do lined up after one another at all times. Want to be successful? Be busy. That's all it takes, or so we seem to think.

I'm late for my next meeting

It's quite understandable to see a correlation between being busy and being successful since most of the successful people we see have a lot going on. We just tend to forget that being busy is usually the result of being successful instead of the opposite. So when we see someone who's busy, we think he/she must be successful because they're busy and look up to them. As a result of all this people have got used to the thought that being busy is always good. However, I think it's really not that good in the long run.

Have to or want to?

A lot of these "busy people" talk about how they have to do X, go to Y and then do Z. So basically what they're saying is that they would rather do something else but they have to do the things they do, many of which they have arranged voluntarily. So, you spend your whole day doing stuff you'd rather not do, and for what? So you can start over the next day.

Now think, how many things do you have for the day that you look forward to?

Taking it easy doesn't mean you're lazy

This is something a lot of people don't understand, which is quite sad actually. Most of us use a large portion of the day working, but I'm talking about the time that is left after we substract the hours used in the compulsory stuff. The time that's left is your own personal time you can use in any way you want, including just taking it easy. But instead we use the time to do as much as we possibly can before we need to sleep. We do this for days, weeks and even years while complaining about how it would be so nice to have some time to relax. The gym training, meeting people you don't want to meet, doing tomorrow's work, mowing the lawn etc. is not compulsory. It might need to be done in the near future, but not in that exact moment. It doesn't make you lazy if you want to have some time to grab a drink, lay back in a hammock and read a book. You might think you have to have a lot to do everyday, but you don't. Even professional athletes take a rest every now and then, and so should you.

It's your life so you're in charge of how you use your time. If you love doing a lot all the time and being on the move until the moment you fall asleep, then go for it. But if you think your days are filled with unpleasant stuff and you feel like you're exhausted, you got some prioritizing to do. Don't run around just because that is what you feel like you should do.

Regards,
The lazy bastard who likes to relax every once in a while and forget the social pressure that tells us to keep moving.

Peace.
-R