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The BS with Busy

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Stop the Busy

 

Our culture thrives on busyness (does anyone else always feel like that word is misspelled when they write it?). For Americans, being busy is now a status symbol. It shows that you are needed; you have a lot of responsibilities; you have -ish to do. Yes, there are things in our life that we HAVE to do like work, and be social and make sure your kids are alive, but there is a lot of stuff that we add to our plate because – well, we find we have a little time available. And free time on our calendars signifies to us that we are likely falling behind from the others in the world who seem to be so much busier (Others = Friends, social media friends, co-workers, the Kardashians).

We have to stop that type of thinking. Busy ≠Value/Success. And if you run after success using busyness as your measuring stick, you are never going to make it and you will end up completely exhausted.

I went through a time in my life a year ago (my husband will tell you I am still not out of the woods, and he is right), where I tied all of my value and success to my work. The busier I felt at work, the more I felt needed, valued, respected and important. I wanted to be the best in my office and the way I thought I was going to do that was to be first in-last out (TBH, I didn’t make first in that often because: mornings). I would stay until 8 or 9 (sometimes midnight) almost every night because I wanted to get things done and make sure that others could see just how much I was responsible for. I would accept new projects and assignments not caring about the fact that I was already well over my capacity of what could be reasonably done in 8 hours a day, because being busy was the way to impress my coworkers and bosses. On days where I could have wrapped up at 6 PM and made it home to hang out with my husband, I would start working on projects for the next day just for the sake of seeming busy.

While our society may glorify busyness, God does not.

The amount of items on your to-do list does not impress God and it never will. God wants so many wonderful things for you and stuffing your schedule with everything possible in an effort to find value is not one of them.

Pay for someone in line behind you at Starbucks. Go to the nursing home nearest you and ask the front desk to point you in the direction of someone who needs a visitor. Volunteer at the food bank or clothing donation center.



The stress that we put ourselves through just to keep up with the Joneses, can’t really be all life is about right?

We should stop focusing on doing things for the sake of how we might look to other people and do things that give us life and glorify God. You should totally be pouring it on at your job, because God calls us to work hard, but you also need to set boundaries for yourself. That doesn’t mean that you are going to get to leave at 5:30 on the dot every day, but you should aim to set a time (mine is 6:00 PM) and that time, ask yourself “Can this be done tomorrow?”. If the answer is yes – go home.

 

The same goes with your personal life. You do not have to enroll your kids in every single activity in order for them to get in to college or to keep up with Mrs. Jones’ kids. You don’t have to keep up with the class mom who does all the volunteering and bakes all of the cookies. You cannot be everything for everyone.

Pay for someone in line behind you at Starbucks. Go to the nursing home nearest you and ask the front desk to point you in the direction of someone who needs a visitor. Volunteer at the food bank or clothing donation center.



Pick a handful of things to spend your efforts on and do them well. But don’t add things on to your calendar for the sake of having a full calendar.

God calls for you to rest and to find rest in Him (Matthew 11:28). As people, we were not created for a 24/7 life. [Find my post on How to find Rest here] We were called to work hard, yes, but we were also instructed to take a break. Even God took a rest day after He created the entire world. I can say with 100% confidence, whatever you are working on is not as important as that was. If you feel otherwise – I would absolutely love to hear what you are working on. No really – email me.

Stop the Busy BS. There honestly is no need for you to be scheduling yourself in to 15 minute increments. Set a goal for yourself this week to look through your weekly calendar and take a hard look to see if you can trim any of the fat (fat = any activities that are unnecessary or ‘for show’). Instead, plan to spend those times in a way that is completely just for you and your family.

Pay for someone in line behind you at Starbucks. Go to the nursing home nearest you and ask the front desk to point you in the direction of someone who needs a visitor. Volunteer at the food bank or clothing donation center.



A short guide on how to stop chasing the standard of busy. Encouraging you to enjoy the little things and focus on progress not perfection.

A short guide on how to stop chasing the busy standard.
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