My Two Cents: Glorification Of Being Busy

Few days back at work I had a lightbulb moment. I thought, is this really what I want my life to be? Where I’m racing through it, instead of living it? What a life of speed, busyness, distraction, multitasking, stimulation, and impatience does is that it walls you off from who you are. I’ve become my own to-do list, a ‘human doing’ instead of a human being. Of course, experiencing this slowing down of life in order to gain these insights reflects a certain amount of privilege—but that’s kind of the point. Leisure and slowing down is not always about fun or biking in the park. It’s about having time for mental health and grieving too. There is much value to be gained from having the rhythm of your daily life be one that we can savour.

By being busy, a person signals to others how they themselves are a scarce resource on the market. Not having time to rest indicates that you’re in demand, and that your intellectual capital is highly valued. As a result, others consider you to be higher status. But busyness status as a reward just doesn’t cut it anymore.

The work-from-home option offers a rare window of opportunity for some people to become literally less busy, and perhaps more importantly, to get perspective on their cultural beliefs about busyness. Instead of being caught up in the inertia of always projecting a busy life, it gives time to reflect on how we used busyness to define ourselves—and how it led to stress and the conflation of productivity and self-worth. There are many downsides to the culture of busyness and honestly, the upside of it being something to brag about is just not worth it.

Other kinds of top-down policy approaches could maintain these revelations about busyness, so that individuals don’t have to act on their own. If policy enables (or forces) people to slow down, then it doesn’t matter if busyness is overhauled completely as a social signal—the system will demand it.

Beyond an individual pace of life, slowness can be a way to advocate for others. The slow food, slow fashion, slow design, or slow city movements?have emphasised not only a slower pace, but a pace that’s paired with ethical consumption and production—including better living wages, minimal environmental impact, and better quality of life.

Don’t get me wrong—I still have days where I am booked solid from 10:30 AM through 8:30 PM. But I have a whole new perspective on being busy, and I understand now that I don’t have to be slammed to be considered valuable. Busyness is not only about packing each day with as much as possible, but also the value placed on doing so.