Reblogged from ALK3R:
I saw a dear friend a few days ago. I stopped by to ask her how she was doing, how her family was. She looked up, voice lowered, and just whimpered: “I’m so busy… I am so busy… have so much going on.”
Almost immediately after, I ran into another friend and asked him how he was. Again, same tone, same response: “I’m just so busy… got so much to do.”
The tone was exacerbated, tired, even overwhelmed.
And it’s not just adults. When we moved to North Carolina about ten years ago, we were thrilled to be moving to a city with a great school system. We found a diverse neighborhood, filled with families. Everything felt good, felt right.
After we settled in, we went to one of the friendly neighbors, asking if their daughter and our daughter could get together and play. The mother, a really lovely person, reached for her phone and pulled out the calendar function. She scrolled… and scrolled… and scrolled. She finally said: “She has a 45-minute opening two and half weeks from now. The rest of the time it’s gymnastics, piano, and voice lessons. She’s just…. so busy.”
Horribly destructive habits start early, really early.
How did we end up living like this? Why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we do this to our children? When did we forget that we are human beings, not human doings?
Please click to continue reading: The Disease of Being Busy
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
This reminds me; Harlan Ellison wrote a cautionary SF story “Repent Harlequin said the Ticktockman,”
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I vaguely remember that one… when being late eventually makes you permanently ‘late’.
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That’s the one.
Very prophetic.
(I used to get very worrying looks when I used to mutter the title under my breath at work in the years prior to retirement.)
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I can imagine 🙂
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They could put up with me saying ‘Oh bother! Said Pooh’ (in place of more obvious expletives)
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Ah… randomness. I approve of that. 🙂
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Thanks for sharing a much-needed perspective, Sue. 💘
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❤
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We are going through a ridiculously busy period — which these years in retirement are rare. But it’s summer. The season is short. People to see we can’t see any other time and dealing with as much running around as we can before the snow flies.
I hate it. I beg off as many things as possible … probably the ONLY benefit of chronic illness is you never lack for excuses. I spent my life “too busy.” Now, I want time. The more, the better. I did it when I did it because that’s what earning a living demanded. Now, I don’t have to and mostly, I don’t. Except when I do.
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I’m very busy, doing my best to learn a more leisurely pace… though retirement is still a long way off unfortunately.
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“Too Busy” is never good for one’s health or relationships.
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No… it is never good.
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:):)
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Yes, those final words really say it – “How did we end up living like this? Why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we do this to our children? When did we forget that we are human beings, not human doings?”. And in those words it is the children that I feel most sorry for, for I know of cases here where their lives are now so hectic that they are truly exhausted. Often, I wonder just where all this is going. Adrian
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From running children to a schedule, to them having parents absent from their lives through following their own, yes, I agree, and they are being raised to know only such a world…
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Yes, absolutely, they don’t know about anything else.
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That’s the tragedy.
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