Hello Millenial News Reader.
At the risk of this introduction sounding like an email, allow me to jump right into the topic of the day. I am naturally very introspective but I must attribute that to growth. Also, introspection has to have lanes because you may be living too much in your head. As a reflective person, I get to explore possibilities and opportunities a lot which means that a lot happens internally.
Today, I urge you to be introspective even if for a bit. I learn through questions hence, allow me to ask you a few. How many hours a day do you work? How many of the things that you’re working on matter to you? How often do you spend time wishing for things to be different? How many times do you act differently to achieve these things? How many newsletters and could be ‘important’ sites have you subscribed to? Do you have little to no time for yourself? Are all these busy and ‘important’ things earning you an income? Have you subscribed to the analogy that only “hard work” pays? You may have a full calendar with webinars, masterclasses and online meetings, but are they really important to you? How many courses, programs and fellowships have you participated in?
Well, I might just have described myself a few months ago. With a calendar so full that I’d be proud to say, “Let me check my calendar and get back to you.” I liked to think I have a high affinity for knowledge and would get involved in the “very important” webinars, fellowships and programs. I’d volunteer whenever possible because that was “supposed to build my resume.” I could hardly say ‘no’ to an opportunity I felt eligible for. I remember one time I was enrolled in almost three leadership/entrepreneurship/business programs. I thought this was the way to hack life and that I was building a strong resume.
I met with a friend once and was so proud to update her with the news that I got accepted into a very competitive fellowship program on innovation. For a moment I thought they’d be happy for me, which they were but quickly added that they couldn’t wait for the day that I would put all this knowledge I’d gained into action. That hit me hard!
Indeed I was a victim of “glorified busyness.” Without realizing it, I’d become just a dreamer who was on a wild goose chase. Another close friend in a separate setting also told me shortly after that that I was so talented, which was something I constantly heard but that I also needed to focus and do something tangible with it.
Now you might be wondering why I chose to personalize this article. Hang on just a bit and you’ll understand why I felt so compelled to share this with you.
What is Glorified Busyness?
First, how about we define “glorified busyness” eey? For many of us, “busy” has become a way of life, in both personal and professional contexts. A column from Dr Susan Koven gives an interesting insight into the topic:
“In the past few years, I’ve observed an epidemic of sorts: patient after patient suffering from the same condition. The symptoms of this condition include fatigue, irritability, insomnia, anxiety, headaches, heartburn, bowel disturbances, back pain, and weight gain. There are no blood tests or X-rays diagnostic of this condition, and yet it’s easy to recognize. The condition is excessive busyness.”
Busy is acceptable. Busy is glorified. It creates all kinds of associations that are productive. Things are happening. In our busy world, we’re busy all the time. Even when we have a free moment, an “unproductive” few seconds of waiting, the almost instinctive reaction has become reaching for your phone or some other screen to “check something.”
As a millennial or gen z, do you suffer from the glorification or expectation of being busy? Do you have guilt or discomfort over stopping or at the idea of allowing yourself to not do anything for ten minutes? An hour? A day? How hard has it become to shut down your brain and all its busy thoughts? Should I add how you tend to beat yourself up in case you’ve not been busy enough? Please share your response in the comments section down below. We will delve deeper next time on how to stop glorifying busyness.
Till the next time, bye and happy reading!
Ruthie Kimani ❤❤❤
This got me thinking about the power of idleness. Newton discovered gravity while sitting under an apple tree just chilling with his thoughts. Einstein was probably in his room chilling with his thoughts when he made more discoveries on how space-time work and giving birth to relativity. Its very fascinating the tangents our minds take when we are idle. Maybe genius requires idleness to properly flourish.
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Thanks for the enlightenment. Until today, I didn’t know it had a name. Maybe we should also talk about how difficult it is to get over this glorified busyness. The guilt and feeling of purposelessness that come along with deliberately trying to pause. Sometimes we’re cognizant of it’s presence in our life but trying to wean it off seems a little too scary. Because what will I do with my life then? So we simply get comfortable with glorified busyness because the alternative doesn’t bode well for us.
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As a millennial I definitely feel the busy-ness culture around me. People seem to want to compare how busy they are to others. I like to balance relaxation with being productive.
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