I'm busier than you are!

It has been a while since I've had time to write about anything. There have been numerous occasions in the past few months where I've thought, "That would be a great topic to write about", and not having done so right then, I've lost track of what the topic was! I have to do better going forward! On that note, I'm starting with a post about the hype around "being busy". 😃

When younger, I did NOT want to be busy. I enjoyed sleeping in, playing with friends, reading books and generally being lazy when I didn't HAVE to do anything. Now, that concept seems unthinkable! 

 I feel like every minute that I have needs to be accounted for. Especially so since I am a stay-at-home mom, with my younger (and last) child starting elementary school last year. I feel the need to stay busy not just to keep my sanity, but also to justify to people that I'm not sitting around the house watching daytime soaps! (I'll not lie - the most annoying question someone can ask me is, "Oh, how do you spend your time once the kids are in school?" - they may ask it in all innocence, but it still rubs me the wrong way!) 
A stay-at-home parent, or otherwise though, I think today we all aim to wear the "I am always busy" badge. It's a matter of pride to be so busy that there is no time to appreciate the life that is passing us by. Don't get me wrong, I volunteer in my kids' school because I want to; I'm writing this blog because I want to; I cook because I want to; I even QUIT my job because I wanted to - but there is also a pressure I feel that I really need to be doing things just to prove my worth. Condescending comments like "I wish I had the time for that" or "Well, you have all the time to do that" don't help for sure - implying that the commenter has a busier and better life!

 I heard Shankar Vedantham (of the Hidden Brain fame) say this on the radio and thought it was so true - "The latest status symbol is time, or rather the lack of time." One of the experts they talked to on that show said that in American culture, people attributed higher social status to someone who said they are busy versus someone that said they led a leisurely lifestyle. There used to be a time when driving a fancy car, living a life of leisure, or going on a fancy vacation gave you higher social status. It doesn't look to be the case anymore! It's all about how hard we are working all the time, how we don't have any time for ourselves, how we get by with 3-4 hours of sleep every night because we have so many things going on! How did this shift happen?!! And, what is it doing to us, both physiologically, and psychologically?! 

 What's scarier is the fact that our children are as busy as us. Almost every kid that I know has a huge list of after school activities that they are signed up for and has to juggle school work every night along with these activities. There are practices/games/competitions to go to over the weekends as well! Are we using our kids to satisfy our desperate need to show off our "busy" status? If they are starting off this young being constantly overworked, won't they be burnt out by the time they are adults? When is their time to be "just kids"?

 I have to work on not trying to compete with people the next time someone talks about how busy they are! One-upmanship is never healthy, and this is one more case where it is not going to get us anywhere. I hope I have folks that read this and agree with me!

 To conclude, while I'm glad you had the time to read this, I have bigger and better things to do, so adieu! 😉

                                 
Links to the transcript of the radio show I mentioned above, and related articles:

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