When I meet my business colleagues, a common question we all ask each other is, “How are you, are you busy?” The answer we always hope we can give and hear is “Oh yes, so busy at the moment”. And of course that’s how we should be in business, no-one wants a quiet business. When I meet my friends and family, I often get the same answer and I used to tell them the same, ” I have so much work at the moment, or, its a busy time at work” and so on. It’s as though we’ve programmed ourselves to rush around, without any spare time, filling every moment with busy-ness and developing relationships with technology, rather than, enjoying the calmness of nature, the pleasure of watching life around us, appreciating our differences and simply just ‘being you’.
I hear so many people who are tired and frustrated, overwhelmed and discouraged with a long list of obligations, tight deadlines, things to do, not sleeping well and with deteriorating physical and mental health. Sadly, they keep living this wild, unhealthy life as they don’t feel they have the choice to do anything different.
Stopping being busy isn’t about doing nothing, or having a failing business. It’s about having a full, vibrant and interesting life at an enjoyable pace so that you can enjoy it and appreciate it. It’s not easy to achieve, as we have to re-programme ourselves to have time away from technology, slow down, breathe, sleep and enjoy the ‘moments’ our days are made up of.
So, I’ve stopped rating how successful my day has been by how busy and fast I been, or by how many things I have ticked off my list. Instead, I now ask myself to what degree have I slowed down, and how my head feels and whether I’m looking after my heart. After all, without a healthy head and heart, what else is there?
If you feel you need to slow down, try asking yourself he same things you may find it helpful.
