Done With Being Busy

I have my own measure of success and busyness is not it.

These days, it seems like we all wear our busyness as a badge of honour.

"How are you?" they ask. "Busy!" we reply. And we affirm our place in the pecking order.

I'm not buying into it anymore. I'm done with using my crammed schedule and breathless multi-tasking as evidence of my status or importance.

I value delicious white space in my life. An abundance of time, an abundance of energy and an abundance of money all feel like valuable measures of my success. If I have to forgo one for the other, then I start feeling out of balance and I start questioning the purpose of it all.

Did you know that our modern concept of time was born from the Industrial Revolution where factory owners wanted to squeeze as much work as they could out of their workers? That was when the phrase 'time is money' was coined. That was when people started feeling guilty for wasting their time on doing non-productive things, even on their days off.

I'm reclaiming time. Time is reclaiming me.

Sometimes I wonder how I ever used to get all that stuff done. How did I possibly fit it all into one day?

I think I crammed so much in that I fell out.

Not any more. I don't need much stuff. I don't need the fanciest house, the fanciest car, the fanciest schools for the kids or the fanciest clothes. I crave connection, I crave oodles of time to do as I please with, I crave nourishment on a soul level. I crave a life of meaning and impact.

"How are you?" they ask. "I'm content," I reply.