INTRODUCTION
Go on. Admit it. How many times this week, or even today, have you told someone how busy or wrecked you are? How many times has someone told you how busy or wreckedthey are? It’s our national pastime now! Every conversation seems to start with something along the lines of:
Random person: How are you getting on?
Us: Oh, stop, don’t talk to me! Crazy busy at the moment. Mad busy, up the walls, flat out, chasing my tail, out the door, round the twist!
Then there is usually a pause as we realise that all that may actually sound a little unhealthy. So then we prepare to throw in the phrase that suddenly makes that desperate, frazzled approach to life seem perfectly acceptable:
But, you know,good busy!
Random person: Yes, that sounds like a perfectly wonderful nervous breakdown you’re having for yourself!
Good busy. What exactly is good busy? When is busy just busy, and how long does it take before good busy becomes bad busy? ‘Good busy’ is such a loaded phrase. It suggests the busyness that we are experiencing, and that clearly has us wound up like a bonkers clock, is actually okay because wechose it. It implies that, although we’re running ourselves ragged, we’re still in control. It’s good busy because it seems productive and is a means to an end. We’re moving forward, getting after it, checking things off the list. So what if we’re not feeling great and our mood is up and down – this is what we signed up for, and doesn’t everyone feel like this? We want to challenge ourselves and say yes to life and lead by example and live our best lives, so being busy is now part of the package. Anyway, I’m sure we’d know when to stop being so busy before the busy became an issue. Wouldn’t we?
So we spend all of our time getting busier, and sooner or later we start to feel wrecked. Because being busy, while sometimes productive, can also be exhausting! Now we’re not just telling everyone we meet how busy we are, we’re also telling them how wrecked we are. A lot of the time, we’re not even sure why we’re so wrecked because we don’t seem to be doing anything particularly exciting that would explain it. Thus we feel the need to ask anyone we meet if they feel wrecked too, so we know there isn’t something wrong with us. How many conversations have you had that sound something like this?
Random person: Ho