{"id":24240,"date":"2023-08-21T10:00:20","date_gmt":"2023-08-21T15:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.appreciationatwork.com\/?p=24240"},"modified":"2023-08-21T10:00:25","modified_gmt":"2023-08-21T15:00:25","slug":"overcoming-our-cultural-addiction-to-busyness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.appreciationatwork.com\/blog\/overcoming-our-cultural-addiction-to-busyness\/","title":{"rendered":"Overcoming Our Cultural Addiction to Busyness"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Overcoming<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Busyness seems to have risen to the level of addiction in our culture, and is even considered a badge of honor to some. When, for example, have you heard anyone report: \u201cI\u2019m doing great. I\u2019ve got lots of extra time and energy to do what I want?\u201d But how do we break this unhealthy cycle when it encouraged by many in our society?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Busyness?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To reduce busyness in our lives, we have to first understand what busyness is. Is it a set of behaviors? Is it an attitude? Or a perspective on life? Most people respond: \u201cAll three.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a foundational level, busyness is the experience of feeling like we have more to do than we have time or energy \u2013 that there is not much \u201cspace\u201d in our lives. We are running from one task or meeting to another, often repeatedly throughout the day. Or sometimes, the sense of busyness comes from multitasking \u2013 trying to do more than one thing at once. Largely, busyness involves a sense of the needing to rush, to do tasks quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Busyness seems primarily to be an internal experience (we feel busy), but busyness also involves behaviors. Busy people can: have poor eye contact; not listen well; seem somewhat scattered, sometimes disorganized; appear to be rushing through tasks (and making careless errors); forget things (objects, appointments); interact in a short irritable way; and maybe most commonly, complain about how busy they are.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Drives Our Busyness?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Multiple factors create busyness in our lives \u2013 and these influences vary across seasons in our lives and they differ from person to person. A brief list of \u2018busyness creators\u2019 includes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n