Being busy is a good thing, right? Well – not always. Of course it is a wonderful thing to be busy, work hard and have important goals to work towards in your life, but being too busy can actually be a sign of things not being well in your life.
If you are constantly busy, to the extent where you are never relaxed, it could actually mean that you are avoiding having to deal with something else in your life, and that you are keeping yourself busy in order to not think about whatever that something is.
Unfortunately, avoiding an issue can be bad for your mental health. The reality that you are avoiding could be to do with a bad relationship, health concerns, lack of wellness or another emotional difficulty. Only by facing up to reality can you start to work towards solutions to your problem.
Anxiety about more existential questions can also force you into being busy. Some of life’s big questions (such as how long you will live or what happens after people die) can be so terrifying that you simply keep busy to avoid thinking about the answers – especially as there are no answers to be found. By slowing down, you can start to make peace with your life and increase your wellbeing.
Disturbing events from the past can also lead to you being busy, because you are attempting to avoid dealing with them. As you get older, it might be appropriate to start moving on from things that happened in the past, and learn that you can create a life for yourself that is based in the future, not in the past.
Sometimes people are also busy because they are trying to keep in line with other very busy people in their lives. If they don’t do as much as other high achievers, they feel like they have failed. It can also be hard for these types of people to say no when they are asked to do something. Learning to say no to some requests can be a good first step towards reducing stress and slowing down.
