Sarah Morgan
I try not to use the word “busy” to describe myself. I am infrequently successful. I try to not let myself actually get “busy.” I am even less successful with this.
But being “busy” isn’t cool or important. Far too often, it’s just being pretentious. It isn’t being smart or productive or happy. It’s just poor scheduling.
“The ‘Busy’ Trap” by Tim Kreider makes these arguments better than I’ve ever seen it.
First of all, we shouldn’t take our work too seriously: “[I]f your job wasn’t performed by a cat or a boa constrictor in a Richard Scarry book I’m not sure I believe it’s necessary.”Â
Second, it is not only nothing-to-be-ashamed-of, but actually useful, to take a breather: “It’s hard to find anything to say about life without immersing yourself in the world, but it’s also just about impossible to figure out what it might be, or how best to say it, without getting the hell out of it again.”
Work isn’t the point (unless you save lives or something – but I don’t). Life is the point, as one of my best friends taught.
“Life is too short to be busy.” Words to live by.
