Ask someone how they are these days and chances are they will tell you exactly how BUSY they are.
Gone are the days when we were "fine" or "good." Busy is the new black, or 30, or something or other. We wear it like a badge of honour, but is it really something to be proud of?
In this day and age, with all our mind-blowing technology and supply of gadgets, we are busier than ever. Our state of being has been reduced - or escalated, depending on how you look at it - to managing and maintaining complicated schedules many of us have come to resent.
Even those of us who are conscious of whirling around at such a frenetic pace and trying not to use the word "busy" to describe our experience resort to saying things equally ridiculous, such as "Oh, life is very FULL."
Puh-lease. No matter how you look at it, we have abdicated responsibility for our own lives and the accelerated pace at which we live them. Life is happening TO most of us, rather than something we consciously choose. And I can't say I like it.
As parents we are often running from school to work to appointments to practices. Even really young children have schedules packed with playdates and sports.
I was a bit surprised to learn this week that children as young as two can register for soccer. I'm fairly certain that these aren't refereed games, and as a tired parent this would be one "enrichment opportunity" I'd be willing to forgo in exchange for some down time. I have yet to meet a two-year-old who can make an articulate argument for the need to have fair and equitable opposition on the field, though I suppose the wearing of a diaper may reduce the need for a support strap.
By and large, I think this notion of "busy" is something we are not merely buying into, but on some level creating, as if being busy by its very nature is preferable to having time to putter, garden or soak in a hot bath. There will be time for that later, we tell ourselves. But all we really have is right now. There is no "later."
What I hear people saying is that they are too busy to enjoy themselves; that right now is a means to an end; that one day we will get to where we want to be in life and be able to enjoy it. One day.
Instead, I am choosing to take a page from the life of my children and live in the here and now and give myself fully to the moment. By virtue of this, it will mean making fewer plans, because of course that would be projecting into a time other than the one I am in.
If that makes even a 10 per cent dent in my own busyness, I will have succeeded. Now, where's my dayplanner and an eraser?
Kirsten Andrews offers courses, workshops and private consultations on Simplicity Parenting in the corridor. For info visit www.SeaToSkySimplicityParenting.com, like it on Facebook or email [email protected].
