Be Unbusy

"I am busy!"
How often do we hear this phrase whenever be ask a love one, a friend or someone when we needed their attention?

“Those who are wise won’t be busy, and those who are too busy can’t be wise.” ― Lin Yutang

"Busy" has become the new word for "Fine." Like we used to say we are "fine" when asked  how we are doing, but more often people reply "Busy" instead. It has become our default situation everytime.
But being busy has made our life better? Are we improving because we get too busy? I bet you, we are not.
Have you noticed that we are often too busy at almost anything. Parents (and it is true) are always too busy to assist their children with their homework or even read them a book. Day cares and after-school activities had replaced parents instead. We often too, find it hard to include a chance to travel or vacation these days. We are living with extreme stress everyday and lie awake at night because of this. It has become a problem. We have become too busy.
It does not have to be this way, becoming busy is not expected.
We can choose to be unbusy.
For one, it is always our choice, a decision and never we are pushed or directed to busyness. We need to understand that schedules are planned by us. We have a choice.
Have you noticed too that we associate busyness with being great, exemplary and honorable? We need to stop glorifying busyness. It is alright not to be busy. Appreciate rests. Schedule rest days, one of the reasons we keep ourselves busy is because we do not understand the importance of rest. It is important that our body, mind and spirit gets to rest every now and then, we need to rejuvenate.
Understand our priorities and goals in life. Determine what are important after all busyness is all about misplaced priorities.
Try to own fewer things, we like to accumulate a lot of knick knacks and it takes much of our time and energy just giving each and every item an attention, cleaning, organizing, rearranging and maintaining. The more we own, the more time is needed. Give away stuff that is not useful anymore and own less. Then we'll find the extra time to rest.
Make it a habit to provide space in your daily routine. Take the time to eat, take the time to meditate in the morning, put some effort in being alone with yourself. Do have breaks when at work or in between assignments.
We can always say "no." We need to learn how to say "no" and stand by it. No to less important commitments, because it then opens to a much more worthy options. Busyness does not need to define who we are. It is possible to be unbusy, to enjoy a peaceful life, to be happy.