Avoiding Busyness

"Beware the barrenness of a busy life." Socrates

Do you look at your calendar as a battle zone?

Do you ever think about fighting for open space with your time? Do you say "no" often enough to create margin for the spontaneous events where you want to say "yes"? Or have you surrendered, tired and convinced that "busy" is inevitable?

If you're like me, it's tempting to fill every minute and book every slot with good appointments, with things you like to do. However, you soon realize you've got barely enough time to get from one appointment to another. Worse still, if you have extroverted tendencies, it's easy to say "yes" too often and leave the introverts in your life feeling drained and disconnected.

So while I never say I'm busy, I find the calendar battle relentless.

I hate missing opportunities to connect, and yet, open spaces on the calendar lead to better connections.

• Open spaces allow conversations to meander into new territory because no one's rushing to get off the phone.
• Open spaces give the brain time to recover from input and learn new information more quickly.
• Open spaces gives the body a chance to recover.

Fighting for down time is worth the effort; it leads to better rest, deeper thinking, and less stress.

Doesn't that sound appealing?

So what can you say "no" to this weekend? If you can't do a flat out "no," then what can be truncated or marginalized? Can you take a mental health day from sporting events? a birthday party? errand running? drop-ins?

Maybe you can pretend you have the flu and hang out with your dog, kids, or spouse instead of a crowd?

Just an idea...

Give it some thought when you have a minute.