Breaking Busy
Lesson 1: Busy Burdens
November 9 & 10, 2019
Average American Work Hours
1870: 63, 1920: 60, 1930: 48, 1950: 42, 2018:41
Busyness Has Become Our Business
Psalm 23:1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. New International Version
Psalm 23:2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. New International Version
Mental Health Professionals Have Diagnosed A New Disorder: Hurry Sickness
Hurry Sickness: A malaise in which a person feels chronically short of time, and so tends to perform every task faster and becomes flustered when encountering any kind of delay.
1. You are in a constant state of rush and worry
2. You feel that everything in life is urgent
3. You live by your watch
4. You don’t like waiting in line or traffic
5. You often drive fast or over the speed limit
6. You finish your meal as fast as you can
7. You’re constantly multitasking to the point of forgetting a task
8. You can’t relax or take a break
Busyness Has Become A Badge Of Honor And A Status Symbol
“So if leisureliness was once a badge of honor among the well-off of the 19th century…then busyness—and even stressful feelings of time scarcity—has become that badge now.” — The Economist
“In America, we are defined by what we do. Our careers. What we produce. It’s the first question asked at parties, and often the first tidbit of information we share with strangers. The implication is that if I am not busy doing something, I am somehow less than. Not worthy. Or at least worthless than those who are producing something…So I fill my Facebook feed and my calendar with self-important busyness to avoid just being.” — Huffington Post
“The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.” — Lily Tomlin
Busyness Has Become Our Answer To FOMO
“Maybe knowing that there are 10 great TV shows you should watch, nine important books to read, eight conventional skills your child hasn’t mastered, seven ways you’re exercising wrong, six ways you haven’t sufficiently taken advantage of the city, etc., fosters a kind of metastasized paradox of choice, a FOMO. Knowing exactly what we’re missing out on makes us feel guilty or anxious about the limits of our time and our capacity to use it effectively.” — The Atlantic
Busyness Is A Byproduct Of The Digital Age
“The idea that work begins and ends at the office is intuitively wrong. We laugh at animal pictures on our work computers, and we answer emails on our couches in front of the TV. On the one hand, flexibility is nice. On the other, blending work and leisure creates an always-on expectation that makes it hard to escape the shadow of work responsibilities.”— The Atlantic
Busyness Has Become Our Form Of Escape
“We stay so busy that the truth of our lives can’t catch up.” — Brené Brown
Genesis 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. 2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. New International Version
Genesis 2:3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. New International Version