It doesn’t matter who you talk to these days, everyone is busy! Work, school, after school activities, kids, social, gym, etc. etc. It’s like society has created a badge of honour and a competition as to who can be the busiest and almost ‘brag’ about how busy they are. Sometimes people are busy, just for the sake of being busy. The reality is, everyone is super busy, too busy, and it’s very dangerous! What we should be aiming for is being ‘productive’ not ‘busy’.

 

What are some of the dangers of being ‘busy’?

• When you have something scheduled for almost every hour of the day, every day, it can be overwhelming and cause unnecessarily high levels of stress.
• This stress can affect you mentally and physically.

 

Mentally:

• It contributes to increasing anxiety and panic.
  • What if you don’t get things finished?
  • What if you can’t forget something?
  • Have you fit everything in?
  • Is something not being actioned, attended to, completed?
• The mind is in a constant state of flurry.
• It can increase resentment, due to lack of time for yourself. Especially if you are busy fitting everyone else’s needs in and sacrificing your own. Parents are super guilty about this one. This can lead to feelings such as:
  • ‘What about me?’
  • ‘Who is going to worry about my needs, wants and desires?’
  • ‘Aren’t my needs important too?’
• The overwhelm, anxiety and resentment, can decrease your mood and even lead to depression and other mental health issues.
• It can impact your relationships with friends and family, work colleagues and anyone else that happens to be in your way during a bad mood caused from this ‘busy’.
• Can also impact your relationships because people feel they can’t fit into your life because you are so ‘busy’.
• Even your car engine can blow a gasket when worked too hard!

 

Physically:

• This constant ‘busy’ increases stress which increases your Cortisol hormone. This is your fight or flight hormone.
• When this is elevated at disproportionate levels at the wrongs time of the day, it eventually leads to serious issues which can be catastrophic for your health.
• Leading up to catastrophic results you can experience some of the following, though this is by no means a complete list:
  • Anxiety and panic attacks
  • Heart palpitations
  • Interrupted sleep, especially around 3:00-4:00am
  • Fatigue
  • Bad mood
  • Reduced Libido
  • Elevated Cholesterol levels
  • Elevated blood glucose levels
  • Headaches and migraines
  • Deficiencies due to absorption issues
  • Fat gain
  • Menstrual issues
  • Erection issues
  • Bowel movement issues; constipation or diarrhea
  • Oedema (water retention)
  • Digestive issues
  • Skin irritation
  • Reduced immune function
  • Get sick more frequently with higher-than-normal colds and flus, and gastro
  • Appetite issues – too high or non-existent
• The worst consequences can result in Heart Attack, Diabetes Type 2, Chronic Fatigue, Chronic Depression, increased risk of cancer, and many more.

 

Signs you are too ‘busy’:

• Your sleep is terrible.
• You find yourself waking through the night, especially around 3:00am to go to the toilet. You should be able to hold on. Your bladder can hold enough urine.
• You wake up feeling crap, and tired. You don’t fully wake until about 11:00am, then you experience the 3 O’clock flop, before boosting back up about dinner time. Then if you aren’t in bed by 9:00pm, you could be up til past midnight!
• Your life revolves around the clock, with no room for flexibility.
• You are experiencing headaches or any of the other physical signs listed earlier, under ‘physically’.
• You are constantly fatigued and feeling miserable.
• You are feeling resentment towards people you love.
• You feel like you are missing out and that you are not worthy or not important.
• You are gaining weight unjustifiably.

 

The solution, is to change your ‘busy’ into ‘productive’:

• Firstly, even the shift in the words themselves will shift your mindset and create an instant calm.
• Limit the number of activities your kids do.
  • There is no point in enrolling them into more than 3 things each, per week.
  • This will be overwhelming for them and you.
  • Choose their favorite 1-2 things for each child.
  • Try to choose things all kids can do around the same time and on the same days, if possible. Or as close as possible.
  • Give the kids a limit on how many parties and outings they can attend. They don’t have to attend every single one they are invited to.
• Regarding your kids’ activities, parties, play dates, before and after school pick up
  • Get involved in carpooling with other parents and share the load.
  • Hire assistance if you can.
  • Allow older kids the opportunity to learn life skills and use public transport or walk.
• Schedule in the ‘given’ tasks that need to occur from day to day that are ‘productive’. Everything else happens if you have time and if you are up to it.
  • Cooking
  • Work
  • Education
  • Kids’ activities
• Perform tasks in a productive manner.
  • Rather than doing one load (or more) of washing each day, choose one to three days (depending on the size of your family) where you can get it all done over those days only.
  • Put a load of washing on whilst you dust the house (dusting doesn’t have to happen daily either!), or weed the garden, or cook dinner etc.
  • Get the whole family involved with chores. Couples need to both contribute. Children can start doing chores from as young as two years old! If this isn’t happening it is because you haven’t created it. Time to be productive and make this happen:
    • Pick up toys
    • Pair socks
    • Make their beds (they don’t need hospital corners)
    • Empty the dishwasher
    • Take the rubbish out
    • Help with dusting, washing, dishes, cooking etc.
  • This is not enslaving them; it is teaching them life skills! Doing it all for them, is depriving them of the skills they will require in order to be fully functioning adults!
  • Order home delivered groceries wherever you can.
  • Hire help, outsource wherever you can.
  • Schedule down time for yourself every single day! This will prevent resentment and the feeling of not being values or worthy.
  • Do something you love, by yourself, for yourself each and every day
  • Allow room for flexibility.
    • It doesn’t matter if you go to bed and the sink has dishes. Life will go on! You will not internally combust!
    • Dust doesn’t rust!
    • Go out on that spontaneous coffee date

Ideally you will free up at least one to two hours per day where you can choose what you would like to do without feeling ‘busy’. Whether it be watching TV, training, reading a book, whatever you enjoy, without feeling guilty that you should be doing ‘x,y,z’ instead! You will be surprised how different you will feel about yourself, those around you, and your life, if you just slow down a little and focus on being ‘productive’ rather than being ‘busy’.

• Coach Terri