Back View

Busyness! 

How busy are you and how do you feel about it?

When I ran into a friend recently, he greeted me by asking, “Hi, have you been busy lately?”  I promptly answered “Yes!”

I truly have been very busy, which is why it’s been a while since my last posting on this blog. 

However, after this brief exchange, I thought to myself, what if I hadn’t been busy?  I might still have answered “yes” because it felt as if my friend was really asking if I was doing all right. 

I’d guess that he chose the word “busy” because for so many of us, busy is good!  It’s the traditional American work ethic and life ethic. 

But in terms of stress reduction, busy is NOT always good.  There are so many different kinds of busyness, and we each need a different balance of being busy and having down time. 

How busy are you?  And how do you feel about it?  How is the balance in your life between being busy and having time for yourself? 

If that balance doesn’t feel optimal, what can you do about it?

If you need help answering this last question, check out the suggestions for reducing anger and stress at the web site of WomenHeart, a patient advocacy group: http://www.womenheart.org/information/mental_health.asp. 

It would be great to learn how you answered some of these questions.  Did they provoke any additional questions or thoughts about being busy?