Last month as the school year was winding down, my nine-year-old son made a clear and urgent request: “Not too much summer camp.” He was compelling in his argument for more time to just relax, play in the neighborhood, have no plans. “Going to camp is like going to school…they make you do things on a plan…you have to get there at a certain time…”
He was fighting the Busy Epidemic.
I hear it from my life and career coaching clients too. They want help better organizing their overwhelming to-do lists, over-full schedules and planning for precious self-care time. They blame themselves for not being able to do it all. They suspect other people are managing much better than themselves. They wonder why they are so exhausted and unfulfilled.
Any of that sound familiar?
So, I promised my kid to let the schedule loosen this summer. We brainstormed on things he could do while his Dad and I are at work (cause, while we are taking more time off to be with him, we do also both have full-time jobs). And the kid inspired me! I backed my work schedule down a bit (sorry if you are trying to schedule an appointment with me and I am more booked up than usual) and also am just saying NO more to plans. We might just lay around the garden and listen to birds some days this summer.
This article really struck a chord with me. “This disease of being “busy” (and let’s call it what it is, the dis-ease of being busy, when we are never at ease) is spiritually destructive to our health and wellbeing. It saps our ability to be fully present with those we love the most in our families, and keeps us from forming the kind of community that we all so desperately crave.”
In order to feel more present and fulfilled in your own life, do you need to stop trying to fit it all in and days like my nine-year-old son is claiming for rest and play? Do you have some self-limiting beliefs that say that isn’t possible or even preferable?
