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The Glorification of Busy
Is “busy” synonymous with “successful”?

By Morgan DeBoest

 
No Millennial ever schedules a day “off.” Evenings are filled planning benefit concerts and community meetings. Athletic and networking events take up what used to be known as “weekends.” Emails rerouted to phones demand attention day and night, dread mounting as unread messages reach double digits. It can be all a little overwhelming.

But in a world saturated with young adults desperate to prove themselves, constantly fighting for jobs, internships and attention, no one wants to feel or be perceived as lazy. By filling work and social calendars to the brim, we eliminate any feeling of uselessness, right? Wrong. American adults, more than ever, are incredibly reluctant to step back from their busy lives and simply relax.

Why do we feel this way? Perhaps we like to set up for failure — if we overbook, we can remind ourselves that we took on too much to begin with. It’s not our fault we couldn’t deliver. More often, I catch myself taking pride in my busyness, so much that I become defensive of it. But the line between busy and burned out is a thin one that most of us struggle to find.

We’re taught from a young age to measure our self-worth by our lack of spare time. Starting as toddlers, we are constantly pushed into activities — violin, ballet, soccer, Girl Scouts, you name it — that supposedly prepare us for the adult world. “I can’t, I have dance/piano/science fair,” becomes part of the rhetoric of our lives. We can’t enjoy ourselves until we fulfill the tasks on our invisible or not-so-invisible checklists.

According to a study conducted by public health experts Jennifer E. Pelletier and Melissa N. Laska that analyzes perceived time constraints among young adults, “The lack of significant associations between work, school and family responsibilities and participants’ perceptions of having a healthy balance in their lives could be the result of a healthy balance that derives from internal coping strategies and priority setting rather than actual time demands.” So, we create our own busyness because that feels healthy and normal.

It’s easy to find solace in busyness — a feeling I know well, taking time each day to fill out my planner and enthusiastically crossing things off my to-do list.

Perhaps the problem is we justify our lives through our contributions. If at least 80 percent of our day isn’t dedicated to contributing, why do we deserve to relax or take any time off? In high school, we found a way to do it all and still eat dinner at home. What are we doing wrong now if we don’t even have time to breathe?

According to the Center for Collegiate Mental Health, “The Millennial generation, while incredibly resourceful, is faltering with adequately managing the challenges of college life with nationwide figures reporting a rise in the prevalence of emotional disorders, severe psychological disorders and college students taking prescription medication.” But even after graduation, young adults don’t feel comfortable slowing down.

It seems our generation is just busy being busy, putting all our energy into progress, regardless of the effects on our mental health. We push forward with such speed that we lose sight of what is actually important — ourselves.

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Photo by Morgan Cannata

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