[I]f you want to become the person you can be, here are two questions to ask yourself each morning: 1) What is my purpose today? And 2) What will I do next to convert my purpose into action?
-Stephen McGhee (Get Real)
Like many of my recent posts, this one is repurposed from my weekly newsletter.
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Theme: Avoidance disguised as busyness
I recently shared with a sister how I’ll often waste time not following and then reconfiguring my weekly schedule, and while I can’t recall her exact response, it was something like:
“What are you avoiding?”
That’s a damn good question! What am I avoiding?
Honestly, I think I’ll bring this to a coaching session, as the answers I’ve come up with haven fallen a bit flat.
I’m sharing this with you – despite it’s unfinished nature – because I know that I’m not alone in practicing “avoidance by busyness.”
For example, if I spend two hours each week reconfiguring my schedule and moving things around, that’s two hours I spent being busy…and for what?
It’s two hours I could have spent enjoying doing nothing.
It’s two hours I could have spent connecting with a friend.
It’s two hours I could have spent writing a blog post.
It’s two hours I could have spent updating my website.
It’s two hours I could have spent meandering through the woods.
It’s two hours I’ll never get back so that I could (1) avoid doing something that I had believed was important enough to include in my schedule, and (2) reschedule the thing that I had avoided doing. Rinse and repeat.
And this is merely scratching the surface. For example, maybe the avoidance isn’t really about any particular activity I’ve scheduled; maybe it goes deeper than that.
Again, I’ll be exploring this during a coaching session. Regardless…
Avoidance by busyness takes many forms.
Nearly all of us do this when we scroll through our social media apps or open our phones when we hear that ever-invasive ping.
Or when we check our work email after hours.
Or when we perpetually run errands that don’t really need to be run.
What are we avoiding? Life? Boredom? Silence? Discomfort? Ourselves?
Just some food for thought.
That is all.
