When It's Time To Recapture Time
The tyranny of the urgent is a dictatorship I refuse to acknowledge. At least I try not to. At times, though, the makeshift nature of this approach becomes obvious. After all, the only way to elude things that presently must be done is to get to them beforehand, meet them on your own terms.
The truth at the heart of time's tyranny is that anything becomes urgent if you leave it alone for long enough. Mowing the lawn...the end-of-semester paper...changing the oil...all have latent despotic tendencies. These tendencies must be carefully repressed by punctual attention.
This sounds great in theory. And it works well in practice, too, up to a certain point. My "non-urgent" approach to life falls apart when the quantity of tasks (potential tyrants) outweighs my available time. It's at that moment that I become a pathetic vassal, rushing from one feudal project to another.
It's also at this point that I begin to question whether my life really justifies such busy-ness. I tend to think not. If I'm too overwhelmed to stop, reflect, prioritize, my life is out of balance and something must be jettisoned. More and more, I wince when I ask someone "How's life?" and they respond, "Oh, I'm so busy!" as if frenzied activity is a fundamental virtue.
Not to me. Busy-ness subjugates a dozen essential dimensions of healthy living. A life governed by King Urgent is a fate to be avoided at all costs.
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Against Busy-ness
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2 comments:
Looking over your blog late tonight after hastily replying to emails I'd postponed until it was a matter of personal offense (to the ignored parties). I didn't plan on staying up until tommorrow, but sometimes as you so nicely elaberated on, there comes a point where you have no choice, and leaving for later is no longer an option. Even email. You shouldn't have to write out of a sense of duty! But of course, the tyrant laughs at my pathetic squeal for freedom. I was talking to my piano teacher about this same subject last week, (used up a good 10 minutes of the lesson!) He thinks that our lives our in bondage as well. I, of course, adamently held to my position that is our own choice to what degree we allow our lives to be taken over by the "tyrant". He sagely informed me I would find out otherwise when I started taking a fulll plate of college classes. I have a horrible feeling he's absolutely rigth... Anyway, I especially appreciate your comment on the subject. And I too vow to never give up the fight for freedom. When you trade the quiet contemplation of the symetry of a flower, an evening with a good book and a cup of tea, or a long walk with no particular time to get to any particualar place, for continual frantic noise, heavy breathing, and a spinning brain, it's not heroic or even laudable. It's just sad. Why cheat yourself of life? (Being tired and up late often has an interisting effect on me. So sorry for long comment, your observations just really clicked with me)
Well said. Eloquent, even. I'm glad to hear I'm not alone in my aversion for busyness.
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