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energy
What is energy?
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why does it feel like i never have enough time?
This weekend, I’m lucky enough to be flying overseas for a holiday in Portugal. I know I’ll be spending some much-needed quality time with my mother, eating delicious food, drinking copious amounts of vinho verde, chatting about the big and little things in life, and soaking up some much-needed sun.
I should be excited – of course I am – but the only thing I can think about is how I don’t have enough time to do everything I need to do before the trip.
I need to go into to the office, my laundry is piling up, and my suitcase is still unpacked in my living room. I need to paint my toes and cast my vote and pick up some euros from the currency exchange. Completing these tasks is essential before I fly in less than 24 hours, but this week as been so hectic that none of it has gotten done, and it’s left me scrambling.
While I’ll save you a rant about feeling overwhelmed due to my poor time management skills, this rushed and slightly stressed state feels all too familiar. It’s one of the primary reoccurring themes of my life – and I hate it.
I’ll concede it may be a fault of my own (because, plan better, girl wtf?!), but my slightly self-destructive tendency to take on too many things at once may have gotten the better of me.
At the moment, my only solace is remembering I’m not alone.
Though I’ve only recently become part of the wonderful Substack community, I’ve already seen many writers discussing their yearning for a slower and less frantic life, free of pressures both internal and external to do more.
Straightforward and feasible methods for achieving this have been put forward. Resist the urge to say ‘yes’ every time somebody asks you out. Trade social media scrolling for a good novel. Simply walk or sit outside, breathe fresh air, and notice the feeling of the sun on your skin. Recognise that being ‘busy’ doesn’t always equate to enjoying yourself.
The last point, I think, is fundamentally important. Why is being perceived as busy a good thing? How has being ‘busy’ somehow become synonymous with being sought after, in high demand, valuable even?
It must have occurred in the late 2010s, because that’s when journalists started writing about it. Busyness, not economic wealth, was apparently the new status symbol. Bosses everywhere could easily afford a 14-day trip to the Maldives, if only they could escape the throes of Outlook and endless client meetings!
Ugh, seriously?
