Carlie is an over-achieving teenager. She’s driven to excel academically, athletically and socially. She has trouble with that word “relax.” But in a moment of clarity, she wowed me with this:
“I would like to know my future to see if I’m wasting my time, because if I am wasting my time, I want to waste it better.”
It’s sad that a stressed-out state can feel normal to us, so much so that it feels wrong to be free of it. Let’s face it, our culture values and encourages busyness over taking time to smell the roses. Busyness is easily equated with productivity, purposefulness and meaningfulness. To do otherwise is deemed wasting one’s time.
This is all wrong! Squirrels are incessantly busy—aimlessly darting here and there—but I wouldn’t necessarily call that busyness productive, purposeful or much less meaningful. The same applies to us humans.
In contrast, soaking up a sunset can be one of the most productive, purposeful and meaningful things we can do.
Let’s get busy wasting some time!
Names are changed to honor client confidentiality