Busy but not distracted?

Last week, I mooted the idea of giving up busyness for Lent.

This idea comes originally from the I’m Not Busy website, as a response to the busyness epidemic from which our world is suffering.

They propose spending between 10 and 30 minutes each day of Lent doing….

…absolutely nothing.

I like the idea of this. But in addition, the whole concept of giving up busyness has got me thinking. It is laughable to think that could actually do this in reality – jobs, children, family commitments, volunteering, domestic duties, maintaining health and well-being, study, church – the list of all that we do goes on. My mention of giving up busyness to a friend at the weekend was met with snorting derision at the fantastical impossibility of the concept.

So what on earth am I on about?

We are all busy, and we are kidding ourselves if we try and pretend otherwise. But this is about a perspective shift.

Are we busy – and distracted and frazzled?

Or busy – life is full and we are grateful for all that we have and all that we get to do?

This of course is about choice (one of my favourite themes if you are a regular reader – a whole series on Choice starts here if you want more!)

Rather than being consumed by what is relentlessly pressing down on us in terms of things to do, pressures and demands, etc – we can choose instead to see what we have. What opportunities are available to us. What we are thankful for. The people in our lives that we get to spend time with. The astonishing variety of information at our finger tips via the internet. Freedom of speech and expression. That we have homes to run, food to cook, places to go in the first place.

When I find myself busy and distracted, often I have lost perspective. My focus has become too negative and self-oriented – how time consuming this is, how costly, or the next thing on the never-ending-to-do list, or the drudging mundanity of this task.

However, when I am busy and grateful, I am learning to see that in comparison with so many others, I have SO much. A home, a family, work, education, opportunities to grow and learn and serve, stable relationships.

I was reading a Tearfund article recently about their latest project, bringing hope and practical relief to those who live in slums amidst the rubbish dumps in Pakistan. My own distracted busyness was stopped short in shame at seeing the busyness of this other mum trying to care for her family with absolutely nothing. Battling daily against accumulating, toxic rubbish on her doorstep.

I have so much. Some of my busyness is of my own making [more on this next week]. I and I alone take responsibility for my choices. And I am reminded in this Lent season that much of what keeps me busy is a privilege that I get to do.

So I am choosing to give up an attitude of distracted busyness and seek gratitude at the rich fullness of my life instead.

You?