Chronic Busyness - The Epidemics of the Modern World

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After almost two weeks spent in Brazil and more to come later this year (so I have more opportunities to double-check my initial impressions), I am becoming aware of something that I had noticed before, but never really found the time (sic!) to reflect upon - and that something I can only call "the chronic busyness syndrome".

What first struck me when arriving here, besides people's joy for living, accompanied by constant hugging, kissing and smiling, was the pace at which everything seems to be happening around here. There is no rush, no hurry, no stress, no deadlines.

This place is the nightmare of any self-respecting corporate worker!!

My friends here in Itacare have are experimenting this latin-american spirit of laissez faire on a daily basis. Running a business here is no easier than in any other part of the world, and to do it well - especially if you are an European who's worked hard all his life and knows exactly the rigors of doing business in other countries - you first need to learn the rule of laissez faire. If you haven't grasped this rule early on in your stay here, you're bound to suffer the torment of what you might rightfully label as eternal delays and un-kept promises.

For example, my friends needed a new sign for their restaurant, to put on the outside of the building. There is just one guy in this small tourist town by the ocean who specializes in this and has created the signs for all the restaurants and shops in the area. The process of hiring this guy goes like this: you don't have his cell phone number because he either doesn't have one or he hasn't bothered giving you the number (I've only seen one business card in my time here, and it was from a Portuguese lady - the rest of local businesses work by word of mouth). So because you can't call him you wait until you run into him on the beach one day - and you won't have too long to wait because he's very likely a surfer, as many local guys are. You tell him you have business for him and he promises to stop by tomorrow. You know that "tomorrow" might mean a couple of days and perhaps another run into him on the beach and a gentle reminder. You can count on him doing the job once he's promised to do it, but you can never really be sure how long it will take, and setting a rigid deadline is a futile endeavor, bound to bring you nothing but frustration.

Reading this you might think of all your traumatic experiences with workers in Romania - either building a house or renovating one. Broken promises, lost money, exasperation.

But what I'm sharing here is different. People here tend to do their jobs properly once they promised to, but there is a certain rhythm to their work and a certain order of priorities - life always comes first and work second.

One of my friends shared a story very relevant to this theme - a local entrepreneur whom he had hired for a construction job and who failed to meet the set appointment gave him a valuable lesson in the work philosophy of people here.

My Romanian friend did what he would have done at home - he called and complained and threatened to give the job to someone else. The reply was flabbergasting. The construction worker said: "You know, I am familiar with the way you do business in Europe, spending all your days and nights working your asses off for a few days of freedom every year and for money. Here we don't care so much about the money as we care about the living. If I have enough money to enjoy my life, I couldn't care less if you don't hire me. I will find another job when I need the money and in the meantime I can spend my time the way I like it, not the way somebody else dictates it. If you don't hire me, you'll hire someone else, but you'll see they think the same and they'll only work at their own pace, not at yours. Here, in Bahia, you will hire us, but you won't own us".

That phrase "working your asses off for a few days of freedom and for money" really struck a chord with me. I thought about my whole up-bringing, and about that of many of my friends - always pushed to study hard, to work hard, to build a future, to get on this roller-coaster of "life" as nothing more than time off between periods of hard "work".

Work, for us, has come to mean something hard, even unpleasant at times, something we do because we have to, because there is no other way to pay our bills, mortgages or to feed our families. We have come to speak about work-life balance as if work were not part of life, as if we were dead 8-10-12 hours a day and were living just in the evenings and on weekends and, of course, during those long-awaited yearly vacations - always too short.

Moreover, so immersed are we in this way of living, that we have come to feel useless whenever we are not busy. We're making a badge of honor from "not having time" or "being busy" - as if these two phrases equalled "I am important, I mean something, people need me".

I don't necessarily condone the laissez-faire philosophy of people in this part of the world, but I do believe it could ring an alarm bell for all of us who live at the precise opposite of the "life-work" spectrum. There is no glory in living an unproductive life as there is no glory in not living life at all because you're too busy working.

I deeply believe we all come into the world with our own unique creative gifts. It's such a shame to not bring them out into the light just because we're too "busy" doing who knows what, which we emphatically call "work". I also believe that discovering our true calling will take the "dreariness" and "heaviness" out or "work" forever. You might work incredibly hard at doing something you truly enjoy and find meaningful, but you are bound to not think of it as "work" but as "life", and life well lived for that matter.

Also, I am now learning that time for reflection, time for myself, time for play and laughter and loved ones is not idle time. It is not unproductive and it is definitely not a waste. I am discovering that this obsession with "keeping busy" has often been just an unconscious way to run from myself. When you allow time for yourself you are giving your soul a chance to speak and be heard, not obstructed by all the chatter of daily thoughts and worries.

I believe this "epidemics" of "chronic busyness" is more serious and threatening for our happiness and well being than we believe. This constant running away from ourselves gives us little chance to put some true meaning into our lives, to reflect on the lessons we learn every day, to be grateful for what we have and simply enjoy the present moment.

If we are constantly taking refuge in the past and worrying about the future - who, may I ask you - is left living in the present?

"I don't have time" is the number one excuse people give me for not doing the things they like, not spending valuable time with the people they love, not offering themselves those little experiences that put joy and meaning into life - like going to a theater play, reading a book, playing with one's child. If you don't have time for all of that - than what DO you have time for? Do you have time to be happy? Do you have time to live?

This post, as many others, is an invitation to reflection.

What is truly important in your life and you are not finding the time for it? Are you living your life in the "chronic busyness" mode?Does your life have meaning, substance, is it filled with experiences that make you happy and help you grow as a person?What will you want to say about yourself on your deathbed - that you were the perfect employee, attending a zillion business meetings, managing a whopping XXXXXX0000$ budget, delivering on all your KPIs and getting outstanding evaluations from your boss? Or will you want to say that you managed to bring your unique contribution into this world, that you lived a truly happy life, that you have memories to be fond of and loved ones to cherish and that this world is just a little bit better because you lived in it?

This is my invitation for you to stop living for work and start making work part of life by bringing joy and meaning into it. Stop putting all your "must do's" on top of your priority list and start replacing them with all the "wants" of your heart.You could start with little things, like taking one extra hour just for yourself every weekend, or taking the time to play with your kids, or taking up a hobby, and you'll probably begin seeing the way towards the bigger things - like changing your life so that you can finally start living.

Finally, as one of my favorite inspirational writers, Wayne Dyer, said: "Don't die with your music still in you" and remember that people at the end of their lives regret not their mistakes, but their failure to do the things they dreamed of doing and letting fear stop them from experimenting, making even more mistakes and living their lives to the fullest.