Trying to Stay Busy

The other day at work I overheard a patient ask another patient (who was a buddy of his), what he'd been up to and his response was: "just trying to stay busy." I've heard similar exchanges many times in my life. It made me a little sad at first to think that so many people are staying busy with no intention other than being busy. I thought they were scared to be bored or they thought they were supposed to always be working. 

Then today I was forced to reevaluate those impressions. See, I don't have to go to work on Tuesdays (yay!), so I was running some errands this morning, and when I returned home, I noticed how empty the driveways in my neighborhood were because everyone is at work. I felt like I should be doing something too, like I should be busy. But I truly enjoy having a day to veg out and watch Netflix and read. I was holding two contradicting ideas in my head and I needed to sort them out. 

[Hold on, because I'm about to get deep.]

I think what it boils down to is having something to show for your life. When you're busy and doing things, you're hoping to have some kind of impact on your surroundings and the people you come in contact with. You're proactive. When you're relaxing (or vegging out), you're letting your surroundings and the people you come in contact with impact or influence you. You're reactive. So when you're greeted by whatever being in whatever afterlife there may be you can point to your life and say, "look I made these positive changes, helped these people, and had these great experiences!" You're trying to give meaning to your life.

I bet you have a few questions at this point, so I'm going to address a couple things I think you might want to ask:

How can Netflix/tv be a positive experience? People put a lot of time and energy into the shows, movies, and documentaries we watch. For the most part, they're trying to explore human nature and life itself (yes, even things like Monty Python), which is what art is for. It's people attempting to make sense of their experiences. 

What are these "surroundings" you speak of? Your home, your town, the internet, television, another town, another country, another continent. Wherever you are or go or want to be. Your friends, your enemies, clients, coworkers, bosses, family, your pets, your plants. Anyone whose existence you become conscious of for any reason. These things and people are all given the opportunity to influence your life, but you're given the opportunity to decide what kind of influence it'll be. Likewise you too will influence all these people and things, and you get to decide how you want to do so.

It's important to find a balance between being proactive and being reactive to life, and the contrast is what makes the human experience unique. 

So back to those patients at work the other day. There's no way I can know that he's staying busy in order to be a positive influence in others lives or for other reasons, but I have faith that he knows how to take time off to relax and enjoy himself.

xoxo
KB