Why Being Too Busy Isn’t Healthy

Everyone is so busy.

In his article “The Busy Trap,” Tim Kreide writes:

If you live in America in the 21st century you’ve probably had to listen to a lot of people tell you how busy they are. It’s become the default response when you ask anyone how they’re doing: “Busy!” “So busy.” “Crazy busy.” It is, pretty obviously, a boast disguised as a complaint. And the stock response is a kind of congratulation: “That’s a good problem to have,” or “Better than the opposite.”

Look around and you’ll notice it isn’t generally people pulling back-to-back shifts in the I.C.U. or commuting by bus to three minimum-wage jobs who tell you how busy they are; what those people are is not busy but tired. Exhausted. Dead on their feet. It’s almost always people whose lamented busyness is purely self-imposed: work and obligations they’ve taken on voluntarily, classes and activities they’ve “encouraged” their kids to participate in. They’re busy because of their own ambition or drive or anxiety, because they’re addicted to busyness and dread what they might have to face in its absence.

One study from the Monthly Labor Review found that people estimating 75-plus hour workweeks were off, on average, by about 25 hours. It mentioned that a young man reported working 180 hours a week, which is quite literally impossible, since that is twelve more hours than a week contains.  How many hours a week do you work?

When angels in the guise of men appear before Abraham in the desert, he offers them water to wash their feet. Believing they were idolaters who bowed down to the dust of their feet, Abraham didn’t want them bringing that idolatry into his home.

What kind of idolatry is this? Who would be so foolish as to worship the dust of their own feet?

One explanation is that these “idolaters” were merchants. They travelled and ran around doing business, selling their wares, growing customers. All of that activity and “busyness” kicked up dust.  The idea that they were worshiping the dust of their feet is that they were bowing down to their busyness, they were kneeling to their efforts and initiative. These merchants were obsessed and addicted to running around, staying busy, and kicking up dust. And they mistakenly attributed success to the level of their activity, assuming their determination and work – their busyness – yielded results, not God.  That is idolatry.

Many people tie their self-worth to how busy they are, or at least appear to be.

Many people tie their self-worth to how busy they are, or at least appear to be. When people ask us how things are going, many of us are in the business of busyness and instinctively talk about how little time we have, how much we have going on, how busy things are.  Leisure time used to be viewed as a status symbol. Now, free time has come to be looked down on as idleness. Instead, hectic busyness has become the symbol of achievement.

Abraham told his guests: wash your feet, get rid of that dust, eliminate the addiction and worship of busyness, and enjoy some slow living.

So what is the antidote to worshipping at the altar of busyness? Don’t we need to remain super active to get everything done these days? After telling them to wash their feet, to stop bowing down to being active and working excessively, Abraham then told them, “rest under the tree.”  Abraham was telling them, “Lean under the tree, put yourself under the protection and support of God’s protection. Yes, take initiative, work hard, but then put your trust in God.  If He wants you to be successful, He can bring the success after a reasonable amount of work; if you continue to work excessively, you are in fact not trusting in God and have diminishing spiritual returns.”

Of course, we have responsibilities, obligations, dreams and ambitions.  But we must stop worshipping the idolatry of dust, bowing down to busyness.

We must not only remember that it is acceptable to slow down, it is a value and a virtue, it is the true badge of honor.

I was recently talking with a highly successful businessman. I asked him about his daily schedule and he was telling me that he starts working early in the morning, tries to finish most days in time for when the kids come home from school, makes sure to find time to exercise and learn each day, and to spend time with his wife in the evening.  When he finished describing the balance and boundaries of his life, I was more impressed, not less.

It’s time to wash our feet of the illusion that busyness equals productivity and to start leaning under the tree and enjoying the God’s shade.