Do you feel that you have too much to do? To many things to fit in?

We are living in what is probably the richest period of human history, at least in the developed world. By ‘rich’ I mean we have access to more information, more wealth, more variety, more possibility… than we have ever had. This applies to everything, not just good stuff. So, it appears, we also have more demand, more pressure, more unhappiness… even more depression, and that’s rising.

Making choices

Possibility is about choice, and choice is empowering, but there is a downside; because so much is possible, and because we are told it is out there, waiting for us, we can start to believe that we should fit it all in. There is talk of us being constantly under pressure, overwhelmed by the expectations placed on us by ourselves and others.

So we have an epidemic of too much to do busyness. How many people do you know who constantly tell you they are too busy, or stretched, to enjoy life? Maybe you are one of them. Perhaps you too feel overwhelmed by the demands that are placed on you. The fact that many of these demands are self-imposed seems to escape many people and it’s common to hear fraught friends and distressed colleagues talk as though they have no control over the pressures they are under, as though someone or something else is doing it to them.

Of course we all have imperatives; things that we do because it would be unwise or disadvantageous to us if we didn’t, so we feel we have less choice in the matter. But when we get as far as complaining about it something might need adjusting.

At such times it is worth remembering the mantra “Just because you can do something, it doesn’t mean you have to.”