Our modern world moves at such fast speed we are all under constant pressure to be on the go continually.
We need high levels of mental and physical strength to better endure the stresses of daily living at this accelerated pace. Although our world continues to create busyness and stress it does nothing to make us stronger physically as all of the ‘work’ has long since been removed to make our lives easier and more convenient.
We live in a world full where things happen in the blink of an eye. Technology like computers, cell phones, Skype (talking via video), faxes and texts make life fast and busy. Yet this busy world and its fast pace creates stress that actually makes us age faster.
We are all so busy that often we neglect the very important things like proper exercise and healthy eating that can help keep us strong and healthy and allow us to keep up with the rest of the world.
This is a new disease that has invaded our society; it is called the disease of busyness.
Its symptoms vary from having no time to take care of fitness and weight loss goals to not having time for social outings, no time for a quick bite to eat with a friend, no time for a bit of friendly chit chat with someone, and no time to eat properly. Is your day so crazy that you are in constant motion, pulled in many directions at once, barely having time to stop and connect with anyone least of all yourself?
The disease of busyness encroaches on all areas of a person’s life causing suffering to everyone from the person who has this illness to their spouses, their children, their parents, their friends, their co-workers and their pets.
We keep on putting self care and exercise on hold while we are consumed with busyness chasing our tail around performing multiple tasks at once. But the problem is if we keep doing this there is a large risk that at some stage of our life there will come a time when we have to pay the piper. How will this affect our work and “busyness” plans if our body can’t support us?
Busyness is a virtue in our culture and we admire people who are able to handle heavy work loads and the ability to get more done in less time is one of today’s most esteemed values.
Hormones and Stress
Too much doing, going, working and giving can take a toll on us, physically and emotionally.
In seeking to serve others, we often neglect our own needs and run out of inner resources from which to draw strength and energy. Many of the things we are busy doing are not the ones that we really want to be focusing on or the things that are most important to us and this causes us anxiety and stress.
Most people know of the importance of exercise as a means of increased strength, fitness, and weight loss but exercise plays a major role in the reduction of stress as well.
Exercise decreases ‘stress hormones’ like cortisol and increases endorphin’s your body’s ‘feel-good’ calming chemicals inducing a feeling of well-being and relaxation helping the body mend itself from some of the harmful effects of stress.
Proper exercise (strengthening exercise) also re-sets the anxiety/panic/stress button so it is harder to trigger and centers the mind and body providing a lasting effect throughout the day. It makes sense and is more efficient to schedule exercise into your busy week than to lose entire days or weeks of work to stress or illness. Along with the stress reduction you will gain strength and become fitter so your health will benefit doubly.
Medical books attribute anywhere from 50 to 80 per cent of all diseases to stress related origins. When people get busy they tend to cut corners on the big three – exercise, healthy eating and sleep and if this goes on too long you may find yourself with serious health issues along with being unfit and overweight.
Overworked and under-rested people need time out to tap into nurturing self care to become better jugglers and to stave off stress related illness. To effectively manage stress, you need to become a better caregiver to yourself as extra demands are placed on your body.
For more tools and resources from Carolyn Hansen to assist you in attaining your goals and achieving the success you desire in life, please visit:
You can train yourself for success or you can train yourself for failure, so, be your own coach and get yourself going.
Totally agree with everything you say. I am (past) proof of that busyness syndrome. Maybe the reason i had lymphoma, chemo etc!!
We men are not bullet proof like how we thought back in the 20ies!!!. If it is to be , then it’s up to me. Cheers.tony m