Did you know being busy is addictive?
When we complete tasks, our brain releases the pleasure hormone dopamine, which makes us feel good.
Your anxiety will calm down once you practice setting your own pace and building your own sustainable platform of awareness and stop relying on outside coping mechanisms.
You have not done anything wrong, and it’s not too late to make a shift.
Be aware of the negative ramifications of using busyness as an adaptive strategy:
- Avoidance: Relying on busyness to cope prevents you from addressing underlying issues, emotions, leading to unresolved issues affecting your well-being. Are you feeling tired?
- Burnout: Constant busyness leads to physical and emotional exhaustion, resulting in burnout and decreased overall well-being. Are you feeling overwhelmed?
- Temporary Relief: The relief provided by keeping busy is temporary, and when the activity ends, the negative emotions resurface. Are you feeling hopeless?
- Neglected Self-Care: Busyness can lead to neglecting self-care activities, such as rest, relaxation, and spending quality time with loved ones, which are important for maintaining mental health. Are you feeling unconnected?
- Perpetuating Stress: Over time, constantly engaging in activities to avoid negative emotions can contribute to chronic stress and contribute to a cycle of unaddressed emotions. Are you feeling stressed?
Keeping busy provides temporary relief and some positive outcomes, only when it is balanced.
It’s crucial to allow yourself time to process your emotions, and seek support when needed through doing your own homework.
Consider the root causes of your stress and anxiety. You may have had some trauma, a one time situation or layers that you were not able to talk about or had no idea how to work through.You may be using substances to manage your feelings, that seem relaxing but cause more stress over time.
Coping solely through busyness suppresses the necessary emotional work and prevents you from finding more sustainable and healthier ways to manage difficult situations.
If busyness is one of your coping mechanisms, it could be isolating and keep you from engaging in activities that will help you feel more calm.
Society has led us to believe we are doing something great by being busy. We teach our children this and the cycle continues.
We need to be productive in our day to ensure our work is done and we are helping each other, but we can recognize that it is okay to sit with ourselves on our own terms.
It’s acceptable to sit with your thoughts with a clear head. It doesn’t have to be a name or a specific activity.
It can be sitting in the morning daydreaming and using your imagination to think about butterflies in Mexico. The details of their colours and the flutter of their wings. It’s your life and you can do it. Start gradually and feel the shifts in your body.