Crazy Busy

“I am like a book, with pages that have 
stuck together for want of use:
 my mind needs unpacking and the truths
stored within must be turned over
from time to time, to be ready
when occasion demands” ~Seneca

Hi my darling, at times in life you're going to feel as if your mind is full of to-dos, a never ending list at that. At times you can feel as if life is pulling you in a million different directions. That's when you start to drown in the details and the minuteness of life. Time becomes an enemy instead of a friend. Life begins to become unfriendly. This is when you must step back and take a deep breath. Stepping back does not mean and will never mean that you're being lazy. You have to always take time to regroup.

By continuing in a frenzied, frantic state, there's a real danger in your life getting away from you. Instead of your life being like a serene open book, it looks like a book that's being read at a high speed where most of the pages are stuck together or blurred and undiscernable. I highly doubt if that's what any one wants their life experience to be like. I know that's not what I'd like for you, my dear.

Compartmentalization is
 a 'divide and conquer' process
 for separating thoughts to
prevent inner conflict.
~changingminds.org

Rather than ignore what is overwhelming you, it's time to begin categorizing and filing away. Compartmentalize, every last detail of your life, every urgent matter, every idea that can wait, etc. Then, when everything is put away in your mind in neat little boxes, it's time to open one compartment at a time. Do only what you can. The idea with compartmentalizing is this: you've already tried multitasking and it's not working out. Act as if your life was a book. Open only the chapter you're willing to give your all. And even in that chapter, open the pages one at a time. If you fail to do this, you will end up doing a lot of things awfully and wonder why you can't get anywhere or worse, can't see in which direction your life is going.

The same advice stands for family, friends and others in your life. Deal with one person at a time. It's okay, in my opinion to shelve a few people who have gotten to be a handful. Put people who are retarding your progress in time out. It's not as if you're discarding them, it's just that they need to take a chill pill somewhere in your mind until you're ready to put up with their shenanigans. It's self preservation and there's nothing wrong with that.

Sweetie, it's happened to me before where I've opened every door in my head, where I've let everybody in my life take center stage all at the same time, where I've tried to run 500 different projects all at the same time. Guess what, love? It didn't work out. I failed miserably. Multitasking has its merits but you have to be wise enough to know when it will fail you wrethcedly. Multitasking cannot be applied to everything. That's a lie the too progressive world likes to tell us. In any case where's this we're rushing to? Death? It's coming anyway, so live, don't die trying.

In one of the many letters he wrote to his son in the 1740s, Lord Chesterfield offered the following advice: “There is time enough for everything in the course of the day, if you do but one thing at once, but there is not time enough in the year, if you will do two things at a time.” To Chesterfield, singular focus was not merely a practical way to structure one’s time; it was a mark of intelligence. “This steady and undissipated attention to one object, is a sure mark of a superior genius; as hurry, bustle, and agitation, are the never-failing symptoms of a weak and frivolous mind.” ~Christine Rosen

CrazyBusy is not just a by-product of high-speed, globalized modern life–it has become its defining feature. BlackBerries, cell phones, and e-mail 24/7. Longer work days, escalating demands, and higher expectations at home. It all adds up to a state of constant frenzy that is sapping us of creativity, humanity, mental well-being, and the ability to focus on what truly matters.~ Attention Deficit Disorder expert and bestselling author Edward M. Hallowell, M.D.

Do not get lost in busyness my dear. Here's an idea: Sit back, lounge, relax,  do nothing but compartmentalize.