4 Week Beat Busyness Challenge is Coming Your Way!

  How is your day or how is your life?Chances are you would reply with the word "busy".  And you would likely sigh, shake your head, and berate the awful situation of overwhelm and busyness that you are under.  I know.  I've been there.  I've been in that crazy whirlwind of dashing here and there, yelling at my boys to hurry, frazzled, multi-tasking from morning until night.  I'm tired even thinking about it.But, guess what?  Most of that busyness I brought on myself.  I know that now.  Now that I have made time and created the space needed to even think about what I really want and need to do each day, I see how my constant need to fill every second and nook and cranny of each day took its toll on different areas of my life.Busyness is a decision and it is a disease.If you are one busy gal or guy and are on that rollercoaster of busyness,  then I have a Challenge for you.NEXT MONDAY we will begin a 4 WEEK BEAT BUSYNESS CHALLENGE and I hope you will join!Tell your busy friends, neighbors, and co-workers to join.   I want to help unbusy your day, your week and your life!Become Less Busy to Become More Present.

In 2007, the American Psychological Association published its Stress In America survey and found  the majority of Americans recognize that their stress exceeds levels necessary to maintain good health.Dr. Susan Koven practices internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. In a 2013 Boston Globe column, she wrote:

In the past few years, I’ve observed an epidemic of sorts: patient after patient suffering from the same condition. The symptoms of this condition include fatigue, irritability, insomnia, anxiety, headaches, heartburn, bowel disturbances, back pain, and weight gain. There are no blood tests or X-rays diagnostic of this condition, and yet it’s easy to recognize. The condition is excessive busyness.

Busyness can also be a killer.  It kills our consciousness, our creativity, our relationships and our connections.  If we continue to follow the world view we will only find ourselves busier.Most of our busyness is busyness that we can control.  We create our busyness for lots and lots of different reasons.  During the next 4 weeks we'll look at some of those reasons and I'll give you weekly activities to beat those busyness tendencies.I have found that as I have unbusied my days, I am often more productive. I find that the things I complete are done well.  I might do three things completely and really well, whereas in my busy days I might be tackling 33 but doing them half-baked job, starting and stopping, and never feeling accomplished.  I created days that were too busy for conversations with friends, let alone meeting one face to face. I created days that did not allow for mistakes, illness or emergencies.   Don't get me wrong, I am not advocating letting your responsibilities go.  I can still get quite a lot accomplished in a day or a week, but I am not defining myself by my doing these days.  I define it by my being, by my experiences and by its fullness. There is a huge difference.

Think on these words by Anne Morrow Lingbergh.

My life in Connecticut, I begin to realize, lacks the quality of significance andtherefore of beauty, because there is so little empty space.  The space isscribbled on; the time has been filled.  There are so few empty pages in myengagement pad, or empty hours in the day, or empty rooms in my life inwhich to stand alone and find myself.  Too many activities, and people, andthings.  Too many worthy activities, valuable things, and interesting people.For it is not merely the trivial which clutters our lives but the important as well.We can have a surfeit of treasures--an excess of shells,where one or two would be significant. Anne Morrow LindberghGift from the Sea

I love how she puts this.  Oftentimes, we are busy with all good things.  That can be tough.  Who wants to let go of good things?  This Challenge will help with just that.The 4 Weeks to Beat Busyness Challenge begins NEXT MONDAY.  Each Monday for 4 weeks you will receive a challenge activity to implement into your week.  At the end of our 4 weeks we'll have PRIZES for those of you who have challenged yourself to Unbusyness!Enter by subscribing to MarlaDeenFit and Follow MarlaDeen on Instagram (if you are on Insta) or Facebook at MarlaDeenFit.  Each week leave a comment on the weekly blog post, on my Instagram or FB Page of how you are unbusying with our weekly activity.  Tag me on Instagram and include the hashtag #BeatBusyness#Week(number)The More You Participate the More Chances You Have to Win!Here's to UnBusyness Ya'll!!Enjoy Your Day!