Why you shouldn't try to appear busy

Hello hivers, hope today has been a good day?

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I was sitting with a group of friends this evening, they were all focused on their laptops trading and the only person who wasn't trading was making a post here on hive. I was sitting happily looking at them but one of them ruined my happy moment by asking if I was comfortable doing nothing when everyone else was busy, I felt a little ashamed so I turned on my laptop thinking of what I could do so I wouldn't look left out.

I wasn't really in the mood to do anything but I tried so hard to look focused while staring at my laptop doing absolutely nothing but I had a rethink, why did I have to look so busy when I had nothing to keep me busy?

I typed "how can I look busy?" On my search engine and found out I wasn't the only person who had been in this situation, more people actually tried to look busy even when they had nothing doing. Should this be normal? Personally, I don't think it should so I'll share some reasons why;

• Looking busy doesn't being being productive: I noticed many people compared being busy to being productive, while you can be productive while being busy, you don't have to be busy to be productive.

• Trying to be busy is a distraction: when you try to be busy when you are doing nothing, it makes an escape route for you to get away from doing something that is actually worth your time. In a room filled with people who are faking being busy, the necessary interactions they could have with one another which can lead to each of them learning new things from each other becomes impossible.

• It's okay to not be busy: many people equate being less busy to being lazy or less productive but as humans, it's actually okay to have an idle time to rest, travel, meet new people and do all the exciting things you can do.

• Being busy all the time can be harmful to the health: when you make less time for yourself, it gets your body worked up and this can be damaging to your health as you can develop a high blood pressure, head ache, insomnia or even a chest pain.

• Being excessively busy can become addictive: When you spend most of your time being busy, it can be dangerous as you could start to use it as an exit door from other life issues rather than facing them.

• Being busy isn't really what you want: while you think being busy is a badge of honour, you figure you need time to invest in yourself, you need breaks in-between work, Parenthood or whatever takes up most of your time, you don't want to be busy all the times, you only try to get busy because others think being less busy makes you less than you are.

Rather than trying so hard to be busy, it'll be better to accept the free times you have and breathe sometimes. Remember, being busy doesn't equal to being productive.

Thank you for reading.