The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Yeats, "The Second Coming"
Most people floating around my orbit are fellow yoga and meditation teachers, psychotherapists, artists, musicians, intellectuals, creative types, etc. The IRS refers to us content producers and service providers as "Independent Contractors," which means that on average we physically have to show up in particular locations around 10-15 hours per week in order to actually earn wages; otherwise we spend a great deal of time in our home offices or our mobile offices (cafes with free Wifi) or alone in our office-offices arranging those 10-15 hours, preparing for them, or marketing them to future potential clients - as well as taking care of our own 401K plans and health insurance policies, things that salaried employees who punch a clock never have to worry about.
I have an office in which I see about 10 psychotherapy clients per week, then the other 80-90 hours per week I am on my computer marketing my meditation and yoga DVDs, arranging workshops and speaking engagements to support the DVDs, and "networking" in order to meet people who inspire me and partners with whom I would like to work (fellow teachers from whom I can learn). In addition, since January of 2012 I have written around 150 articles - a.k.a "blog posts" - for which I have been paid a grand total of zilch, so I do not consider that to be "work." Work is when there is a definite outcome and you are fairly compensated for achieving that outcome.
I have noticed that during many recent "meet-'n-greet" rendezvouses with fellow independent contractors when I ask, "How are you?" the reply is often, "Crazybusy."
When this occurs, I usually ask with a big smile, "Do you imagine discovering the cure for leukemia this week? Or cancer?"
During the time when they are unfurling their brows, I ponder various possibilities that may be causing them to believe they are Crazybusy:
1. Are they talentfree regarding time management?
2. Are they financially unabundant?
3. Are they delusional?
4. Are they out of alignment with their inner gods and goddesses?
5. Do they suffer from Narcissistic Personality Disorder?
6. All of the above?
And when they prattle on about the self-imposed deadlines for finishing up the artwork for their Createspace self-published books, sending their latest Mailchimp spams, revamping their websites, writing their blogs, organizing photo shoots for their Instagram accounts and video shoots for their YouTube channels, I listen attentively while thinking of our fellow 3.5 billion human beings who live on less than $1.50 per day and will go to bed hungry tonight.
"Crazybusy" is thus a relative term. If you need to find food for your family to survive the next 24 hours then I think it is justified in calling yourself, "Crazybusy."
If you are trying to rid humanity of a virulent virus that cuts down thousands of people's lives in their prime everyday, then I think you are entitled to call yourself "Crazybusy."
If being certain that the Instagram photo of you doing urdhva dhanurasana on the beach in a $300 outfit with one leg pointing up at the sky has successfully re-posted to your Facebook "Public Figure" page causes you stress, then I think the clinical diagnosis is "Intoxicated By Own Self-Importance." (I've never met a kindergarten teacher who has a "Public Figure" page so why do so many yoga teachers consider themselves to be "Public Figures"??? And wasn't yoga specifically designed to tame the ego???)
And thus, I would like to propose that all yoga and meditation teachers place a moratorium on the word "Crazybusy."
Now when the tsunami hits and/or the stock market goes to zero and you find yourself roaming through neighbors' backyards with a half-empty jug of kerosene in one hand, a loaded firearm in the other, and your toothbrush in your back pocket, then you can bring back the term "Crazybusy."
But in the meantime, shall we not put a parking lot on the "C" word?
"Slammed" should also be buried for anyone who considers digital deck chair and paper shuffling to be the most effective means of making his or her visitation to planet earth seem remotely urgent and important. Posting your lunch on Instagram, Tweeting, Facebooking, blogging, and 99% of the stuff we do on the Internet did not exist twenty years ago and PEOPLE WERE HAPPIER.
Depression, general malaise and unhappiness are rampant and ubiquitous, prescriptions for anti-depressants are de rigueur, and all semblance of social propriety has been tossed out the window now that people can hide behind little screens and launch visual and aural atomic bombs simply by tapping "enter" - all the while merely virtually hawking their wares like 19th century street walkers - and signing off their mass emails "In light and love."
Although the original intentions of social media were as pure as the original intentions of yoga and meditation, if you are a yoga or meditation teacher posting on social media or "blogging" like I am here, then - let's be honest and authentic about it, folks - we are just marketing our goods and services to potential future customers and clients.
Is social media causing freelancers to reduce our lives to being
moveable billboards, shiny objects?
Well, if that is the case, it would be a far cry from being Crazybusy.