Singapore American • March 2014
T h e A m e r i c a n A s s o c i a t i o n o f S i n g a p o r e ’s
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MCI (P) 178/01/2014
March 2014
Since 1958
Creative Writing Issue
The Busy Trap: We Can Be Less Busy By Jim Tietjen
I ambassador’s cup golf
japan
n July 2012 the New York Times published “The Busy Trap” by Tim Kreider. It struck a chord, a dissonant chord, as I, like many of you have fallen victim to this insidious, mostly self-imposed routine called “the busy trap.” Trying not to steal Krieder’s thunder, I will describe this phenomena and perhaps help you wean yourself from this precarious lifestyle. If you are too busy to read on, please read on. Consistently telling others you are too busy, so busy, or crazy-busy is a clue that maybe you are not, really. Kreider avers that nowadays this is the default response to the universal question, “how are you?” A possible rejoinder could be (1) wow, she’s really busy; (2) so who isn’t? (3) that’s a good problem; or (4) he’s just boasting. Often, a crazy-busy soul is seeking empathy, commiseration and/or affirmation. Really no-kidding busy people usually will not say that they are too busy, like internists pulling 36-hour shifts three times a week, wage-earners holding down three jobs to make ends meet or small business owners trying to make it. They might admit they are tired but not busy. Much of our busyness is self-imposed. We subconsciously coerce each other to “be too busy” through peer pressure. Outside of what we must do at work, how often do we: volunteer; sign up for an activity; engage in family “obligations;” take a “self-improvement” class; try to squeeze too many things into a day; spend time on our computer, Facebook,
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e-mail, Twitter, YouTube, the net – more time than we should; watch too much TV, like sports and movies; or attend endless parties, dinners and events we think are important for our work, networking, or just to be seen? When we seriously analyze our schedules there are probably several of these activities we all engage in regularly – activities we could easily forego. Why do we always tend to be so busy? It’s our nature. We live in a busy city. It’s an inevitable condition of 21st century urban life. If we are not busy like our friends, neighbors, peers and colleagues something must be wrong, right? When we are not busy we may feel anxious, guilty or otherwise adrift… shouldn’t I be doing something? So we find something to do, anything. If we are not busy we may feel like we are cheating or being cheated – hey, I should/could be brushing up on my Chinese. Unfortunately, when we have this feeling we probably won’t consider doing something really fun like reading a good novel, taking a nap, or walking in the park – that would be cheating, again! We must be productive, busy and productive. Kreider says this gives us “existential reassurance.” It is self-induced self-preservation and self-esteem. We must validate our being by keeping busy. Busyness ostensibly protects us, psychologically, from leading trivial or meaningless lives. Who wants to be superfluous? continued on page 20
The Dangerous First Descent of The Zambezi
14-15
By Richard Bangs
I creative writing 17-22
American Association
2-3
CRCE & Business
4-5
Community News
6-13
Travel Creative Writing
14-16 1, 17-22
Food & Dining
23
Health & Wellness
24
Arts & Culture
25-26
Member Discounts
27
What's Happening
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t was Valentine’s Day when I first saw the river; it was love at first sight. Along with a party of tour operators, I had been shuttled between game parks and hotel lobbies for days, all leading up to this: Victoria Falls. While the other occupants of the Land Rover pressed for a glimpse of the great falls upstream, I looked the other way, out of habit. Some 350 feet below the bridge we were driving over, a mighty river coiled and cursed through a dark basalt gorge. I could see two rapids interrupting the otherwise peaceful stretch, between the hairpin curves that divide the Third Canyon from its cousins. They were pieces of effervescence, feather-white, inviting. They looked as though they could be run. In 1855, David Livingstone was traveling down the upper Zambezi by canoe, hoping to find the African equivalent of the “Northwest Passage,” a water route into the heart of the continent that would allow colonization, the end of Arab slave trading and Christian conversion of heathens. But when he came to the huge falls that he named for his queen, Victoria, and peered over the edge, he abandoned his quest and made his way overland to the coast. The Zambezi below the falls remained unnavigated ever since. I thought I could correct that.
continued on page 19
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