In the busy-ness that is your work life, how often do you just stop what you’re doing to chat with a friend, share a meal, or have coffee and conversation? Fortunately, I’ve always enjoyed coffee time and shared meals but I have to confess I can fall into the trap of thinking that I’m “wasting time” because I’m not working on the task at hand.
It’s a rather sad analysis of our culture, the way that people feel guilty about being nonproductive. I don’t think I’m alone in this given the number of my friends I hear saying “I should be getting more done.” This impulse is not a bad thing in the way it drives us toward goal accomplishment but….it can get overboard when we measure our worth and being by how productive we are or could be.
Years ago, I adopted the phrase “step off the hamster wheel” as part of my internal voice that speaks when I find myself drifting towards thoughts around productivity versus relationship, creativity, and just being still. It’s been helpful in the way that I realize how frequently these thoughts creep into my head. Yesterday a friend came by and we chatted, it was glorious. No worries about time, schedule, work - just hanging out. It felt like freedom, spontaneity, and effortlessness - relationship is what we are designed for as humans. We need more of this.