"Speed" or "Busy-Ness" can be Stealthy

Sometimes "speed" or "busy-ness" can hide in the shadows like a ninja. We don't even know it's there or that it's happening. So it's no wonder we can easily feel dragged down and overwhelmed.

We find this in the health and wellness realm in the form of self-help. Which is ironic when you think about it; We spend so much time, energy and money on "learning the best way to do something for ourselves", but then we often DON'T help ourselves. Instead, we go get ANOTHER self-help book, podcast, video etc and repeat the cycle. In 2024, the global self-help / personal development market was worth approx $45.7 billion. $12 billion in the United States alone. 😳

It's not a matter of "good vs bad" in arguing whether the industry helps or harms us. The reality is, all this information (ideas, approaches, facts, opinions) - this is REALLY good. However, we have NOT learned (partly because it happened so fast) HOW to USE this information. Therefore, we just keep ourselves "busy" by gathering all the "secrets" of health and wellbeing.

Sure, we're learning as we go and learning is important. But modern humans learn more in ONE DAY than our ancestors did in a LIFETIME. Yet we're dragging our asses every day, we're struggling to find "what works", we're feeling more like "failures" with our health goals, we're more confused than ever as to "what is right" etc... A $45 billion dollar global industry and we are STILL seeing health statistics on a downward trajectory.

This is the stealthy self-help, "busy-ness" ninja at play. Round house kicking us right in the chakras!

Classic movie. 😁 I couldn't help myself.

There are some wonderful resources out there for self-help. Without question! The issue however, is that we just keep diving into the information and NOT acting on it. THAT is a form of "busy-ness" and "speed". We think "if I'm 'learning' then I'm doing something". I don't disagree. However, LEARNING and GATHERING INFO is ONLY one part of the health equation. If we don't take the next step, which is putting what we learned into ACTION, then all we're doing is making ourselves feel "busy" in our learning. Again, that's not a "BAD" thing - but it also won't make you HEALTHIER.

Therefore, it's just "busy-ness".

To create "less busy" ~ SLOW your searching

Relax for a while from your search to find "the best" thing for your health. Take a breath of fresh air and roll with what you already KNOW (which is more than you realize) and what you've learned. Put it into action for a while. This act of SLOWING your searching and info gathering, will give you a very REAL sense of calm. That SLOW-NESS will be prominent for you because you're NOT frantically searching for the "latest and greatest". Instead, you're just BEING and DOING.

*Side note: If there was actually "THE SECRET" or "BEST WAY" to live healthy ~ We'd ALL know! Within 24hrs we'd know. We have the world's information LITERALLY in the palm of our hands people. We have folks who LIVE on social media (journalists/news people included) waiting to throw out NEW "stuff" the SECOND it pops up. So take a breath and sit back from the constant searching. SLOW. BREATHE. BE. If it EVER was to come out that there "was a secret to health" - You'll know. And it will come to YOU. We won't have to search for it.

Be where YOU are for a while

Slowing that frantic, neverending search for "the best health secrets ever", will actually allow you to BE WHERE YOU ARE for a while. You can just BE YOU; in personality, abilities, knowledge... all of it. This doesn't mean you can't TAKE ACTION or CREATE CHANGE during this time. You can actually CREATE MORE change when you're DOING instead of SEARCHING because you're LEARNING what does (or does not) work for YOU, instead of what some book or podcast said!

Dodge the "busy-ness" ninja's strikes

I've experienced the information overload chapter of my life (and career) before. It's exhausting. It was also the point in my career where I was the MOST STAGNANT, for exactly the reasons previously pointed out here. It was "busy-ness", but very little ACTION in utilizing the stuff I was learning. In my line of work, you NEED to be aware of what's out there to better guide your clients (and yourself). However, it's impossible to keep up to it all. As much as I'm passionate and fascinated by learning about human health and wellbeing, I sometimes have to take a break from it.

• I'll read something different.

• I'll completely stop listening to podcasts for a while.

• I'll pick one thing I recently learned and put it into play for a month or so to get an idea of how it feels, works etc

• I'll stop reading "work related content" for a while and just "do my thing" for a few weeks.

When we ALLOW ourselves that time to SLOW down we are dodging the strikes from that stealthy "busy-ness" ninja who creeps up on us. We have time to PROCESS what we've learned.

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In our discussions surrounding SLOWING DOWN how we live our daily lives, especially during busy seasons like the holiday season, we have to be aware of these sneaky forms of "busy-ness" that are draining our energy and our capacity to do things that we love and things that are important to us.

Move away from the "Good or Bad" mentality with this. Caring enough about your wellbeing to spend time, energy and money searching is GOOD. But TOO MUCH is NOT good. There's that "all or nothing" mentality again eh? Once again, we want to find our BALANCE. A little searching and busy-ness, paired with a little action (on ourselves) and slowing down for a bit will have you feeling drastically different in your energy levels and wellbeing. Better yet, it'll move you away from the norm of today's "more more more", "go-go-go" society.