Modern urgency is a sad performance. A theater of stress. Everyone’s drowning in meetings, pinging in Slack, rushing to respond to emails like their life depends on it. But look closer, just for a split second. Beneath all the buzz of productivity lies something far less noble: avoidance.
People say they crave free time, real connection, and space to breathe. Yet when it shows up, they flinch. Ask someone to block out a few hours for a long dinner with friends and suddenly they’re “slammed.” Ask them to show up for something that won’t move a KPI or feed the algorithm, and they’ll vanish.
And really, it’s all about truth, not the lack of time. No one is too busy to be human. These people are just terrified of what stillness reveals in them. That the job title is simply a mask. That the majority of work is noise. That all the “urgency” is a way to dodge intimacy, responsibility, presence, and purpose.
We’ve industrialized distraction. We manufacture fake emergencies because it’s easier to be “underwater” than to be accountable to the life we claim to want. You’ll reschedule your best friend three times but never miss a status call. You’ll spend 8 hours on low-stakes bullshit but say you’re “exhausted” when asked to have a real conversation. What kind of loser are you?
Here’s the truth: If you can plan a Zoom meeting with your boss, you can also plan a walk with your friend. If you can schedule a quarterly review, you can schedule a goddamn picnic. You just don’t. Not because you’re overwhelmed, but because deep down, you’ve been trained to treat anything unmonetizable as optional.
You’re not busy. You’re simply to afraid of being seen outside the costume of work.
— Wout
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