There’s a colleague in the Mamamia office who has been wandering around the office for months with a smashed up iPhone.
Every time she brings it into a meeting and plonks it on the desk, a small shard of it breaks off — bits of it left on the table as a reminder of her busy and increasingly unmanageable lifestyle.
I see her scrolling through the mosaic of broken glass, squinting at her emails and messages, and I think, ‘Goddammit, you’re torturing all of us — just go get the phone fixed before you hurt your damn self.’
She argues she’d rather eat lunch and see her children once in awhile, rather than venture anywhere near a Genius Bar. Yeah, I’ve been to the church of Apple and I’ve seen that labyrinth. Nobody wants to go there unless it’s absolutely your last option on earth — like heading into a windowless bunker during a nuclear apocalypse.
I've realised the phone has become her crutch. You know that explanation you give everyone as to why you're running late? "I'm so busy I haven't had time to fix this broken phone! I know it's such a joke. How busy am I. Sorry I'm late. I try."
You see, we're always complaining about how busy we are, but I'm calling bull on that. It's not that we don't have the time. We don't WANT to do it. That's right. And there's nothing wrong with that.
In honour of my colleague, here is a list of things I've decided I'm too "busy" to do this week.
1. Fix the four light bulbs that's blown in our living room. There is one surviving light bulb and if that blows, we'll bust out the candles and do our best rendition of Hamlet.
2. Buy an Opal card.
Watch: Nadia Bartel, new mum and fashion blogger talks about how she juggles her life. (Post continues after video.)
3. Try to figure out what that strange beeping noise is on my e-tag (three short beeps followed by one long one).
4. Do my tax return.
5. Take my seven giant jars filled with coins to the bank (thanks to my hubby, who leaks change wherever he goes like Hansel and Gretel)
6. Wash out all the kids' water bottles. (Too many spare parts, a quick rinse should do it)
7. Make salad.
8. Fold the clothes. There are clean piles lying all over the house — it's very strategic.
9. Call my in-laws.
10. Consolidate my super.
You see, it's a matter of priority. Those tasks were just... too time-consuming to complete. But I do accomplish things. A lot of things. Some tasks are just more pleasant than others, and by pleasant I mean, not mind-numbingly boring. Here are the tasks I managed to polish off this week, with relative ease.
1. Updated my Spotify subscription.
2. Ordered a cake online for my daughter's birthday. (Looking through endless streams of amazing cakes on Instagram took a solid two hours)
3. Cut my nails.
4. Reserved a table at 5 restaurants through Dimmi which I'll probably cancel in a week.
5. Placed a few items in my ASOS cart that I'll never actually buy.
6. Created a calendar reminder to make salad.
OK, that didn't look so impressive. But I'm not going to do anything about it until my colleague fixes her phone.
Featured image: iStock
Top Comments
I see it as about priorities.
I like to set my own priorities of how I want to spend my time, however, other people in my life also have an impact on what I need to do with my time.
My balance is to avoid doing things because others think I have to.
Personally I wouldn't care about a smashed phone, I have been to the Apple store with my children buying items and it is like a upmarket soup kitchen. Lots of waiting around, you have to be there, you need to be there and you have to wait your turn to get what you want.
Maybe you're lying but I have 3 children under 2. When I say I am busy it is not a lie. There are not enough hours in the day, I don't have enough arms and I wish I could multi-task more. The only reason I had time to read this excuse for an article is breast feeding.