An Inconvenient Truth.

“Stop taking pride in your ability to destroy yourself.”

—	Michelle K.

 I am about to make a statement, a statement that many of you are most likely not going to agree with. I believe that people enjoy being busy, stressed and sleep deprived. "But Ellen, what would possibly possess you to think such a thing?". Well today is your lucky day because you're about to find out!

 "Ugh, I wish I had time to see that new movie"

  "You got a full 8 hours last night? Lucky! I only got 3 hours of sleep last night!"

  "Don't even talk to me about being busy, have you SEEN my schedule lately??"

  " Here, let me walk you through my super busy schedule so that you can feel less accomplished than me"

Chances are, you have come across people who are OBSESSED with statements like the ones above, although they may not be as blunt about it. It's the; "look how much more I'm doing than you! I'm accomplishing so much more than you!" attitude. However if we were being completely honest with ourselves, it's more of the; "look at how sleep deprived I am! I'm going to die from a stress induced heart attack at a much younger age than you!" attitude. So why do people feel the need to let everyone know just how busy they are? Why are people so proud of the fact that they working themselves to death? I personally blame a very evident shift in our societies views on what's more important; sleep and relaxation, or doing something with every minute of our existence.
     To prove this point I'm going to go to a couple quotes, our first quote comes from William Shakespeare's Henry IV;

 "O sleep! O gentle sleep! 

Nature’s soft nurse, how have I frighted thee,
That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down 
And steep my senses in forgetfulness? 
Why rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs,
Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee,
And hush’d with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber,
Than in the perfum’d chambers of the great,
Under the canopies of costly state, 
And lull’d with sound of sweetest melody?".

Sounds like sleep is pretty great right? Then why did our ideals shift from the idea that sleep is great and something to love and enjoy to this quote from Thomas Edison, “Sleep is a criminal waste of time, inherited from our cave days". We have become a society of, "You can sleep when you're dead" thinkers, and with this attitude, that might be sooner than you think. 

Because of our societies praise of hard work, never ceasing, you must go, GO, GO. People feel the need to prove to others that they are really busy all the time. It's a sick game of "yeah you're really busy I guess.. but look at ME!". 

     And here is where we come to the inconvenient truth mentioned in the title. No one really cares how busy you are. If anything; you're only making others feel bad about not overloading their own schedules, thus furthering the cycle. No one cares to take a look at your schedule or to hear about how little sleep you got last night because you were reading a text book you aren't going to retain for the next day anyway. Trust me; everyone is just as busy as you are and don't need to hear your schedule as well. 

     I guess the real question I'm asking is; since when was sacrificing physical and mental health something to brag about?

-Ellen