1. Busy Life in America by Melissa Wheeler

2. Table of Contents Reflection 1 The ‘Busy’ Trap By Tim Kreider Busy Busy By Tash Hughes Schedule 1 Schedule 2 Picture 3 Reflection 2 Resources

3. Reflection One W hat I Know About The Busy Life in America Life in America has become so busy. Families are always on the go with activities here and there. They don’t seem to have the time to just sit down and eat a good home cooked meal every night and talk about their days. Mothers especially are working more instead of being in the home all day long. This is caused because the economy is so bad that families can’t survive alone on the salary of the father. In some cases the older children who can work are also out working to help bring in money for the family to live off of. We are always on the go and it doesn’t look like it will be stopping anytime soon because we over schedule ourselves and our children. We want them to be able to do the activities they want to but don’t realize how much time it will take to let every child do what they are interested in. Our children are being run all over the place at times not even getting a good meal to eat for dinner because of the schedules we have set for ourselves and them. Sometimes not even getting home until really late and then still have there homework to do before bed so they are getting to bed even later.

4. The ‘Busy’ Trap by Tim Kreider Most of the people who are busy is the 21st century bring it upon themselves. They over schedule themselves and their children. It’s not those who may be working three or four jobs to make ends meet. Those people are just plain tired. It is those who run from activity to activity that are busy. Things they have voluntarily brought upon themselves. People are busy because they are afraid of what life would be like without being busy. Some are so busy that they forget what is important in life and aren’t truly happy. Scheduling in time with friends and family has become a well if I can; I will, not oh I can drop this and I will be over. Children are overbooked and don’t have the down time to just be a kid. They are rushed from one activity to the next and don’t have time to really breathe. Sometimes you just need to get away and take sometime for yourself and get away from the busyness of life. You need to find the time to just relax and not be busy it is ok to say no. Do what you need to for you not what others want or need you to do for them if you just need to have time for yourself.

5. Busy Busy by Tash Hughes Have you ever asked yourself the question Shouldn’t their be more to life then rushing around? Then take some time to just relax and not rush around every second of the day. If you are busy and rushing around all the time can result in being more tired, less creative. No way to relive the pressure that has built up. Our minds are then filled up with all that needs to be done and builds and builds which cause us to stress out. If we look at our busy lives as if it was a car or horse. We wouldn’t let our car go without service or a horse without taking a break. So we need to give ourselves breaks and not be so busy all the time. Give yourself time in the evenings to just relax and do something fun.

6. Schedule 1 our lives are so busy that we schedule ourselves and schedule ourselves until we are double and sometimes triple booked in one day. Picture taken by Melissa Wheeler Nov 28,2014

7. Schedule 2 Sometimes we have to miss things we really want to go to because of that double booking Picture taken by Melissa Wheeler Nov 28, 2014

8. Picture 3 We find ourselves so busy that sometimes we don't even clean up after shopping or even after looking through the paper. We just rush off to the next thing. Picture taken by Melissa Wheeler Nov 28, 2014

9. Reflection 2 What I Learned From Doing This Assignment that I didn’t Already Know? I learn that it is really important to find balance in life. Meaning that you don’t over schedule yourself all the time. Sometimes it is just impossible to have more then one thing in a day. But you need to evaluate and decide what is most important and if you can’t do everything you would like to do then you just don’t. You have to choose between them. Sometimes you just have to get away from it all and take sometime for yourself. This may include going someplace where you don’t have a tv, phone or access to the internet so you can have a breather and have time to yourself. I learned that having time for yourself where you can destress is very important because if you run yourself crazy busy you can become more and more stressed because you always have what needs to be done on your mind which stresses you out more. Just because you have a job that may require you to take things home doesn’t mean you need to work every waking moment in your day. Taking time away from work is important for you relationships with others. Being a workaholic is not good for you or your stress level. It’s important to know when it is time to stop and continue the next day.

10. Resources http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/0 6/30/the-busy-trap/?_r=0 http://www.wordconstructions.com.au/article s/general/busy.html