Don’t Worry, Stay Busy

If your daily to-do’s keep you hopping, consider yourself lucky.

New research shows that busy people are happier than those whose days leave them with too much idle time.

Keeping busy is a natural inclination, suggest the research authors, and most people will choose busyness over the alternative when given a choice.

While people dread idleness, the study notes, they also seek justification for busyness. This could be due to the rational nature of human beings and their desire to fuel their decisions with reasons.

Therefore, activity for activity’s sake doesn’t cut it. But the reasons people cite for their busyness may often be simply justifications for avoiding idleness.

Most of your activities are apt to come with their own good reasons. You go to work to earn money and, hopefully, because you find your job fulfilling. You mow the lawn to keep your house looking well-maintained (and to avoid angry neighbors).

But no matter the reasons, if your schedule is bursting at the seams, try thinking of it as a happiness booster instead of the source of stress that it might often seem to be.

And no matter how crazy your day, remember to make time for the best activity: the physical kind.

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