Gifts for Abroad Studying Students
Take a closer look at the surrounding people; all of them are engaged in various activities. In other words, everyone is multitasking. They have some plans for the nearest future, as well as multiple long-term goals and work hard to achieve them. Visit downtown, and you will observe the same picture; the faces are lost in the glowing screens, their heads are tilted downward, while technologies turn them into zombies.
The present-day world is full of pitfalls. This world is focused on the efficiency, productivity, output, work rate, etc. The value of every individual is measured by these categories, skipping his/her human virtues. Instead of spending time with our families, we meet our business partners substituting the real feelings with the fake ones. Instead of traveling around the world and learning other cultures, we are stuck in the rush-hour traffic hurrying to get to the conference on time, which brings no importance to our happiness or self-identity. We read texts, messages and listen to the voicemails instead of communicating with our children about their school achievements or plans for future. We move faster, faster, and faster. We are busier, busier, and busier.
Americans are working the enormous amount of time but actually earn less. Being busy is gradually becoming a norm. When people hear that you are not busy, they think that you are unproductive, inefficient, or lazy. In other words, such a person cannot bring anything to the society.
Personally, I believe that the word “busy” is a curse. My face expresses an ugly grimace when someone accuses me of being busy. My consciousness tries to protect me from this mockery, and I say: “I am not busy. I am focused.”
I feel that being busy is not about me. I am not concerned about the meaningful things. I have a lot of plans and aspirations, and I am focused on reaching them. Indeed, there is an obvious difference between being focused and being busy. A person should have the goal, which helps us to move forward despite all the troubles and challenges. It is easy to be busy: such a practice works well for robots, fascism, or factories, but not for a goal-oriented individual, who is dreaming about changing the surrounding world for better. The word “busy” is closely connected with the term “productivity,” while being focused requires intentionality, awareness, and attention. Many individuals mistakenly consider that I am busy instead of comprehending that I am just focused. These two statuses have the same characteristic: the most of time is occupied. Yes, I agree that being focused requires much attention and imagination, while being busy requires just mechanical work.
This year, I am planning to do only a few tasks: I will visit a new country, I will make up a list of five books and read them, and I will attend some event that will broaden my worldview. In terms of productivity, these tasks are useless, but they are necessary for my self-development. All in all, only the results of our work matter. Thus, if in a few years we say “Yes, I have made something special for my family and surrounding people,” this pursuit is not useless.