What Happens When You Look Up From The Busyness?

It’s an uphill battle in these digital times. But we all hold the power to hit the pause button every now and again, to look up and see what’s right in front of us.

Not long ago I was on my evening commute home when I noticed a man standing near the door of the train. There was nothing particularly remarkable about this gentleman.

What caught my attention was his superhuman juggling act: he held a laptop in one hand, while simultaneously managing a large pretzel, soft drink and backpack with the other.

As the train bumped along the winding track, this super-commuter managed to tap away on the keyboard without so much as a stumble. Or a moment’s pause to look up and take in the evening sun streaming through the window.

Smartphone society

As I watched this scene unfold, I couldn’t help but feel tremendous sadness. What’s wrong with our society, I wondered, where grown men and women are driven to such extremes?

The thing is, I know this compulsion all too well. I am that guy. And judging from the number of smartphone zombies I see around me, so are you.

We’re ubiquitous. On the train, walking down the street, standing at bus stops, waiting in airport lounges.

Maybe not to the extreme of our laptop-and-pretzel juggling friend. But his story is only a few stops down a dangerous road to burnout.

Look up, already!

We are all called to instantaneously answer the pings, beeps, rings and vast universe of information at our fingertips. Coming back to our commuter friend, what most surprised me about this scene on the train is that none of our fellow commuters seemed to notice anything unusual. They were all too engrossed in their own device of choice.

I might have missed it too, except that I made a commitment earlier this year to consciously look up from time to time, if only for a minute each day. To sit quietly and take in what’s happening around me.

Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them – Marcus Aurelius

It’s not easy to remain still in the face of thumb-twitching temptations to numb the discomfort with a quick dose of YouTube cat videos or the latest moral Twitter outrage (or fill-in-the-blank-here with your preferred distraction of choice).

But I am slowly bringing more consciousness to my own mindless cycle of busyness: that incessant rhythm of scan, check, respond…repeat.

Small steps to sanity

For all of you skeptics and die-hard tech junkies out there, let me address the obvious counter-argument to this look up philosophy: in today’s competitive economy, how can anyone afford the luxury of switching off? Isn’t busyness a necessary by-product of these digitally-enhanced times?

Yes and yes. As a busy professional myself, in a 24/7 field of work, I don’t disagree. In fact, this is the very refrain I’ve been reciting to myself over the last decade. But it’s one thing to get your job done effectively and quite another to scroll mindlessly into the digital abyss.

And I’m not talking about switching off entirely. It’s more like hitting the pause button from time to time so that you look up to see what’s right in front of your nose.

Because it’s all too easy to lament about the state of the world out there. But changing the game starts with us. Right now. This very second.

It’s surprising what you will see in front of your eyes when you look. Here are a few of the scenes I may have otherwise missed if I hadn’t looked up:

The joyful bus driver

On a recent business trip to London, I was caught in traffic on my way to catch a train to the airport. I was feeling quite stressed about the prospect of missing my flight home and must have been frowning as I scanned the email pile-up after two full days of meetings.

While in the throes of this anxious muddle, something caught my eye. I looked up to see the driver of a classic red double-decker bus sitting in the lane to my left, waving away and smiling at me.

He exuded so much enthusiasm that I couldn’t help but share a laugh with him, each in our own little world, tucked away in the taxi and bus, side-by-side on the blocked roadway.

Epic sunset at home

Returning home from another trip not long ago, I was greeted with the most spectacular sunset. A literal explosion of gold, fuschia, watermelon and orange flooding the sky and framing the nearby mountain range.

Normally I would run straight home from the airport to unpack and get the house back in order again. But instead I stopped the car on the side of the road to watch this magnificence unfold before my eyes, only a few minutes away from my own backyard.

A kind stranger

One day I stepped off the train at my usual stop. This day was particularly busy with a rush of commuters scurrying to get to their second shift at home. Instead of fighting the crowds, I decided to wait a moment on the platform to let them pass.

At the same time, a teenage boy was struggling to make his way up the stairs against this tidal wave of hungry humans, to catch the very train we had left behind.

The car doors were starting to close as the boy reached the top of the stairs. But a woman on the train noticed him struggling and pressed the button to open the train door so that he could hop on just in time.

In his rush to get on board, the boy didn’t notice this small act of generosity. But this anonymous woman had saved him a half-hour wait for the next train.

Gift of flowers

Rushing down the street one day on my way home after a long day, I noticed an older gentleman walking in the opposite direction. He had a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a smile from ear-to-ear. He walked with such sense of purpose and kindness. I have no idea where he was headed, but couldn’t help but feel his enthusiasm as he passed me by.

Small steps

Of course, old habits die hard. I recently missed my tram stop on the way home due to complete and utter smartphone absorption. On this particular evening I was caught in full-on zombie mode, deep into the digital vortex. Ironically, I can’t even tell you now what was so engrossing at the time.

I wish I could say that I was doing something meaningful. But more likely I was watching something along the lines of this “work out while you visit the Met” video on Facebook.

Enough said.