Addiction to busyness: the silent habit that keeps you from moving forward

How I mistook being busy for progress and what it really takes to grow

One thing changed when I moved to Spain.

It wasn’t the place. It wasn’t the people. It was what I left behind.

Distraction.

All the ways I used to fill my time, my thoughts, my energy, they stayed behind in the life I thought I wanted.

Like most people, I didn’t even realise how often I escaped into distraction. Sometimes I enjoyed it. Sometimes I needed it. But more often than not, it became the easiest way to avoid facing myself.

And the world makes it easy for you. Especially when you’re young."Work later, enjoy life now."

But I always wondered what that really meant.

Enjoy now, even if it means a €40k student debt? Even if it means paying years of interest before you even start paying back the real thing?

Busyness is a comfortable cage — wide enough to move, but too small to grow.

The comfort of being busy

Of course, I had my own version of escaping. Late-night shifts in hospitality. Study committees. Sales jobs. Social media projects.

Working late, waking early, chasing more opportunities to grow, to earn, to achieve.

My weeks were packed. My calendar was full. And for a long time, that gave me a strange sense of pride.

Because being busy looks like progress. It feels like progress.

But the reality? Stillness was rare. Time for reflection was almost non-existent.

When addiction to busyness becomes self-destruction

And that’s what nobody tells you. Being busy is often less about ambition, and more about escape.

Escape from silence.

Escape from reflection.

Escape from building the life you actually want, instead of the life that just looks impressive.

Until life forces you to stop. For me, that moment came when I realised I wasn’t building a future, I was running from myself.

More rest. More sleep. More stillness.

That wasn’t weakness. It was finally taking care of myself.

My biggest lesson from 2023? Addiction to busyness is real. It’s just a more socially accepted form of self-destruction. But in the end, addiction is addiction. And both lead you away from who you could become.

Learning to slow down

It’s confronting to see how quickly you spend time on things that don’t build you, things that only distract you from what matters.

Distraction from pain. Distraction from uncertainty. Distraction from loss. Distraction from doing the inner work that’s often uncomfortable, but always necessary.

And what happens if the balance is lost for too long?

Chaos.

Because distraction doesn’t move you forward. It keeps you exactly where you are, or worse, pulls you back into habits and patterns you thought you’d outgrown.

Building a life that lasts

Addiction to busyness was never about working hard for my goals. It was about avoiding the silence that would have forced me to face myself. But life doesn’t need more noise. It needs more presence.

The world will always offer you new distractions, more work, more plans, more things to chase.

But if you never slow down, never sit with yourself in the quiet moments, never reflect on what actually matters, then what exactly are you building?

Slow down.

Be where your feet are.

And remember: progress is never about doing more.

It’s about becoming less dependent on what pulls you away from what matters most.

Curious how to break through your own limits and grow beyond what’s holding you back? Read my next blog: Breaking your upper limit — the mindset shift that changes everything.