Shoo! I'm too busy for you!

So, at this point of time, I'm currently working for two companies, organizing an event and (I'm supposed to) fulfill my course requirements. I've been ignoring the last one, because it's not graded yet and I'm uh, procrastinating.

Today, I realized that I've recently adopted this "Go away! I'm too busy to talk to you" attitude to people who aren't particularly high on my 'important' list. Or maybe this attitude has always been there, but is now just emphasized by my seemingly busy schedule. It usually doesn't show to my customers or close friends, but it gets blatantly obvious when it comes to me 'doing someone a favour'.

But if I take two steps back and look at it objectively, I'm not that busy. I still have time to eat, to read and reply some Facebook messages, and sometimes even to read some comics and manga for a good laugh! Rather, I realized that it's my arrogance that gives me this attitude. What arrogance? To put it bluntly, it's the "my time is more valuable than yours - beg me and I might talk to you" arrogance.

Horrible, isn't it? And I used to think that "all these busy CEOs are so rude! They always sound so busy on the phone, and hang up at the first possible instant!" So, it was very much to my dismay when I realized that I was doing exactly the same thing. And I'm not even a CEO.

Horrors. I think it's time for me to take a peg or two down, and start being more humble, and having humility.

humble adjective

/ˈhʌm.bl ̩/

not proud or not believing that you are important

humility noun

/hjuːˈmɪl.ɪ.ti//-ə.t ̬i/ [U]

the quality of not being proud because you are conscious of your bad qualities

I think that a common fear is that "not believing that you are important" equates to a lack of self-confidence, making a person no more than a doormat. Turns out that's not true. Being humble or having humility is a virtue. It means putting others first, and means that you have confidence in your abilities and your talents. It doesn't mean that you believe you are better than everyone else. It just simply means that you will forge ahead and do the best that you can.

Interesting concept, isn't it? I find it a difficult concept to grapple with, and constantly find myself bordering the line of being too self-depreciatory, or too 'humble' to the point of being arrogant. As the picture above so accurately says, too much humility can turn to pride. Interestingly enough, having humility is a quality that has been mentioned quite a number of times in the Bible. I found this great post by Doug Brittan that talks about humility in the Bible. Will upload it as a Voxbiblia Album later :)

So.. it's time to start practicing this virtue more....

Picture from Inspirationfalls.com