Staring at a long list of upcoming events she’d committed to, 28 year old Silver Lake resident Tiffany Appling remarked that she had no idea how she’d find the time to back out of every single one of them. “It’s good to be busy and all,” Appling said while drafting a text message that struck a delicate balance between sincere and intentionally vague, “but sometimes I’ve just cancelled on one friend and can’t even breathe before I have to flake out on the next!”
Appling reportedly planned to stagger her cancellations in order to avoid fatigue. “I can probably knock out the three holiday parties in an afternoon using the same ‘Sorry I can’t make it, but have a drink for me!’ and making sure to change the name and switch up the emojis.” Appling said, “But, three weeks ago I promised Derek I’d drive him to LAX but now I have to bail and I know he’s going to be upset. But you know what? Sometimes being a responsible adult means you make people upset.” Appling also planned to back out of a doctor’s appointment, brunch with friends, two birthdays, and someone’s Second City Conservatory show she’d promised to attend.
A recent Harvard study showed that flaking on such a packed schedule can actually have adverse health effects. “It accelerates feelings of anxiety in the nervous system, “ said Dr. Dina Ralston, co-author of the study. “Side effects include pacing, typing and deleting text messages, and even short-lived but very real delusions that you might actually attend the events in question. These effects are usually temporary and subside as soon as a person hits the send button.”
When contacted for a follow-up interview, Tiffany Appling replied that her boyfriend wasn’t feeling well so she was just going to lie low, but to have a a drink for her.
