Lately when people have been greeting me and asking how I’ve been doing, it often is answered for me before I can respond: I bet you’re busy. Or sometimes they lead me to it…Have you been busy? People say it like it’s a good thing and I can’t help but wonder, what’s so great about being busy?
To me, busy is just an answer that we’ve all been conditioned to say. The dictionary defines busy as: having a great deal to do; occupied with or concentrating on a particular activity or object of attention; full of activity; engaged. Okay, that actually sounds kind of good if you ask me. But I feel like busy is an easy response. It’s an excuse. It’s a simple word/way to gloss over what’s really going on. Why are we leaning on this cop-out term to define who and how we are?
I think it’s just part of being wrapped up in the rush. On top of our full time jobs, daily exercise, family time, relationship/kids/pets/etc, now we have an online presence, constant communication on social media, travel, more work, less sleep, healthy cooking, picture taking of what we’ve cooked, posting, liking, DIY’ing and a gazillion other things. So yea, we’re ‘busy.’ But I’m never too busy to spend time or energy on things (and people!) I value. I don’t want to be too ‘busy’ to slow down and communicate with you.
When people ask me how I’m doing, I want to say ‘I feel really positive today,’ or ‘I am a little tired so I’m looking forward to an early bed time tonight,’ or ‘I am so excited about this project I’m working on let me tell you…’ Yes, there’s a ton going on in all of our lives. Yes, time moves too fast. Yes, we (especially we So-Californians) are constantly in a hurry. But I’m not busy. I’m full and fantastic. And if you really want to know how I’ve been doing and why this huge smile is constantly on my face, I’d love to slow down for a few minutes and talk about it then listen to how and who you are too.
A - I’m “busy” though not as much as you. Yet I’m exhausted all the time. I feel like I could sleep for weeks and still want to sleep more. Don’t know how you do it!