I Like Being Busy
The word busy has come to mean something very negative and stressful in our lives. “I’m so busy I can’t think straight,” “Sorry I’ve been such a bad friends but I’m just too busy”. Being busy could mean having a great deal to do or to keep oneself occupied, neither of which seem that terrible. For someone like myself who works for herself, being busy is the epitome of what I do. If I’m busy, that means I have a lot of clients and a lot of work, which is the goal for a freelancer. If there is a day where I’m particularly busy and I let someone know, I’m met with sympathetic pats on the back and votes of confidence.
We tend to complain about being busy very often, way more often than we actually are busy I think. I mean is there really that much work to be done in the world? Okay maybe. But I mean we complain and complain and it’s like, busy is good! I mean I haven’t met anyone who has been so busy that they haven’t had time to regularly eat and sleep so I’m assuming that’s a minority of the population. Being busy is a part of life, a part of what we’ve signed up for and I think the best thing to do is learn to manage it better rather than letting is stress us all out.
I think I may be an anomaly, but I really don’t get any pleasure of sitting on the sofa all weekend watching TV (unless I’m very hungover in which case I need carbs and a pool). I mean it took me nine months to get through season one of Narcos, I’m really not that into TV. I’m also not that into ‘relaxing’. People always talk about how they need time alone or how they hate doing things on the weekend. This may be because they just spend the week doing too much but I find doing things so much more invigorating than just sitting alone in a room being forced to relax. When I share my daily plans, which can involve anywhere between zero to eight car rides, meetings and appointments, people are often aghast. “Why would you want to be so hectic?” Well, mainly because I want to get things done but also because, I don’t really mind.
Maybe there is a difference between people who enjoy being busy and those who don’t. This obviously depends on the kinds of things that are keeping you busy but I imagine anything that keeps one busy involves using your brain and this is always good. It seems most people do not want to be busy and when they are they simply find it impossible to do anything but the task that they are busy doing. I understand that there are times when you need to squeeze in 25 hours in a 24 hour day but this can’t be everyday? If this is, then maybe there is something going on with your time management because I mean even Obama managed to find time to read.
There are days when I am very busy, when I am running from place to place carrying one too many bags (I always seem to be carrying a minimum of two bags), in the heat, sweaty, irritated and constantly late. During these hours I will avoid phone calls, respond brusquely to messages and focus solely on the task at hand, not wanting to use my brain for even a second of unnecessary work. Then the day ends, I carry my weary body and many bags home and flop down on my sofa. Within about an hour, I’m kind of bored. Missing the busy.
Busy can mean many things but what it really means is that you’re being useful and stimulating your mind. As difficult as it can be to fit everything you need to do into one day, being realistic is key. Last week I mistakenly estimated a 1.5 hour drive to take 45 minutes and you can imagine how fun that was for no one. I think we need to stop seeing ‘busy’ as being such a negative thing and appreciate the fact that at least we have the ability and capability to be busy. There is a need for our services and our brain power and that’s an amazing thing. So the next time a serial complainer goes on about how busy they are, ask them to consider the alternative.
