Glorified Busy

"I don't have the time."

I call BULLSHIT.

"Busy" is a four letter word.  And we looooove to use it.  It gives our lives great importance and fulfillment.  With all this "busy" wrapped up into each day, we MUST be accomplished and achieving great things, right?  Life is much more IMPORTANT when we are constantly "busy".

What a bunch of crap.

I am guilty of it myself.  This glorification of busy.  It's a term I use, and yes, there are days, so many days, when I feel "busy".  And I need to just STOP.  Not stop filling my days with productive work.  Not stop spending every moment going, going, going.  No, I can make the choice to continue with my "busy" life.  However, I WILL stop calling it "busy".

Today, I chose to go to work.  Yes, it's an obligation I'm fulfilling.  A responsibility.  But I've CHOSEN to do it.  I've chosen to work 30-40 hours a week.  The circumstances of my choices, such as wanting spending money, getting out of the house, enjoying what I do, really, do not matter.  I've worked the careers that are not as enjoyable.  I made that choice at that time, as well. 

I also chose to come home and make soup.  From scratch.  It involves dicing, shredding, and chopping.  I have leftover soup in the fridge, but I chose this soup because it I love it and want it.  I am the only person in the house this evening, so it would be an easy decision to choose not to busy myself with a homemade soup, but I chose otherwise.

I have berries in the refrigerator.  Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries.  They were initially bought for smoothies, but as time progresses and no smoothies are made, I choose to use them for something else.    I have chosen not to make smoothies in the morning, so I can use that extra time to make an additional cup of espresso.  Either could make my morning prior to work busy, but I have chosen which chore I prefer in ignoring the berries.  So instead, after soup is made, I will make a berry cobbler.  I choose to busy myself with that particular chore, after already busying myself with making a soup from scratch.

I will then clean up after all this cooking, because I choose to have a semi-clean kitchen tonight.  I will scoop the cat litter and feed the FatBastard, because I choose to fulfill an obligation to a pet instead of waiting for my son to come home to do it.

I will then make the choice to shower and read a book, because I love reading as my relaxation time.  Tonight, because I've chosen to do more cooking than usual, that reading will involve less time, but it is not busy time.  It's my choice of how I'm using my time.

See where I'm going with this?

The overuse of the word "busy" is annoying as hell.  I am guilty of it, and it makes me want to slap myself into reality.

The reality is, I have the same 24 hours the billions of other humans on this earth do.  And I am free to make choices to fill every moment of the day, or to let things slide.  Yes, reality also states that letting things slide for too long can eat up too much time at a later date.  But let's stop glorifying our schedules for a moment and call it like it is.

I can choose every single day where I want my priorities to lay.  Tonight especially, my priorities are obviously on delicious food.  (And that delicious Jack and Coke I poured while whisking up a roux.)  I choose to fill my day with obligations, responsibilities, chores, and enjoyments.  I can choose to ignore things...like the fact that something has dripped in the oven so now it puts off a burning smell when I run it.  I will choose to ignore that burning smell as I bake a berry cobbler.

Even if my day and evening were filled with choices that are not so pleasant, it is still on my shoulders that I made those choices that day.  It is my choice to prioritize what is important to me.

And that's where this glorification of busy really begins.  Priorities.  Where do my priorities lie?  It is not due to circumstance and outside factors.  There is very little that happens in life to prevent me from prioritizing.  And all "busy" is, is a statement to the world of where my priorities lie.  Some days, it's my children.  Other days, my husband.  It is occasionally my family, my friends, my job, my house.  But I own all those choices.  I am realistic enough to know that prioritizing some things, means putting others on the back burner.  But I also have lived long enough in this world to know that I must aim to balance all those things in order to feel that I have achieved my version of peace.  And not every day will be balanced.  And I can accept that.

However, that does NOT mean I'm "busy".

I simply have chosen not to prioritize something.

And if I let something not be the priority for too long, I also accept there are consequences.

And I don't blame "busy" for it.

So stop always talking about how "busy" you are.  There's really no need for it in our world, as we all have that same 24 hours the rest of the planet does.  You aren't busy.  You've just chosen to prioritize in a way that either makes you feel stressed, overworked, overscheduled, or over-important.  Own up to your choices.  Don't apologize for them.  Learn from them.  Balance them.

So, the next time you stop, feeling flustered and overworked, ask yourself, what are your priorities?  And where do you need to give?  There's always give, if you just let go of "busy" for one moment.  Because at the end of the day, at the end of this wonderful run of life, "busy" doesn't mean jack shit.