Busy? A New Way To Think About ‘I Am So Busy’

Question - ‘How are you?’ Reply - ‘I’m busy’.

I have taken a personal stand against ‘busy’ by deciding on a two pronged action strategy.

This has influenced both my perspective and the perspective of others.

I decided to no longer reply with this common and over used phrase, ‘I’m busy’. Also, when someone commenced their conversation with me, with the apologetic, ‘I know you are busy, but….’, I reply, ‘Actually I’m not busy’.

3 things have come to light as a result:

One - by removing the word busy from my vocabulary I found this actually relaxed me. Every time you say, ‘I’m busy’ the stress, tension and emotion of busy accompany the word.

Two – the feelings of guilt I experienced because at times I wasn’t busy, and I thought I should be busy because everyone thought I was busy, so if I wasn’t busy all the time then something was wrong. The not being busy guilt feelings, didn’t happen anymore.

Three – when I responded with ‘I have time for you’, or something similar in nature, the person almost expressed a ‘hooray, someone isn’t busy!’ Their sense of rush and feeling of being an imposition vanished.

What is your definition of busy?

Being busy means different things to different people. Some busy people have many commitments and full schedules, while other busy people are sitting at home most nights watching television.

I have come to the conclusion that a person is only as busy as the choices they make to be busy.

Busy, or our intensity of busy, is a choice we make.

The reality of busy being a choice hit home for me recently when my mother was rushed to hospital with heart problems.

Did I say, ‘Sorry Mum, I’m too busy to be by your bedside each day?’ I don’t think so! I chose to shift the majority of my appointments to other scheduled time slots. I was no longer busy. Why? Because I had made a choice not to be busy for someone important in my life.

Some questions for you to ask yourself :

Am I really busy, or do I just say that I am?

Am I actually toooo busy?

Is my current level of busy detrimental to my health and my family?

At what level of busy do I personally function best?

Is there a courageous action I now need to take?