I'm Not Busy
/Whenever people ask me how I'm doing, I have a singular, standby answer: "Busy."
This, friends, is a bullshit response.
Let me explain. It's not that I'm not busy. With an active work and social life plus the (admittedly self-inflected) punishing workout schedule I adhere to, it seems there are rarely enough hours in the day. I am, in fact, busy.
But so what? Who isn't busy? I can't think of one person in my circle of friends and acquaintances who would answer "How are you?" with "Pretty slow, really. Lots of down time to think, read and meditate on life. Yeah, not a lot going on."
Right?
So I'm booting "busy" off my list of acceptable responses to give to people. Unfortunately, I'm struggling with what to substitute in its place. "Fine," "Well," and "Peachy-Keen" just don't capture my essence. Someone suggested, "Loving life," which has potential. What I'm thinking though, is maybe it's okay to imply busy so long as I find a way to do it with enthusiasm and gratitude. Tell me what you think of this:
"How are you?"
"Grateful for all the work! I'm killing it on my book proposals and have taken on some new responsibilities at work."
"Killing it. Marathon training has started so I'm having fun juggling to get it all in."
Not perfect, but getting there. Plus, what I like about these statements are that they open the door to conversations. When I tell someone I'm "busy," the typical response is, "I hear ya," or "It never ends, does it?" But if I gave one of the answers above, I suspect people might ask what my book proposals are about, what marathon I'm training for, what's going on at work. Then I get to ask them questions and before you know it, HOLY SOCIAL MEDIA, BATMAN, we're having a conversation.
Change takes time so I may slip, but this is a goal. I'm making this happen. Life is too short to be "busy," all the time. When we stay too busy--or convince ourself we are by saying it over and over again--we miss out on all the good stuff that surrounds us.
Cheers,
