I’m not that busy

It’s labor day, a day dedicated to working hard and getting stuff done. It’s the one day of the year where we can all hunker down and do what needs to be done without an apology, without looking for an immediate reward, and without excuses.

So it is appropriate that I publicly reaffirm my pledge to stop saying that I’m busy.

For me, it started out as an innocent defense of the odd missed email or deadline and recently ballooned into a catch all argument for every foul-up or mistake that I make day-to-day.

What’s worse its that since the semester started I’ve found myself caught in a busy echo chamber. Faculty, administrators, and friends all saying the word “busy” over and over again to one another and to ourselves. It’s not that I don’t doubt that many people in my world are busy. In fact, I know that they’re busy without them saying it.

And I’m sure folks know that I’m busy too. So, for the next year, I’m going to remove that word from my vocabulary.

Most of the things that I do in life, I want to be doing. I’m very fortunate that my business is self imposed. I like have multiple projects running simultaneously. I like my job. I like my friends and family, and while I don’t have a hobby that takes up big chunks of my time, I don’t mind that. I figure I only get to live life once so I might as well enjoy as much of it as possible.

So, not matter how much I have going on, I’m just not that busy.