Busy

Seriously, co-dwellers of earth, how do we get so much done? We collectively cavort into the world with our own personal smorgasbord of a cellphone in one palm and a beverage in the other, family demands dialed up, a yoga mat slung over one shoulder, an environmentally responsible packed lunch, clothes for the party we don’t have time to go home before, an iTunes playlist, interview outline and work appointments, a briefcase, a laptop bag, a gym bag, a diaper bag, cloth grocery shopping bags, an emergency snack bag, dirty clothes bag on the way to the cleaners, a sack of library books, a Groupon for dinner, a book bag filled with homework, tax forms folders heralding the approaching deadline, and a magic list written on the back of a used envelope to keep all the various bits in order. 

 

We are busy, are we not?  And nonetheless we are rocking it through many things with great success.  Hundreds of thousands of humans of all ages get where they are supposed to be mostly prepared with the things needed every day.  Congratulations.

 

Busy is defined pertinently as an adjective at dictionary.com in three entries.
1.  actively and attentively engaged in work or a pastime
2.  not at leisure; otherwise engaged
3.  full of or characterized by activity

 

I don’t know precisely what each of us carries, but I know it is substantial.  Bills hypothetically on our backs, buzzers and reminders on a portable phone travel with us everywhere, beliefs that shape us slip between synapses in our brains.  Everywhere.  Texting, talking, timekeeping, telling ourselves we will catch up on sleep on the weekend at which time, when we find some time for ourselves, we hate to “waste” it sleeping.  We are flattered to be called any of the synonyms listed at dictionary.com for busy (assiduous, hard-working, diligent, industrious, earnest, employed, occupied, working) and not so much the antonyms (indolent and unoccupied). 

 

I want to write my blog today but my thoughts are all over the place Monday manic.  In today’s to-do soup there is so much savory stuff I want to do, an equal scoop of goop I need to do, the stock of what I truly absolutely must do and the ingredients to leave out – that which I absolutely will not get to.  So, like a good stew maker, I’m winging it with what’s on hand, the first thoughts that come to my mind.  May they settle in your belly as a comfort of something shared, an offering of my love of words and a partaking in the solidarity of being busy.

I drop two quotes about busy into my pot for thought today.

It is not enough to be busy.  So are the ants. 
The questions is:  What are we busy about?   
                                                - Henry David Thoreau
 

I try to keep it real.  I don’t have time to
worry about what I’m projecting to the
world. I’m just busy being myself. 
                                               – Demi Lovato