Really F*#king Busy

How are you? Busy.  Really busy.  How are things? Good, but busy.   Busy.  So busy.  Things have been so busy.  I have no time.  It’s gotten so busy. Wow, you sound busy.  I am!  I’m busy.  How’s Frank?  Good.  Busy.  The kids?  Great. Busy. Can we have coffee this week?  Hmmmm, this week is kind of  busy.  Can you do next week?  Oh, that week is really busy for me.  Boy, we sure are busy.   Crazy busy.  Oh, yeah, it’s been crazy! The week, month, year, holidays have been crazy. I’ve been swamped. Totally nutty around here. Really fucking busy. But good. Busy and good. But mostly busy.

I haven’t had a chance to pee/sleep/ read/ shower, eat, do what I love, take a poop, brush my teeth. I’m up to my ears, my neck, my eyeballs. That’s right, I’m on duty, on the job, on the move, on the run, on the road, on the go.

Have you had time to GET busy? Are you kidding? I’m WAY too busy to GET busy.  

I’m hard at it, I’ve got a lot of irons in the fire, too much on my plate, I’m knee deep. I’m up to my ears busy. I’d love to stay and talk but I’m just so gosh darned busy.

When was the last time you asked someone how they were and didn’t get a response that included, “Busy”?  We thrive on the busy.  We brood about the busy.  We complain and boast about the busy, even when it’s not that significant.  Pretty much anything that occupies our time makes us busy.

 “I completely lost track of time, I was so busy knitting and changing the batteries in the flashlight.”

We’re busy working, planning, face-booking, organizing, catching up, returning emails,  running to our yoga classes, writing our to-do lists, shopping for presents, groceries, office supplies, getting ready for vacation…Oh, God….the holiday busy.

How were your holidays? Great. Busy! Insane! Relaxing, but very busy. We were going to call, but things just got so busy!  Vacations are so busy. We weren’t really doing anything but it ended up being really busy.

Aren’t holidays supposed to be, well, holidays? Meaning that we’re not busy because we’re on holiday, which is the very thing you do when life becomes too busy?

Here’s the thing. It has now become necessary to say that you are busy. ‘Cause you know what you are if you’re not busy?  Lazy. No one respects the lazies.  No one is interested in hearing about what the lazies have not been doing.  If we don’t talk about being busy, people are left to assume that we’re just hanging around with our thumbs up our….noses, which does not constitute busy-ness.  No one wants to be thought of as lazy because it usually means that our lives aren’t important.  And busy is important.  Busy means that we are someone.  If we’re engaged with more things than we could possibly have time for,  then there’s clearly  an abundance of people and things that are desiring of our attention, which must mean that we’re either extremely important or just really busy.

Sometimes we acknowledge the craziness of it all.  “I’m ridiculously busy.” “I’m insanely busy.”  “Can you believe how busy I am?” “It’s out of control how busy life is.”

You know what? I count myself as one of these people who are too busy. And yes, I talk about it. I admit it. I use it as my alibi. “I’m sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner. I’ve been so… busy.”   “I missed your call because I was…..busy.”  “I couldn’t make the party. Things got too busy.”   It’s like a badge I wear that allows me to excuse myself from almost anything.  And people seem to understand. “Oh, you were busy? I get it.  I’ve been busy, too.” I would like to not be busy but I can’t seem to find a way around it.  I probably shouldn’t even be here right now, I’m so busy. Sitting here and writing this is way more time than I can afford.  One thing that has kept me busy is trying to complete this piece.  I’ve been too busy to write this piece because I’ve been so busy writing this piece.

In fact, I’m too busy to finish this senten…..