What It Means to Say “I’m Busy”

In 2011 I was working full time at a job I hated, planning a wedding and finishing up my MBA. I was “busy” in the most logical of terms. With waking up at 8am to be at work by 9, leaving early and hitting rush hour traffic to get to class by 6pm and then coming home to look at flower vendor contracts, I’m surprised I even saw my now husband and fed the dog every night.

Although I remember being so busy, what I don’t remember is skipping out on the things I really wanted to do. I went to concerts, dinners, movies and made time to call my parents every once in a while.

Many times I think we get caught up in using the words “I’m busy” to really mean “I don’t want to carve out time for you”. It sounds harsh, but think about a time when you were so busy that you felt you had no life. I’m sure you still went to that dinner party that one time, or spent an hour catching up with your sister over the phone. I know I did. In our technological world it’s not even a secret anymore, because the same day you told your friend you don’t have time to talk, sure enough, someone is going to tag you in a Facebook post during “Happy Hour at Bob’s Wine Dive”.

My sisters are two of the busiest people I know, but when we all lived in Dallas, we made time for our weekly Monday “sister night” to catch up and have dinner.

I read an interesting article on Slate.com about busyness being a virtue. That saying you’re busy makes it look like you’ve got so much going on, when in reality people aren’t as busy as they think they are. Makes sense right? If I was truly as busy as I told people I was in 2011, I wouldn’t have slept, ate, pet the dog or said hi to Justin that year, and that for sure didn’t happen.

So think about what the implication is the next time you tell people “I’m busy”. If it’s to someone important, make time. If not, well, I guess you have your answer.