“Busy” No More
By Tana M. Mann Easton, Lead Efficiency Engineer
The power of the words I use and the way they shape my perception of the world around me is profound. I remember in middle school, my wonderful music teacher had quotes that she would read every class period and then post them on her walls. The one and only quote that I remember was, “Only boring people get bored.” I still remember how completely convinced I was of the veracity of that statement. So much so that I decided to never use the word “bored” in reference to myself again. I have kept that promise to myself to this day. And you know what? There hasn’t been a single day that I’ve felt bored since then. Eliminating that one word from my vocabulary helped me to realize that no one was in charge of entertaining me other than myself, and I’ve been more mindful of my time and activities as a result.
Fast forward to around this time a year ago. I noticed around that time that I was having a mental allergic reaction to the word “busy.” It’s a word that is so heavily used in our American culture that it’s pretty much the go to response anytime someone asks, “How are you?” At least that was one of my common responses when people would ask me about myself. But I realized that the word wasn’t serving me or telling the truth of my situation. The word “busy” has a lot of baggage for me. It feels leeching and heavy. It suggests I don’t have control of my time and I’m overloaded. It makes time feel scarce. But the truth is, once I became an adult, I became the gatekeeper of every second of my time. I decide when to go to bed and when to wake up. I decide which friends and family members to spend time with. I decided which classes to take in college and what jobs to accept after I graduated. Sure there were assignments in college and tasks at jobs that I didn’t really want to do, but I put myself into those classes and jobs and I had the power to take myself out of them at every turn. I decided to get married. I decided to own a home. I decided to have a child. Every single task or interaction that I have every day is something that I chose, so the word “busy” started to feel too passive to be a truthful answer to me.
So last year, I started answering more truthfully when people asked me, “What are you busy doing?” My new reply was, “I actually don’t use the word busy anymore. I use the word active since I choose everything I do,” and then I would tell them about whatever was new in my life. Now this may seem like an obnoxious answer to someone who might just be asking a polite question, but I’ve found a big sense of relief in myself as I use the word “active” instead of “busy.” To me, “active” seems more healthy and proactive. It makes time seem abundant. It reminds me that I have a choice in everything that I do and it creates more space for me to enjoy every task and encounter. In just a year, I have already noticed a big change in myself from simply eliminating a word. And I like to think that people who hear me giving myself permission to not fall into the “busy” bog perhaps give themselves permission as well to step out of the grind more and more.
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Actively Yours,
Focus to Evolve Team