Beware of burying yourself in 'busy' .

100 Personal Quotes

September 7, 2026

 

#3  Beware of burying yourself in 'busy'

You run into an old friend at the grocery store, you know the drill, “Oh!  How ARE you?” – You – “Oh dear, busy, really busy.”  - Them, “I know what you mean!   Me too.  Sorry I haven’t called. . . but . . . .” then, the grocery list of all they are currently involved with, as your brain is on hyper drive making your own list of how busy you are, and what has kept you from texting or making a lunch date. 

We are all ‘busy’, we claim it almost as a badge of honor.  There are even books written about being in the FLOW – thanks Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi –.  But is it really where we want to be?  Do the endless entries on our calendar define us as successful?  Does a calendar without a day un-allocated make us feel like we are slackers? 

Think about it.  When was the last time you had a day with absolutely nothing scheduled to do?  How about two?  Three?  I’ll admit I’m rather on the ‘ooopse’ side, as my days and weeks are often not entirely my own to schedule.  I mean, they are, but they are already overfilled with delightful things I really do WANT to do and engage in.  Ok, mostly, and yet, I find that I breathe a giant sigh on those ‘empty calendar’ days.  When there is only one thing I ‘must’ do.  I know I’m healthier, happier and even more productive, when my ‘empty’ and Unbusy days are at least a quarter of my time.  I thrive in silence, unscheduled flow – see Mihaly, I do understand the concept!- and time to really engage wholly with my wants as well as my musts. 

Oh, I like that. I’m adding that to my quotes page.  “Engage wholly with your wants as well as your musts.” 

Try it, then come back and tell me if it made a difference.  “It” being, create a few ‘empty’ days in your busyness. 

MGSK