It amuses me to listen to (and experience) the varying definitions of being busy.
When I was working full time for IBM, I spent an average of 10 hours per day at work (and believe me, they expected and extracted more than a pound of flesh), an hour or more per day getting to and from work, managed to get appointments and errands squeezed in, spent Saturday mornings with my Mom and still had a social life. How on earth did I ever do this week after week after week? Yes, I was busy – but everything got done.
I had friends and acquaintances who worked in jobs (I won’t say where) who lived by the clock (or were paid overtime), took their sick days as a given, had coffee breaks morning and afternoon, never missed the bus home – and they felt they were run off their feet busy.
Now I’m retired – well more or less. I work part-time for 6 real estate agents – but luckily the work I do can usually be done on my own time, when it suits me. Even so, when I look at my calendar and see an appointment, social event, meeting, class, bridge game, etc – JUST ONE on each day of the week – I think to myself – I have a busy week. When it gets to two items on several of the days of any given week, I feel too busy and start to balk, wanting more “me-time”.
How can BUSY have so many different definitions?
I can also tell you, from personal experience, the more you have on your plate, the more you can get done. When you have spare time, the “manana” factor kicks in and nothing gets crossed off the list!
What is your definition of busy??????
Sue
justbitchinrantsandraves 
As the saying goes; “You want something done, give it to a busy person”.
I think its easier for me to define when I’m not busy. Work is work, can’t be avoided. My off-time is equally as full. On weeks without my son, I am typically at either Centrepointe theatre crewing a show, or at Ottawa Little Theatre, crewing a show on lights, curtain, or props. In July, is a fully week of Jazz Fest volunteering on crew. If I don’t have something on the stage, I might be at a crew committee meeting, or, heaven forbid, at home! And everytime I think “I’m done doing shows for a while, I inevidebly get asked to do something, and I’m back in blacks again.
So, because I’m not home much on my son-less days, my weeks with him I’m doing all the domestic stuff I ignored the previous week (a typicaly call is from 6:30-10:30, plus travel time). So when I’m home, I’m cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, etc. or doing something with the boy. Or I’m doing some other side work – photos, websites.
I rarely watch TV, and only through my own persistance I pick up the guitar for a bit, or try to catch up on a pile of magazines. I haven’t read a book in nearly a year – no time.
My weekends are full for the rest of the year in one thing or another. I wonder where people find time to watch TV or movies.
But really, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m busy, active, “out there”. When I see a whole open week on my calendar, I get nervous. 🙂
When you get to my stage in life – an open week would be a wonderful thing! I know – I know – I do it to myself!
Since retiring, busy is no longer in my vocabulary. It is just another four-letter word. It has been replaced by ‘manana’. I guess that is why my grandkids call me nana. I never was a list keeper so not crossing things off my list is not a problem for me.
The only downside to not being busy is that you have too much time to think and reflect. When you have too much time to think, you become aware of how much you have forgotten. Then you get stressed that your memory is going.
Hmmm…what was I suppose to do today? Oh well, manana!
Nana Banana Manana – YOU GO GIRL!