"Busy"

In life, we start out as children and our "busy" is playing with friends. We grow, and our "busy" starts to include homework, but is still dominated by friends. Then, in high school, "busy" starts to include the groups we're in-band or orchestra, sports, Math Team, trivia teams, robotics, etc. In college, a shift begins, where "busy" starts tilting more towards homework and class, and less towards friends, groups, and passions. After college, "busy" is cooking dinner, going to work, and getting rest.

There is a gradual shift in this term, "busy." It is one with deeper implications than what I've illustrated above. "Busy" shifts from dedicating our time to the things we love and exploring our interests- to being occupied by "making a living." We go from discovering hundreds of different ways to find and share joy- to ensuring our paycheck is enough to cover our bills. Quite plainly, "busy" goes from living passionately, to falling into a routine life, where those passions are set aside and rarely ever visited.

Isn't it interesting though, that we only ever start using the term "busy" in college. We start rejecting plans with friends and meeting up with groups because we don't have time because we're "too busy." Previous to this, we would never tell friends we were too busy, because we were too busy with them. We were only "busy" as far as we were busy living a full life with them.

The term "busy" is dangerous. We use it once we start to withdraw and set aside our passions. We use it as we get farther and farther from friends while getting closer and closer to "settling down." There is immense danger in "settling down." I've written before about two meanings of "life," and "settling down" falls distinctly under the definition of simply living. The other definition, in which we gain valuable experiences and live a full life is what we live up until we begin using the word "busy." That term is the first step to dedicating ourselves to a meaningless life.

This is not to say to never work- even when we followed our passions we had homework. It is to say that remember why you work. Only a very small percent of human life works in a field that relates to their passion- for those people, this problem is solved immediately. They will live a full and fulfilling life through what they do. For the rest of us, we work to gain money. Why do we need money? To have access to the same things clubs and friends provided us with before. To go out and do things. To be part of things that give us access to our passions. Work, but make sure you remember what you work for. Make sure your "busy" still means you're following the life you love.

The moment we start using "busy" every day to postpone or cancel plans with those that are important is the moment we start isolating ourselves not only from them, but from the life that's meaningful to us. To let "busy" become your excuse and automatic response is to fall into the valueless lifestyle that leaves life feeling half-lived, a price too dear when we have but one life.

Make time for your friends. Use money to follow your dreams and live by your passions. Actively work to use your free time to be with people you care about and do the things you love. You may think alone time will be rewarding, but it only furthers the trap of a meaningless life. Be with people. Do the things you love. Do not let "busy" overtake your life.