Crazy Busy

I've been exchanging e-mails with a good friend of mine. As both of us work very hard at our jobs in corporate America, in addition to the myriad other pursuits and passions we have, we steal a few moments in the day to catch up over quick snippets of text. The conversation went something like this:

Me: "How r u?" (note that I was too busy to spell out "are" and "you")
Her: "Good. Crazy with work. Got home from vacation and immediately was sent across the country for work. How are you?" (she was busy too, but had time to spell "are" and "you")
Me: "Crazy busy, but good too."

When did it become acceptable to be "crazy busy?" It's not the economy, though in these tough times those of us who are employed strive to look and be busy enough to stay that way. We were "crazy busy" when internet stocks were all the rage, the housing market was hot and the Dow Jones was breaking 12,000.

The folks at a mattress company recently acknowledged that we don't get the 8 hours of sleep we're supposed to be getting every night. Instead their genius marketers suggested: buy OUR mattress and "get a better 6 hours." They know we sometimes (okay, often) cheat ourselves of sleep in order to buy time to feed our "crazy busy"-ness.

Last month's Real Simple and this month's O Magazine both include lengthy feature articles about how to get more time back in your life, suggesting (among other things) to
1. Make a wish list of things that are important to you
2. Create a time journal and document what you do with every minute of your day for several days in a row
3. Put your to do list on an index card (as if putting all your to do's on a smaller piece of paper will somehow make them go by faster)
All great suggestions, some I might even use (one day). But with apologies to these two venerated publications - when would we have time to read about time management? The articles' intended audience is too busy to do more than read the headline on the cover and sigh wistfully as they continue to place groceries on the checklane conveyor belt.

We're overprogrammed. And we're tired. So with Labor Day and a long weekend close at hand, I decided to take a few extra days off to do what really needs to be done:

1) Recharge
2) Relax
3) Refocus

Don't get me wrong, I like to stay active. I love waking up to the challenge of balancing corporate life with creative - it's part of what gets me going each and every day. I love knowing that there is a deadline to be met, a character to create, a goal to achieve.

But sometimes, we get so caught up in the business of being busy that we lose sight of what we're being busy for. We get so tired or so stuck on the details, we miss important things or forget there's a bigger picture. I'm looking forward to these precious few days of rest and renewal. Because sometimes it's okay to slow down, to remember that you are a part of this moment and this world and just be. And not be crazy busy just to be crazy busy.

Have a wonderful and safe Labor Day weekend!