Busy, busy oh so busy. Quite literally the buzz word of today. Even out trumping ‘stressed’ and ‘exhausted’, I feel like I can’t cross the road without someone telling me just how extraordinarily SWAMPED they are.
How are you? I ask my neighbour.
MANIC! She screeches.
Fancy a coffee? I text a friend
Can’t. Totally slammed. Is the answer.
But I’m as guilty as the next with my OHHH-SO-BUSY retorts. And strangely it’s nothing really to do with just how much we have on our plates. No, we’ve all officially joined the Busy-Team where the only answer is busy. (A bit like the banana game but less funny.)
Of course competitive busy, as a sport, is now also on the rise. Could you possibly pick up my kids from school reads a recent text. I’m just SO busy! Now, how does the texter know that they are honestly busier than their recipient? Who could possibly be the judge in this frantic, breathless rush?
Working mums, those with terribly tiny toddlers, small business owners, CEOs, others with no childcare, no PA, no helping hand… I wonder if we really are busier than our predecessors or whether we just complain a lot more? Perhaps it’s simply our default setting and someone this Christmas needs to turn us off, unplug the busy lead, let us cool off and then power us up again?
Put up your hand if you’re going to join me as I duck out the Busy Cult. Let’s face it; it’s dull, heightens stress levels and is definitely not an appropriate answer to any polite enquiry. Let’s redefine the narrative and promise not to air our busy linen in public.
This column first appeared in The Lady where I am their Mum About Town.
