Busy Isn’t a Badge of Honor

Raise your hand if you’ve ever been overwhelmed with the load of crap that’s on your calendar? Okay…crap may have been a bit harsh, but for real! Both of my hands are raised high up in the air right now…(and I’m typing this with my toes…joking, of course).

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten frustrated with myself for scheduling so many dang things for my family & I. It always happens slowly & overtime so I don’t notice right away. But then once the weekend gets here, I’m wondering how in the HECK we’re going to get everything done that we need to. How are we going to make it to a birthday party, a baby shower, the grocery store, squeeze in Quincy’s nap, clean the house, do the umpteenth load of laundry & remember to feed ourselves? I mean seriously…it’s insane! 

And then I get even MORE frustrated because 90% of what we have planned doesn’t include quality family time. And don’t get me wrong, this article is NOT to complain about the busy schedules we seem to keep, but it’s to talk about how society has made me (and I’m assuming others) feel that being busy is some sort of badge of honor. 

Like the busier I am, the more important or accomplished or involved or whatever, I am. Busy people have so much going on because they have SO MUCH of their life together, right? No…not necessarily anyways. 

I understand that there are busy seasons in life & there’s not much you can do other than to embrace the chaos, which I totally respect & can support. But what I cannot support & want to rid my life of is being busy for the sake of being busy. Not every moment of every day has to be planned & thought out & spoken for. I know…it sounds crazy coming from me, someone who loves to have everything planned down to the very last detail, but it’s true.

I have followed this idea of “the busier the better” but I’m so over it. Like so freaking over it. I blink and months go by, not days or weeks but legit months, but we’ve been so busy doing so many things that we never make time to relax or slow down.

I’ve always thought, if I’m so busy that must mean I’m being so productive. When in reality, the busier I am…the crankier, more exhausted & irritable I am. And what am I REALLY filling all my time with? What am I allowing to monopolize my life? Is it stuff that is going to feed my soul, that is going to have positive effects on my family? Or it just stuff? 

Last weekend Jordan and I took Quincy to Fontenelle Forest to enjoy some nature! We’ve never been before & I was SO excited to spend some quality time just the three of us. I tried to go in with zero expectations since I had no idea how long Quincy would last (it was a scorcher that day) & I had no idea what exploring the trails would be like. 

You guys…it was so much freaking fun. We let her run the show…if she wanted to stop & stare at a leaf for 10 minutes, we did. If she wanted to run down the trails barefoot, we let her. If she wanted to sit on the trail & listen to the birds chirp…we did it! It was so freeing to just be the three of us with no agenda & no plan but to enjoy each other.

That is the stuff I want to be “busy” with. That is the kind of thing I want to fill my weekends & evenings with. I know everyone says it, but Quincy is only going to be little once & we’re only going to be three of us for a short while longer. I want to spend as much time soaking up her sweetness as possible. 

I want my weekends to be filled with nothing. So that it gives us the room to be together & to spend quality time enjoying each other’s company. I want to be “busy” with things that fill up my family’s love tank & bring us closer together. I want to be “busy” creating memories & hanging out with my kid(s) while they still want to be around me 🙂

So tell me…how do you spend your “busy” time with your family? 

Thanks for stopping by, friends!