Why is being busy some kind of brag nowadays?
Is it to prove to everyone that we’re so incredibly awesome that we’re in high demand everywhere?
I know that there are a bunch of ways of being “busy” – among those are the people who are actually overextended, those who use busy as a convenient excuse when they don’t really want to do something, and those haven’t figured out how to say ‘no’ or multitask.
My favorite is the people that use “busy” as a way to brag about themselves.
I’ve had full conversations with people where they basically list their task list with the expectation of me just oohing and aahing over their fabulous busyness.
You can really add in the fun if you want to then tell them about YOUR crazy schedule and get into some sort of busy pissing match with them.
You know how it goes:
Busy Person #1: “Sorry I didn’t get back to you by that deadline that you reminded me about three times over the past eight weeks. You need to realize that I’m busy. I work full time, have kids and a husband, run a blog, participate in volunteer activities and also wipe my own butt.”
Busy Person #2: “Oh WOW. You ARE busy. I’m really busy too… I work full time, have kids and a husband, run a blog, participate in volunteer activities, wipe my own butt, bake cakes from scratch and make out with unicorns.”
Busy Person #1: “Oh yeah, I forgot to add that I bake cakes from scratch, make out with unicorns AND ALSO clean the boogers out of my dog’s eyes, make quirky furniture from discarded pizza boxes, place abandoned baby birds into cross-cultural squirrel foster homes and haven’t slept in like 8 months.”
Busy Person #2: “So funny you say that… I haven’t slept in 10 months… and I’m training for a triple marathon.”
We’ve all met them, right?
Do you take the high road and just smile and nod at their bragging or are you like me and enjoy poking the bear?