Crazy busy !

The latest article from NY Times seems closer to me than anything else, given my current state of mind. For me the people who don't know me, I am on a sabbatical by choice. I am trying to refresh, de-stress or as my mother in law says "She is trying to find herself". My conversation in the past (read before the sabbatical) often went like this

 

"Hey, how is it going?"

 "Oh, it has been crazy busy"

"It is better than the alternative right !'.

 

These days the conversations go like this :

(Friend) "So Geetha, how are you keeping yourself busy and engaged?".

(Me) "Well there is so much happening at home...."

(Friend) Cutting in the middle of my sentence "Oh, Wish I could do it, relax, read, travel! You are so lucky, so lucky, dear, while you have been drinking mai-tais - we have been busy solving hunger & world peace". This exclamation is often accompanied with an indulgent smile. Who do you think I am - a baby trying to take her first step? Just so you know FRIEND, I am not spa'ing away (although that is not a bad idea and I should think about it). I have been at home overseeing the refurbishment of my home, and banging my head with contractors and labor all day in the pristine Delhi heat.

 

Guess what, we are all to blame for this phenomenon, me included. I am a part of the generation that has venerated 'being super busy' to a level of idol workshop. Engaged with something 24-7, the red light indicating a new email on our blackberry just at a hand's reach, and 12 hours TAT (Turn around time for the un-initiated) for a response to any query posed to me (yes - I did spend several years in HR, signing off my emails with a promised turn around time of 12 hours), multi tasking, often failing at it and playing a Superwoman, with the death defying logic of "You know, I am wired that way" was a nirvana to many of us, most certainly me.

 

Over the years - marriage, husband, age - times have changed me. I realized that I can enjoy other aspects of life and yet be focused on my ambitions. I chose to
 

- not miss any family dinners especially as a new bride trying to manage a brand new set of stakeholders

- make time for my then boyfriend now husband's birthdays. By the way, I have not missed any birthday of my mother in law except when she was traveling recently to the US of A. 5 points for that.

- take small short breaks to travel with the  husband, friends and family instead of working 24-7. Touched 112 cities and going strong.

- Watch friends re-runs and laugh at Chandler's age old jokes or smile at Joey's catch phrase - How you doing?

- read a gripping novel by Clive Cussler - hunting for a roman treasure in Texas, on a Sunday Noon than working on the presentation. By the way recently I read an article on reading and the correlation to wealth creation. How reading books, be it a book every 2 days or 50 books a year, allows your mind to gain new knowledge's, ideas and do better in life. Maybe this hypothesis is true, but I digress.

 

Don't get me wrong ! I am still very focused and ambitious. I definitely wish to rule the world, get into politics, write a book, do great work, dazzle my clients - all of the above in no particular order, make money and do interesting things with the money that comes in. But I also love the fact, that I can choose to be 'not busy' and enjoy the life that I have been working so hard for. I can refresh my mind to be able to see the big picture. I can hope to just 'be'.

 

You can blame it on turning 40 or hormones or whatever but ask yourself this question. Have we become so busy in our meetings, play dates, dinners, chores and workshops, that we have forgotten to schedule 'Time to live'?