Busy people

They say that if you want something to get done, you should ask a busy person to do it. And it's true. A person who isn't busy doesn't have the same drive, momentum, or inspiration to get the job done as a busy person does. A busy person, well, they always seem to be able to cram that little bit extra into their already bursting programs.

Everybody knows what I'm talking about. If you yourself are not a busy person, you definitely live or work or put up with or, sometimes, idolise a busy person.

Busy people. You know the type - they can't sit still for 5 minutes. Permanently taking on new enterprises. Not enough hours in the day type of people. Running large corporations (in 36 hour a day kind of management positions) whilst maintaining a home full of children, animals and appliances as well as supporting needy charities with blankets (they knitted themselves) and volunteer work in soup kitchens (the soup, of course, an old family recipe passed down over generations and home-made in their pristinely tidy kitchens). They juggle an inordinately large number of balls, and never seem to drop one. Busy people have very full lives.

I do not fall into the busy genus. The number of tasks I complete in any given day cannot begin to compare to a busy person's daily schedule. Even so, I like to think that I might be a closet busy person. Whilst not appearing to be noticeably busy on the outside, I am quite busy on the inside. On the inside I have a permanent jumble of plans, ideas, to-do lists, and blueprints happily (and busily) bubbling away in my little melting pot of schemes and dreams. Sometimes these inner broilings are so complicated and elaborate that I feel quite exhausted after a full day of, well, what? Is the day over? Already? I'm the kind of person that doesn't get around to doing things because I have a lot on my mind. 

Fortunately I married a busy person. And this has made all the difference. My busy husband is a go-getter; which is useful since my get-up-and-go got-up-and-went a long time ago.

I really admire busy people. Busy people emanate a warm energy that I for one am addicted to. I seem to have surrounded myself with busy people as a sort of survival mechanism. When you're around busy people, you can't help but be caught up in the turbulent warmth of accomplishment, the glow of the job well done, the satisfaction of ticking off the to-do lists. 

Busy people don't say "No". To themselves or to others. Busy people are "Yes"-people, "Sure I can"-people, "I can squeeze that in between dropping the boys at karate, playing the organ for my little sister's wedding and addressing Parliament with my proposal for an earth-friendly, sustainable answer to the power crisis"-people. And it's not that they CAN'T say "No", it's just that the thought doesn't ever strike them that they might not be able to do whatever it is.

I'm not like that. If I bite off more than I can chew, I gag. I do well with small bites. Delicate mouthfuls of activity. I'm the slow and social eater and not the grab-a-bite-on-the-go kind of girl. 

My sensitive gag-reflex has cured me of taking on more than I can handle. I am sensible and responsible. I don't like to stretch my boundaries. I don't need to test my abilities. I am not a busy person. Besides, there's got to be some balance, right?