Guest Post: Busy As A Bee

People are always telling me “I understand, you’re busy.”

You’re busy.

We’re too busy.

Life is just busy.

Life is too busy.

You’re too busy.

Stop it.

Stop it right now.

Busy:

I loathe the word, the idea, the reality.

In fairness, when I was much younger, I went and went and went…and then went some more. I was motion personified, the Energizer Bunny 2.0. And I liked it. 

In uni, I took a full course load of classes, was crazy active in my church, worked 60 hours a pay period. I had time for everything except sleep. I didn’t even know how to sit still through a movie-I had to knit or work on something with my hands. Then I felt accomplished.

But to be honest, by the time I sat down to watch a movie, I usually just fell asleep.

This drive to Go and Do was compounded when I spent years volunteering and conversely being supported by a tiny handful of hardworking (and I mean very hardworking) souls. In this season I always felt the need to prove I was making their hard-earned money count. I felt I couldn’t take breaks, slow down, rest or stop.

Unknowingly, I carried this idea into our marriage. When Jonathan and I were just starting our business, we definitely had our slow days. Not the “slow days” when there was stuff to do, just the unwanted kind. But slow days when there was nothing to do. Nada zilch. Hello thumbs, let me twiddle you.

We looked in every gloomy nook and cranny, stooped too low and searched too far for work.

But that’s a story for another time.

The point was that there was this insane, incessant drive I had to prove to everyone that we weren’t being lazy, just hanging out.

And Jonathan had to sit me down more than once and inform me that we didn’t answer to anyone except each other. And that, working insane hours to build a business aside, we were humans and partners and friends and family first and foremost and that mattered most of all.

Oh. …Right.

So if these grey hairs o’ mine prove anything, it’s that I’ve lived enough years to have learned a few lessons. Most of them the hard way, but that too is a story for another blog.

And although, achieving is one of my strengths, it is also one of my weaknesses. But now I finally, fully understand, (in part a credit to my nap-and-break-loving husband) that

it’s okay to slow down.

it’s okay to rest.

it’s okay to stop.

In fact, it’s needed.

And he has a lot fewer white hairs than me, so he is obviously doing something right.

Okay, so we’re going to do something a teensy bit crazy now. Everyone turn of your phones, your pagers, your Game Boys, your DVDs. Turn the TV and radio off, the Wii too.

And we’re going to all say this out loud together. 1-2-3 go:

Rest is happy.

Rest is good.

Rest restores the soul.

That was terrible. Try it once more.

Hmmmm. Okay, that didn’t work, but you get the idea.

And moving on….

Sure, we work 50-70 hours a week; we’re in the middle of starting a business.

Sure, I sometimes wish I could have an extra 10 hours in any given day.

Sure, we don’t get to party our life away or be excessively social.

Sure I often wish I could live seven lifetimes because of all that I want to see and do and experience.

But we fight to keep all the things that matter-long morning cuddles every chance we get, leisurely dinners with friends, quiet nights to read and write. We fight for simplicity, embrace even the small moments of grace, look for the beauty and peace in the swirl of any day.

Sabrina, "More isn't always better, Linus. Sometimes it's just more.”

Bam.

Enough said.

So drink a glass of wine tonight, shut your computer an hour early, find a cozy nook to watch the sunrise or sunset, hold your lover’s hand. Find a space of rest for your soul. Stop in the whirl of your week to just pause, look around you and see the magnificence that is your life. Say “no” to something good so you can say “Yes!” to something great. Breathe in deep and let the minutes linger. And then do it again.

And again.

You won’t regret it. I promise.

Layne lives in southern Ontario with her husband Jonathan where they have been running their media company since October 2011.

She graduated from Western Kentucky University in 2005 with a Bachelor’s degree in photojournalism. She interned at newspapers in Indiana and Michigan and has volunteered for PhotogenX since 2009.

Layne co-authored “Act Here. Love Now.,” a culmination of stories, photos and practical ways to impact your own community, city and world. “Act Here. Love Now.” was a finalist in the Multicultural Non-Fiction and Current Events/Social Change categories in the 2012 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Their business was recently featured on Wedding Chicks, one of the premiere wedding planning sites.