It’s safe to say, we’re all busy.
Under the pump.
Neck deep in it.
Fighting till the sun rises.
Everyone seems to be incredibly, horribly, soul sucking-ly busy.
And…that is a great thing.
Indulge me, if you will, a short story. You’re the main character, you’re the inspiration of this story.
A chicken schnitzel sandwich is being demolished in between sips of cold coffee in a staff room. (Okay, look I said you were the character, but who could ever pass up a schnitzel sandwich?).
In between bites of delicious crumbed chicken, you’re travelling down a few different mental pathways. Which way will I introduce my upcoming maths session? How many more laminating sheets do I need to grab for our ANZAC Day display? How could I support that colleague who seems to be really struggling with teaching writing? When will I complete that pre-test data entry and analysis?
Oh god, am I on first half yard duty, or second half?
For a split second coffee and chicken schnitzel combine into strange delicious, yet repulsive ball of uncertain goodness as you vault the table, throw dishes into the dishwasher (read: the sink) and head outside.
Upon relieving your windswept colleague, you have the usual chat of how things are, what they’ve been up to and how their weekend or week has been.
Which is when you’re greeted with everyone’s favourite responses right now, “Yeah good. Busy” or “Good, heaps on”.
We are all busy. Which is another way of saying that you are busy, I am busy, even the dog next door is busy. Every single person and their dog is busy.
It’s not a competition, because there’s no way to compare the busyness of one person over another. I don’t know about you, but if there was an award for being the busiest person ever, whilst some people might idolise the prestige of it, do you think they’d actually want to be the busiest person in history?
(If you answered ‘Yes’, we’d suggest you take some time out, gather your thoughts for ten minutes and then come back)
I know I’m one of those people that secretly stupidly likes some form of competition in busyness. Actually, truth be told, I think I started to become one of those people who just likes saying they are busy for the sake of it.
Until recently.
Now I’ve made a shift away from just telling people how busy my weekend was, how busy my night was, how busy my classroom is or generally how I am.b
I’ll be honest, instead of seeing being busy as a burden to carry, it’s made me realise just how lucky I actually am.
It’s about focusing on why you are busy and what you were really getting out of a situation.
“My weekend was crazy”.
Doing what? Catching up with friends you want to see, at cafes/bars you enjoy, eating food that was delicious? A great problem!
“I had uni all weekend..I’m just under the pump”.
At certain points of the term (and semester) this can become a favourite my wife and I blurt out at some point. But, we know the real reasons for us being busy. We are choosing to further our knowledge in areas of education. We are choosing to get greater access to future opportunities for work. We are choosing this because…well, we are nerds who love learning.
“Work is so busy”.
It is, I have no doubt, but why are you busy? You’re helping kids who can’t read, read. You’re getting students who hated school to come into a classroom and take a chance on you. You’re teaching future adults how to work with others respectfully. You’re busy changing kids’ perceptions of themselves as a person.
You should be tired. That sort of busy is bloody hard…and incredibly rewarding. (Which is why you probably got into teaching…if not, you may have something bigger than this to consider).
When you stop to see why you are busy it can be pretty amazing.
Feel like getting busy? (Wait, that sounded creepy. Let’s try that again).
What are you busy doing?
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(If you’re not too busy. See what I did there?)
We just needed to say, we’re still proud as punch (as is my Mum) of last week’s post being run in The Huffington Post!
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