There’s no denying it, life is BUSY. I hear it repeatedly all day in the shop, in casual conversations with friends, and in passing in the grocery store.

It’s a common reply to, “how are you?”

“Busy.”

That’s how I am. Just busy.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I am BUSY but I have also grown tremendously in my ability to say ‘no’ to things that don’t build me up (much thanks to The Best Yes x Lysa Terkeurst). After my mission trip in early 2016, I changed my ways – fully ready to ditch my FOMO and stop glorifying ‘busy.’ Well, I attempted to at least.

I do work a lot. In fact, I would consider myself a “workaholic” but that doesn’t necessarily make me feel busy. ‘Busy’ to me was endless activities that I didn’t need to do – happy hours, networking events, in-home parties, the list goes on an on. I began reading “Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time” and it truly opened my eyes to the way our culture embraces busy lifestyles and uplifts them as if they are better lives. If we answer that we’ve been super busy, doesn’t that make us feel like our lives are important? The idea being: the more you do, the more you matter.

Yikes. It hits home, especially as a small business owner. Pretty well every time I’m catching up with someone, they ask me how the shop is doing. It’s my favorite question because I LOVE this store, it’s my least favorite question because sometimes I just don’t want to answer. My go-to answer: “oh it’s great, busy as always!” And it is. And I’m SO incredibly blessed by that but I couldn’t POSSIBLY answer it truthfully when I sometimes need to (afterall, I’m trying to look IMPORTANT).

Real Answers:

“It’s been slower this month.”

“I’m lacking creativity.”

“I’m stuck on “what’s next” for us.”

“I’m starting to feel the results of my “workaholism.”

I’ll be honest here – I really think my “overwhelmed” feeling from this life is self-inflicted. When Tyler and I went overseas, I turned off my e-mail and social media notifications for the store. I came back and didn’t even realize for TWO WEEKS. You know what I immediately did? CHOSE to leave them off. It’s been freeing to say the least. Maybe I am getting better at this whole work/life balance (but probably not).

In the days ahead, I’m going to do my best to embrace the fullness of my life, but not let it overwhelm me any longer. After all, I’m the one choosing “busy” as my answer.