I’m going to keep this one short, because it’s sort of self-explanatory. If you reiterate to the people around you that you are soooooooo busy all the time, then you’re going to get one of a few results:
- People will be concerned that you are overloading yourself all of the time.
- The above listed result plus they won’t want to ask anything from you, because they are afraid of making you more busy.
- You will overwhelm yourself more by constantly reminding yourself and others of how packed your schedule is.
Exaggerating how busy you are, or feeling the need to remind everyone constantly is most certainly a vice I have indulged in. I still do sometimes. Instead of indulging in reminding of everyone and myself of how packed my schedule can be, now I take a few alternative routes:
- I tell people I’m good. I leave it at that when they ask how I am or how I’m doing. If they want more information beyond that, they will ask me. Generally, people just want to know whether you’re good or bad though. Then they will have their own prerogative for why they wanted to engage you in conversation in the first place.
- If people ask how work is, I tell them things are going well. Again, see above. If I have a specific question or problem for that particular person, then I might foray into the issue if the situation calls for it. But, if we are at a social event or something like that, I’ll just ask if I can schedule sometime with them later.
- If people really want to know how I’m handling my schedule I have realized that they will ask me how I’m really doing if they are concerned.
- I also just avoid saying that my day has been busy, that I am generally busy, or any of that sort of response in any casual conversation. It just makes me feel bad about my schedule if I am being overly productive during that time.
That’s it, I just avoid the word now. It probably causes me more anxiety to say it than it does helping me any. It’s not like saying I’m busy is going to make me any less busy, so I try to spin it to a positive. Like, “I’m being really productive.” It’s always a better alternative overall.