What keeps you busy?

When folks ask me how I'm doing I always say "oh, fine - busy as usual!" and I kind of wonder how that sounds.

Busy can carry a very negative connotation. When I hear a peer say "busy" I immediately think of the soccer mom with three kids, all in two different sports - trying to stay on top of the dishes and laundry like the rest of us, but also juggling sporting practices, games/matches/recitals, personal fitness goals, getting groceries, growing in faith, doing yardwork, cleaning bathrooms, and DOING all that other stuff that keeps people busy in this society.

Those are the good things in life, right? Each busy THING is just as important as the next one. We don't want to sacrifice anything we have going on because it's just as meaningful to us or to someone we love as all the other things in our baskets. Driving kids to their extra curricular activities, shopping for the week's nourishment for the whole family, attending important career related meetings, volunteering in the community - it all MATTERS. It's all relevant to who we are as a person. It helps define us as a busy, functioning member of society.

When I indicate that I'm "busy, as usual" I rarely mean that to come with a negative connotation. My busyness comes from forcing myself to enjoy everything. I commit to every ONE thing that I do. My kids, my husband, my personal physical, spiritual, emotional goals... and if I don't find so much joy in it, and it's not directly impacting someone that I love - then off it goes from the to-do list. Simple as that.

So, all those mundane crappy daily tasks like dishes, laundry, and dishes and laundry - they become a part of who I am as a person. While I may not be very good at staying on top of it (ahem, laundry) all the time (who has time to put it all away, I mean seriously? those of you with multiple kids and loads and loads of laundry to wash, dry, fold, and put away every week... where do you find your SANITY?) I try and make it part of how I want to define myself. A mother. A caretaker. A provider. A helper.

Every dish that I wash and every pair of socks that I match up must become a part of who I am or it will not MATTER to me anymore. And let's face it... being a stellar mommy MATTERS to me. So, sending my kids to school or hauling them to the grocery store without clean socks and underwear? Must also MATTER to me.

I don't have to like it all the time, but as long as I remember that everything I do on a daily basis is a part of this plan to become the best ME that I can become, well - then it's all worth every inch of effort. And that STUFF, those thoughts, are the kinds of things that keep me busy.