Quest

I have been thinking about healthy outcomes a lot recently, particularly as we have rung in a new decade. The new year always brings resolutions to do more or differently, or better. These are often big commitments to wellness or productivity or family or… It is often hard to meet the expectations we hold for ourselves in these resolutions and then it all falls apart as we settle into old habits, comfortable patterns or get consumed by being busy.

My quest is to not be just simply “busy.” Hey how’s it going? “Oh, really busy, but well.” “Super busy right now but keeping up I hope.” etc. Truth is, the “busy” is always there, how we approach it is the opportunity. So, I am aiming to avoid being busy.

I attended a professional learning session recently exploring Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families. From this session our speaker, a former superintendent in my school district spoke about his connection to Covey’s inspiration in Victor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning; the inspiration being that there is always a moment for choice (I’m paraphrasing here). That is, no matter the situation we have opportunity to choose our response. This idea had been sitting with me since my own reading of Frankl’s book but hearing it aloud brought it right to the surface and it has stuck around for a while now.

This idea stood out to me because as I reflect often on decisions made or communication or whatever being busy is, I think that this moment is truly important. It has this importance because we can choose our commitments to ourselves, our partners, our children, our colleagues, friends, students, and communities in these moments if we are thinking about them.

What has recently been frustrating for me personally, has been a feeling that being busy had control of my choices. What I want is to consciously choose the busy that I am. I want to write when I could sit on the couch and watch TV; I want play and be present with my kids after work when I could read one more twitter article; I want to walk my dog when he could be put out in the yard; I want listen when I could speak.  These are just some of the wants, the list is myriad, and I’m sure I will continue to have moments that don’t fit with how I want to be busy, but I am aiming to see the moments and choose my busy.