Ever used that phrase? A coworker of mine used it today to describe his weekend. I was struck with the irony inherent in that statement. Let me try and tease it out for you. “Hell” is a word generally considered a bad place, a place of punishment, and in general, not where you want to be. “Busy” describes the state of one’s world – lots of activity, constant demands on one’s time, and at the extreme, barely controlled chaos. “As” is a comparison, likening the predecessor to whatever follows.
Thus, when taken together, “busy as hell” literally means that being busy is akin to being tortured and punished. Ever thought of it that way? I bet you, like me, are thinking that this seems so obvious, yet you’ve never seen it in that direction.
I’m not going to decry busyness – I haven’t published a blog entry in over a month! I’d be the worst kind of hypocrite to preach against busyness. But, I see the damage it has caused in my own life of late.
If you have school aged children, you probably understand that the last few weeks has been nutty, with all sorts of end-of-year activities. Maria also serves in the PTA and was a room mother, so that’s at least double the normal insanity. And my work has been demanding more of my time as well, simply serving to compound the matter. Toss in a couple of illnesses through my family, and viola! a month goes by without a blog post.
But the problem runs deeper than that. Once again, I’m reminded that when I start to feeling insecure about something, I double-down on my commitments and work. I’m still very much a work in progress in this regard!
So what is the point of all of this? If nothing else, a small apology for having disappeared. I don’t think anyone is waiting with baited breath for my published word, but having a blog and an email list is an unwritten (sort of) contract with you, the reader, that I have not been faithful to. I’m not going to be so foolish as to make a promise that this won’t happen again – after all, the beginning of the school year is looming. Instead, I am simply asking you, my beloved reader, for a measure of grace.