Busy imagined?

It's on days like today that I wonder if being busy is something that we live, or if it is a construct of our minds and ToDo lists.

Looking at the calendar, holidays, birthdays, the semesters end for me, quarters end for the boy, and several performances of the nutcracker fill in the too small squares of the month. Add in various holiday parties, get togethers and spontaneous coffee dates and I often wonder what if anything can be taken off of the ever increasingly long ToDo list.

I swear, there are days when my ToDo list would give Santa's wish list a run for its money.

Thanksgiving break was last week - and after having a full week without work, I'm finding it challenging to get back in the saddle of the schedule and ride it out for the next three weeks. It's this way every year - and even though we have the December Survival Guide down to a science, I am no less in awe over how few hours in the day there seem to be.

So, I wonder. Am I really that busy, or am I spending so much time focusing on the 'what's next' that I've enslaved myself to the calendar to the point where I no longer recognize the quiet moments that exist to re-center a person.

It's a question that many friends are asking, and perhaps that is the source of my curiosity. Perhaps it's also that I'm ready for the winter break, when there are fewer activities and work obligations that fill in those calendar squares.

Whichever it may be, I'm ready for things to slow down for a bit.