How is it that the New Year is a little more than three weeks old and I’m already telling people, “sorry, I can’t meet then, I have a conflict?”
How did this happen? Don’t answer. Of course I already know the reason.
I’m just a guy who can’t say no. (Points for the almost-reference).
I spent a good portion of yesterday just trying to figure out scheduling.
In addition to the show I’m currently rehearsing, I’m PR manager for CAT Theatre which means promoting the current show, the next show and promoting auditions for the following show.
As soon as I finish the show I’m in rehearsals for I have another acting gig the following week.
I’m also associate producer for as well as acting in a major event that’s happening in the end of April. And another in November.
Did I mention that I’ve got writing deadlines rapidly approaching?
And, there’s a day job.
Many times a good portion of the day is spent in emails with my wife saying “I can cover this if you can take the child to that.”
So, all of this gets programmed into the Google calendar I talked about a few weeks ago.
The thing is, I wouldn’t trade any of this.
Okay, maybe the day job. But only if I could match the income doing more of the things I love to do. In that case, I’d be willing to give up one of the best office views in the city. Don’t believe me? Follow me on Instagram.
But, since I’m not finding the replacement income in the arts that I love, I’ll stay for now.
I’m very fortunate that most days the day job doesn’t suck. Some days it’s actually kind of cool. And all days it compensates me quite fairly and allows me to do the nighttime stuff.
I’m about halfway through a bottle of Merlot as I write this and am trying to get to the point. Perhaps the point is that you should like my writing more and appreciate that I am a jack-of-all-trades. Or at least a bit schizophrenic.
I digress.
The truth is, we’re all too busy these days.
Life was not like this growing up.
I’d come home as a kid by 3:30 or so. My dad would be home by 4:00 and my Mom by 4:30 or 5:00. There’d be dinner, and maybe homework. Then television until about 9:00 (until I was in high school at least). Wednesday nights we had prayer meeting or youth group. When it wasn’t football or basketball season at the high school, that was just about it. We probably thought we were too busy.
But now, calendars and communication are instant. There’s always a looming deadline. Always another event to go to.
I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing. My agenda, and my calendar, are full. But they’re all things I love. Okay, love may be too strong for the day job, but I sort of like it. And some days, it’s really cool. And, of course, as I said it comes with the best view in the city.
I look down my list of projects and see none that I’m willing to surrender. That doesn’t mean that something won’t happen to make me surrender them. You know the shoulder story. At least you should.
I suppose there’s no real point to today’s post other than a bit of whinage about how busy I am. So I won’t try to guilt you into sharing it. Of course if you’re feeling charitable…but that’s another story.
I’m busy. Too busy. We all are. But I can’t imagine it being any other way.
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How did I get to be this busy?
