“I’m so busy!” How often do you say those words? For me, these days, it’s too frequently. It has become a complaint, an excuse and a mantra. I don’t like it.

Being active and engaged isn’t the problem. Most of the things that keep me occupied are great. But, sometimes, I need to remind myself that they are also optional. The activities and responsibilities that fill my calendar are choices. I’m there because of a decision that I have made – No one else. I resolved to do each and every one of them because I believed that they would enrich my life in some way.

So, instead of saying that I am too busy, I’m going to begin telling people that I am prosperous. My schedule is no longer too full – My calendar is filled with abundance. I am not busy. I am rich.

I am also exhausted. The blessings in my life are slowly killing me. I struggle to build in some ‘down’ time. As I grow older, it’s a necessity more than a luxury. I wonder, how and why did self-care become an extravagance? I actually used to feel guilty about spending time doing nothing constructive. These days, I’ve changed the way I look at that, too. Sometimes, doing nothing is the most productive thing I can take on. If a week goes by and I don’t spend some quality time on the couch binge watching the Blacklist, it can get ugly around here. Ditto for one morning of Olympic coffee drinking and thumbing my nose at the calendar.

Summer is here, which means fiddle gigs, beach time with my grandson and now, I’ve got a book to market. I know the days are coming when the pace will slow and I’ll have much less enrichment in my schedule. I’m going to do my best to squeeze as much out of life as possible, while I can. Even if it makes me weary. When I’ve had too much joy, you’ll find me on the couch with Raymond Reddington. But only for a couple of hours. There’s still so much I want to do.