A different kind of busy

Operation Christmas Break 2012 is in full swing.

From reading books and attending family reunions to resume writing to Christmas present gathering and wrapping, my days have been not been idle. Each minute is marked and accounted for, and I am determined that none of them should go to waste. My younger brother is also home from school - he just finished his first semester of freshman year at college. We passed briefly in the kitchen the other day, and he casually mentioned, "Ugh. I'm so bored."
Bored...what is this "bored" that he talks about? Maybe it's because this is my Senior year and my last chance to have a three-week vacation at Christmas-time (that's never gonna happen again in the post-grad world), or maybe it's because I have so many more interests and responsibilities now than I did when I was a freshman, but I can't imagine being bored when I am privileged with the time to pursue the things that I want to spend time doing.

One of my favorite things to do is play with/style my very long ginger hair. I've always prized and loved long hair on girls, to the extent that my own experimentation with short hair 6 years ago reduced me to a distraught puddle of tears for 3 days. (Any girl with long hair can testify to this...losing your hair is like losing a part of yourself) Over the summer, I knew a guy who was growing his hair out long, and nearly every day he would ask one of the girls to help him put his hair in a ponytail or hold it back in a bobby pin, frustrated that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't figure it out. That memory always makes me laugh, because it never crossed my mind that something as simple as the proper use of a hair elastic could be so confusing. In his defense, I am utterly useless when my Dad opens the hood of my Honda Accord to expose its innards and explain how they all work. My concept of a vehicle is something along the lines of: This is the money-sucking hole where gas is magically stored. Key goes here, makes car run. Brake is on the left. A crunching, popping, or squealing sound is bad.
I think I'll stick with hair.

As a college student, and especially as a senior looking ahead to graduation, money can be a little tight sometimes as I save for things that are more of a necessity than the things that are only wants. So this year, I decided to make presents for my family instead of buying them. It also occurred to me that spending money on wrapping paper is slightly pointless, so I thought of a different way to wrap gifts. The freezer section of our grocery store provides paper bags to insulate your frozen goods while you continue shopping. For years, my Dad has been collecting those bags, and we have literally hundreds of them sitting in a closet. They're not serving any other purpose, so I thought, "Let's make em useful." Saving money and re-purposing. Awesome.

Hopefully they're cute, clever, and not too tacky.

From the minute I arrived home one week ago today, I've been trying to squeeze in as much as possible into these three very short weeks until I return to school. Up at 7:00 every morning and armed with at least three cups of coffee, I swirl around my house in a whirlwhind of intense energy, triumphantly slashing each thing off of my to-do list with a vengeance. Busy, busy, busy. What is it with my addiction to busyness? Often it seems like I can't (or won't, more likely) allow myself to slow down. Even when I'm doing things that I enjoy (like reading the stack of books currently occupying my desk), the thought goes through my head that I need to finish what I'm doing so I can mark it off the list. I often use the phrase "I'd rather be busy than bored," but is that really the right attitude to have?

It's important to not waste your time. It is important to be a good steward and use it wisely. I think that is the key, though. To use my time wisely. Sometimes I think that all of my busyness is not a wise decision. The effort it takes to expend myself in doing so many different things all at once requires sacrifices. My health can flag, my friendships suffer, my time with God dwindles.
In the week before finals, I was attempting to talk on the phone with my Dad while in McConn, our coffee shop on campus. Any student knows that's a futile effort. McConn is constantly filled with people, music, and noise, and it is nearly impossible to hear a voice on the phone. I had to leave that environment and go somewhere quieter so I could give him my full attention and hear what he was trying to say. It's so hard to focus on things that are important when there are so many distractions and noises surrounding me.

New Year's Eve is still a while off, but I have a resolution to start right now. I'm asking God to help me calm it down. To breathe, say no to some opportunities, and allow myself to focus on the few with a purpose, rather than the many with no sense of direction.