How are you? Busy? Stressed? Overbooked and overwhelmed? I would say it will get better but to say that would be a bold faced lie. It doesn't. But I want you to know that there are other people going through the same thing as you are. Maybe not the exact schedule, but they have so much going on that they are slowly (or quickly in my case) losing their sanity. You aren't alone and to show you this, here are some of the things you may be feeling or can relate to.
It starts with not wanting to let people down. There are people in this world that I genuinely care about because they were kind to me when I was not at my best or they just took the time to care about how I am doing once in awhile. Or they are my parents in which case they have done both. These are the people that value me and to ever let them down would feel like an insult to these people. You have people like this in your life. You never want to refuse them any time that you can give them because that isn't fair to them. But on the same token, if they truly care about you, they will understand. I have some of the best parents in the world when it comes to understanding my crazy life. My friends also understand. My best friends try to find ways to work around my schedule, even if it means only a 20 minute coffee chat. My gym partner/fitness coach also gets that I am incredibly busy and builds time around my schedule while still reminding me that my physical health is important (something that needs to happen on occasion). All of these people are incredibly important in my life and they understand that I may not always be "there." It is important to remember this when feeling stressed about everything you have going on.
The fear of letting people down is a big portion of this but another aspect of it is the simple fact of wanting to keep yourself busy. You don't want to have time to think about the stressful things in life so if you stay busy then you don't have to. You want to live every second of every day bettering yourself for your future self and ensure you are ready for opportunities. You don't want to be around people or relationships or anything that requires you to more long term commitments so you fill your time with tasks that are presently important. Let me tell you a secret. This is avoidance and it is not healthy. I am plenty guilty of this. I have filled my time for specific reasons on occasion and it has almost never worked out well. Sometimes I make myself busy so I don't think about my relationships, my worries about my future, my money problems. But I will have to face all of these things sometime. Life isn't about avoiding things. It's a convoluted path to figure out how well you can confront your problems. So just get it over with.
There are probably numerous reasons to keep busy and when people ask you how you are doing, some of them genuinely mean it. I always respond with "good" just to avoid talking about things. Sometimes I want to tell them how crazy life has been and how sometimes I just want to go to an island in the middle of the ocean and make all my problems disappear, but that's not how this works. The same goes for you. Find those people in your life willing to listen (and be ready to listen when they need you) and confront your worries and stresses head on. It doesn't get better. You make it better.
