Literary Inspiration: Oprah Winfrey on being busy

The essential question is not, "How busy are you?" but "What are you busy at?" "Are you doing what fulfills you?"
-Oprah Winfrey

While not strictly an author (although I hope that she does personally write articles attributed to her in O magazine), this quote by the quintessential Lady O struck a chord with me this week. Am I busy? Yes I am. How busy am I? Very. My Facebook status currently tells of how overwhelmed I am currently feeling. That's all surface stuff though... the important questions to be answered require someone to dive deeper.

What am I busy at?
I am at this very point in time writing a blog article.
Is this fulfilling me?
Yes, I find it a great way of communicating with others. I find it a good way to maintain my writing skills. I find writing blog articles relaxing and a good stress release after what has been a very stressful twenty-four hours.

What am I busy at?
I need to finish a Writing Exercise assignment that I had an extension on.
Is this fulfilling me?
Possibly not so much at a personal level but it's a requirement to pass the paper. The satisfaction will come at the completion of the exercise (I need to hand it in Friday morning).

What am I busy at?
I want to go and have dinner with PianoMan.
Is this fulfilling me?
A want as opposed to a necessity, but spending time with PianoMan fulfils a need I have for connectivity, to feel that I am special and I matter - not to mention the man is incredibly sexy and I luff him a lot. I could can it, but I really don't want to.

What am I busy at?
I need to work on my plans for the classes I am teaching this semester.
Is this fulfilling me?
On multiple levels - it's finally making that connection within the classroom with the students, getting a chance to do what I have been trained to do. It's more personally fulfilling than the assignment that is due.

What am I busy at?
Tomorrow night I will be having dinner with friends I haven't seen in a while.
Is this fulfilling me?
Right now it seems like the one thing that could be culled but I worry I'd regret it. It's with friends, two of whom I haven't seen in years (emphasis on plural years), not likely to happen again any time soon as one is seven months pregnant.

I'm horrendously busy (and also completely knackered from a nightmare shift at work last night) but it's all relevant.
Damnit!
The things that keep you busy - are they the things that fulfil you? Let me know in the comments.

2 comments:

  1. I love this!!! It's more the point to life basically broken down. Is your life fulfilling?

    I seriously need to ask myself this more often. I'm pretty sure 60% of my life is tasks I HAVE to do to get to the things I WANT to do... but isn't that the same with everyone?!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Firstly I love that you use Oprah as your literary inspiration because I once wrote a journal about one of her shows, which I think many would bag me out about, but I love the woman!
    Anyway as for keeping busy, I have a few things on the go at the moment...
    Uni, 2 assignments which are incrredibly tedious and I am not enjoying, however I know that in the long run they will both make starting my thesis a lot easier as one I may even be able to use as a chapter in it. At the moment though, I am resenting them both as I have been unprepared in starting them earlier- my falut.
    Work- while I only do 2 shifts a week now, they are still always busy, particularly my monday shift when I start early to compile all of the orders for various businesses and then I do all of our customers orders. This keeps me occupied for all of my shift and I also have to make sure all the others are on track with keeping the area clean and serving customers. I don't mind this as I would hate to be working somewhere quiet.
    Family- because I am home most I am the one who does a lot of jobs around the house, even though I should be doing my uni work. This frustrates me as my sister does nothing to contribute and carries on when she has to. I do remind myself that I don't pay board so doing the jobs isn't that bad.
    Friends- I have had so many birthday parties/celebrations lately which has been great. I wanted to improve my social life this year and it has. Mind you I just don't want it to negatively effect uni. Thats why, this week I am seeing a couple of friends on weeknights and not going out this weekend so I don't waste a day hungover and can do my assignments!

    ReplyDelete