It’s important to me but I’m busy

The Universe doesn’t like vacuums. This is why when you get a larger purse it quickly gets just as full as with your small one.

And there’s always a drawer or two that becomes catch-alls filled with random items, half of which are useless including unidentifiable keys, years-old receipts, twist ties, and combination locks with unknown combinations.

Our time is the same way. We’re so busy, and if we’re not careful, we won’t know how half of what we do became our “responsibility.” We’re on autopilot, loaded and overwhelmed like a full purse or a catch-all drawer.

The stuff you really want to do, there’s no room for it.

If you could metaphorically get a bigger purse for your time, the danger of it might be that the world would suck up that extra time before you could make it sacred, yours, and guilt-free.

The only way to keep a drawer clean is to intend and then hold your intention sacred. You want to decide what that drawer will hold and actively say NO to anything else you get tempted to throw in there just because it’s the easier decision at the moment. The catch-all is a lot of extra old weight brought on from a strange sort of dream that one day the holding-on to will prove you were smart for doing so. The problem is, even if these things could serve you in the future, you can’t usually find them, and you’ll likely prefer a better version anyway.

Know that what’s now become clutter has served its purpose. Thank and let them go. Opening up a drawer knowing that only your scissors, letter opener, tape and some post-its belong there, uncluttered by the “undecideds” and the “maybes,” makes for a quick find, lightness in your step, and a joy to open that drawer.

Carving out time to do essential self-care and the things that make your heart open changes your game in much the same way, multiplied. You may hate me for saying this: saying you’re too busy is akin to saying you’re a catch-all drawer. Busy is just that: busy. We have just enough time in the day for what we need to do in our lives. Don’t be a catch-all. It disrupts your sense of peace, balance in relationships, and access to your authenticity. Take up space without guilt. If you don’t do things for yourself because you feel guilty, you’ll end up feeling guilty anyway because you’ll end up behaving badly to the people around you out of exhaustion and feeling sucked dry. So choose the right kind of guilt if you must.

And stop saying you’re busy (it’s a terrible, terrible mantra) and carve out the time. Take up the space. You’d have to anyway if you got sick, so preempt it on your own terms. You are worth it.

If something is important to you, put it in your calendar, and make it recurring daily. Mark it non-negotiable. This is a matter of life or barely living. It’s sacred. It’s how you were meant to be. 

Love, Savitree