I'm busy too

Have you ever worked somewhere that allowed smoke breaks during a shift? I have. It was a summer job I had during college and I will never forget feeling like I was being punished because I wasn't a smoker. They were allowed to take a break every single hour while I was expected to continue to do my job. It kind of pissed me off if I'm being honest and I decided that I was going to start taking a break every single hour too. So I did. Not to smoke, but to take a 5-10 minute break because to me, fair is fair.

I bring this up because there is this misconception that people that don't have kids have all of this free time on their hands. "They don't have kids, so they can work the late shift. They don't have kids so they won't mind working the holidays. They don't have kids so I will give them the project that's due tomorrow because they won't mind staying on a bit later..."

Any of these ring a bell my fellow #childfree readers?

Now, I will say that in my current role I do not have this happen to me at all, and for that I am extremely grateful. But, I have experienced situations like that in general and I guarantee I am not alone in this- work related or not. Now I am the first to admit that my busy is likely not the same busy as someone that has kids, I totally get that. I am not trying to lessen everything that you juggle and have on your plate as a parent, trust me! All I am saying is that I have the same 24 hours in a day that everyone else has, and there are a lot of days when it is totally filled up.

Besides my full time job, I am also a Beautycounter advocate (which is essentially network marketing for clean and safe beauty products), I am also a wife, daughter and friend. On top of any work or social events that I have in my planner (and I usually have a lot because I absolutely love spending time with my friends or doing fun activities) I also have been very focused on my overall wellness since the beginning of November which entails working out at least 5 days per week. Darren and I have a house that we have to keep clean, daily household chores to complete, errands to run, etc. My point in saying all of this is that I am typically not just sitting on my hands thinking, "wow, I really wish I had something to do to keep me busy".

When I do get the chance to have downtime, I thoroughly enjoy it. And again, I am certain that I have way more free time than most parents but in all honesty, that is another reason why I have decided to live a childfree life. I like spending my time how I want to spend it and not being required to do any more or less than what I want to do. There are days when I don't even want to take care of myself, truly! The thought of having to be responsible for another human on those particular days just seems extra daunting to me. Now obviously I don't do this all of the time because it just wouldn't be the healthy thing to do- but if I really wanted to eat a bag of popcorn for dinner because I am too lazy to cook, I could (and I have before, shhh) There are also days when I feel absolutely exhausted and instead of knocking tasks off my to-do list, I take a glorious nap on the couch instead! I can about bet that if I had a kid, there would be none of that nonsense going on. And I just love naps too much to give that up, #sorrynotsorry

I don't expect anyone to read this and think "poor Holly, she is just so darn busy that she can't even fit one more thing on her plate". I am purely bringing it up because I think it needed to be said. People without children can also live busy lives. Our time is just as valuable, and how we choose to spend our time shouldn't be looked down on. Instead of play-dates and practices my busy often means grabbing dinner with a friend or going to a comedy show with the hubs. And both types of busy are perfectly fine!

I am a firm believer in doing things that bring you joy. If being a parent brings you joy, then by all means- that was the right choice for you and I am genuinely happy for you. What brings me joy is just different, that's all! If you enjoy being a social butterfly and love having your calendar full every single day, then go for it! If you feel the most comfort and peace at home reading a book or being by yourself, awesome! Every single person gets to decide what "busy" looks like for them, and who are we to judge how they spend their time? But before you say something to one of your childfree friends like, "It must be so nice to not be busy" take a pause... that person is likely just as busy but choosing to spend their time in a different way than you are.

I am going to be a major cheese-ball and end this post with a quote that really puts time into perspective:

"Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't own it, but you can use it. You can't keep it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it, you can never get it back"

-Harvey Mackay

Use your time wisely, and enjoy every minute!

-Holly