DeYoung - Crazy busy: a (mercifully) short book about a (really) big problem

I am the worst possible person to write this book.

And maybe the best.

My life is crazy busy. I dont say that as a boast or a brag. Im not trying to win any contest. Im just stating the facts. Or at least describing the way my life feels almost every single day. I often made the quip, Im supposed to write a book on busyness, if only I could find the time. And I wasnt joking.

How did I get this way? How did you get this way? How did we all get this way? Ive yet to meet anyone in America who responds to the question How are you? with the reply, Well for starters, Im not very busy. I suppose there must be a six-year-old somewhere out there who doesnt have anything to do and some dear folks at the nursing home who could use a few more interruptions, but for almost everyone in between there is a pervasive sense of being unrelentingly filled up and stressed out.

I do not write this book as one who has reached the summit and now bends over to throw the rope down to everyone else. More like the guy with a toehold three feet off the ground, looking for my next grip. Im writing this book not because I know more than others but because I want to know more than I do. I want to know why life feels the way it does, why our world is the way it is, why I am the way I am. And I want to change.

Same Kind of Busy as You

As long as I can rememberwhich takes us back aeons and aeons, all the way to the 90sI have been busy. In high school I ran track and cross-country, played intramural basketball, did National Honor Society, tried the Spanish club, took multiple AP courses, played in our insanely time-consuming marching band, sang in a musical, and did church twice on Sunday, Sunday school, youth group, and a Friday morning Bible study. No one made me like this. My parents didnt force me (though church was not up for discussion). I wanted to do all these things.

In college I did even more. I ran a season of track, played intramural sports, worked part-time for various professors, organized one of the countrys largest Model UN programs (yes, its true), signed up to be a DJ at the campus radio station, led our Fellowship of Christian Students group, went to voluntary chapel three times a week, sang in a church choir, sang in the college chapel choir, participated in my churchs college ministry, helped with Boys Brigade on Wednesday nights, went to church on Sunday morning, then Sunday school, then evening church, then chapel back on campus late into the night.

Same story in seminary. In addition to normal course work and wading through my denominations labyrinthine ordination process, I interned at my church, preached regularly, sang in up to three different choirs at the same time, went to an accountability group every week, did the usual with church twice on Sunday, plus Sunday school, plus a midweek catechism class I taught for little kids, plus leading the seminarys missions committee and attending chapels and frequent prayer meetings. I could go on and on.

And this is before I was really busy. The only people busier than single grad students are people who arent single and arent grad students. All those years in school, except for one semester, I wasnt married. I wasnt in full-time pastoral ministry. I wasnt blogging or writing books. I wasnt leading elders meetings. I wasnt speaking anywhere. I wasnt a slave to technology. I didnt have a mortgage to figure out or a lawn to mow or a furnace to fix or a dead raccoon in my fireplace (long story) or weekly sermons to prepare. I didnt have to travel. I didnt have Facebook or Twitter. Hardly anyone e-mailed me. And I wasnt parenting a child, let alone five.

On most days, my responsibilities, requirements, and ambitions add up to much more than I can handle. It has since I was a teenager, and only seems to be getting worse. When someone asks me how Im doing, my response almost always includes the word busy. I can think of several moments in just the past couple of months when Ive muttered to myself, What am I doing? How did I get myself into this mess? When will I ever get my life under control? How long can I keep this up? Why cant I manage my time? Why did I say yes to this? How did I get so busy? Ive bemoaned my poor planning and poor decision making. Ive complained about my schedule. Ive put in slipshod work because there wasnt time for any other kind. Ive missed too many quiet times and been too impatient with my kids. Ive taken my wife for granted and fed important relationships with leftovers. Ive been too busy to pursue God with my whole heart, soul, mind, and strength.

In other words, Ive likely been just like you.

An Idea Whose Time Was Overdue

So, Kevin, whats your next book project? my friends would ask.

Im doing a book on busyness.

Really?! But your schedule is a mess. This is one of your biggest problems.