Is 'Busy' How You REALLY Want to Introduce Yourself?

You know that moment when someone asks, “How are you?” and before you even think, the words roll out, “Oh, you know… busy.”
It used to sound fine. It meant you were capable, productive, keeping up. It became a kind of shorthand for success, proof that you were still handling it all.

But lately, I’ve been wondering, when did “busy” stop being a season and start becoming an identity?

Because that’s the trap, isn’t it. The too busy trap. The one that starts out looking like purpose but slowly turns into proof. Proof that you’re doing enough. That you’re valuable. That you’re still keeping it together. Until one day, you realise that what you’ve been running so well has quietly been running you.

When Busy Becomes the Benchmark

The days are full, you’ve ticked every box, but something’s still missing. You go to bed thinking about what didn’t get done instead of what did. That’s the too busy trap.

It looks productive, but its not. It’s actually reactive. It’s motion without any meaning, the constant doing that leaves no room for being. And because everyone else around you is in the same boat, it starts to look normal. But normal doesn’t always mean healthy.

The Cost of Holding It All Together

I see it in women everywhere. Running teams, running businesses, running the households and running on fumes. Capable women who know how to deliver, to care, to keep things functioning. But underneath that high functioning behaviour, there’s a fatigue that coffee just can’t fix.

Busy feels like control until your body starts telling you otherwise. The wake-ups at 2 a.m. The constant low hum of worry you’ve missed something. The brain fog that makes even simple things feel hard work. These aren’t signs of weakness. They’re signals that something needs to change.

When the Body Calls Time

At some point, you start to see that being busy isn’t a badge anymore. It’s a capacity you’ve outgrown. Because your worth doesn’t live in how much you can hold. It shows up in how intentionally you choose what’s worth holding.

The women I work with aren’t trying to escape their lives. They’ve built incredible ones.
They just want them to feel lighter, more aligned, more their own again.
They want their energy to match their impact.

A New Way to Measure Worth

Being valuable isn’t about being available to everything. It’s about being deliberate with your time, your presence, and your energy. You don’t need to prove your capability through exhaustion. You’ve already earned it.

The most capable women I know aren’t the busiest. They’re the clearest. They’ve learned that protecting their energy doesn’t make them less driven or lazy. It’s what keeps them capable and sustainable in what they do, without the personal cost.

So maybe that’s your reminder this week. Maybe busy was never the problem. Maybe it was just the story we told ourselves about what being busy meant.

Your worth isn’t waiting at the end of the list. It’s already here.