The Castle

Busy was never the enemy of good.

It was the castle that protected us from the fight.

I used to think the reason my best ideas never matured was the calendar. No time. Too many pages due, too many passing requests turned into priorities because saying yes was easier than saying no.

That was true. It was also convenient.

Because behind the busy was the harder thing I didn't want to try. The post that might fail. The idea that takes three days of staring at a legal pad before four words finally fit together.

Busy protected me from that fight. It was self-defense. When the machine grinds me down all week, I don't have a spark left for the hard thing. I have just enough left to clear my desk and retreat into the castle.

I don't blame anyone for staying in the castle. I stayed there too long.

But I'm venturing out.

The mundane started taking less out of me. The work that used to swallow a whole day now takes an hour, and I notice the difference at 4pm. There’s something left in the tank that used to be gone by noon.

But that's also the uncomfortable part.

Because if the busy gets smaller, the castle gets smaller. And what's left standing outside it is the work I always told myself I'd get to.

I have the time now.

Worse, I have the energy.