"You always look so busy! What exactly do you do all day?" I was asked recently.
I took it as a compliment.
It was meant as one.
The person asking was not meaning to be offensive; just curious and interested as to what I was doing to look so occupied all the time.
As I began to rhyme off my daily activities, I realized it was a lot, and yet nothing of any real consequence, at the same time.
Retired from my previous "full-time" occupations as broadcast journalist and then realtor, I now busy myself with a part-time gig as a companion caregiver for seniors. That gets me out of the house for many hours of the week, and gets me out of my head as I focus on helping others.
The rest of the time is filled with volunteering duties: helping people exercise in their homes; editing a non-profit magazine; and showing up for a program that helps seniors.
In between those duties, there is a household to manage, pets to care for, things to clean, laundry to wash, bills to pay, yoga to do, stairs to climb, weights to lift, steps to take, plants to water.
And now there are French classes at the library once per week, and I am considering taking a weekly line dancing class at the local 55+ centre.
There is always, it seems, something to do.
One might say I am a putzer.
Putzing around doing this, that and the other.
In the summer, there is more putzing to be found, filling the bird bath, making the garden rounds, pulling any unwelcome weeds.
And it is only after a full day of putzing around that I feel I am entitled to a break around 4 o'clock, and grant myself a cup of tea or glass of wine and recline to watch some telly, sometimes with a cat on my lap if I am fortunate.
I don't know why or what it is, if it is in my DNA or from lessons learned along the way, but I can't seem to just sit and do "nothing", be it doom scroll or watch tv, during the day.
I never watched my mother do that; she too was always putzing around with this or that, finding something to do or sew or clean or tidy.
Perhaps that's what set the bar.
And there is a perk or two with this putzing around business.
It's called Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis.
Or NEAT for short.
And it essentially means that calories are being burned with every putzing activity.
I like to think I am not overweight.
And I think this NEAT business has something to do with that.
And so there are added benefits to always finding something to do; always having something to do.
An unexpected fallout of a good kind to the busy-ness of everyday business.
And that reminds me; the kitchen floors need a good scrubbing.
I will put that on my "to do" list, or should I say "putzing list" next.