Falling for it

A snapshot on my way home - delightful!

Each morning and afternoon I think about my commute to and from work.  Bus, bike, or metro?  I ask myself.  The weather usually dictates my reply since each mode of transportation takes approximately the same amount of time.  As soon as I get on my bike, I always remember it's my favorite way to get around.  Coming home yesterday afternoon, I snapped this picture and felt the thrill of Fall around me.  

I love my rides to and from work because they allow me (nearly) uninterrupted opportunities to reflect on my day.  I mentally comb through what I hope to achieve and the good and bad of the day before.  Lately, I have also really tried to put into practice some of the methods I'm reading about on this blog about de-cluttering both my physical and mental surroundings.  

As I kick off my final semester of graduate school, I am committing to giving my best to my studies to produce a piece of research useful to a broader community than my Mom, husband and close friends who are taking an interest in my work :)  At the same time, it sometimes pains me to hear how busy we all are.  I've tried to take the word out of my vocabulary because whenever I say it myself, I realize it doesn't make me feel good to be busy (or imagine myself to be) and it doesn't make the person with whom I'm speaking feel good either.  When someone tells me they're busy I either feel like 1) I should be busy, too! or 2) What are they doing that I should be doing? or 3) Why is it such an automatic reply to say we're busy?  

This is a bit of a rambling post but this idea of 'busyness' is often on my mind as I pedal through quiet streets unused by drivers on their commute and through trails on my way to and from home each day.  I am striving to strike a balance between my family, my work and school - and somehow it's been easier in the past few weeks in large part because I've been mentally committing to making the balance.   

What do you think?  Is this a naive way to be thinking?