Joe was busy

Joe was a busy student. He had work due, people to meet, places to be and things to see. Even when he wasn’t busy, he made himself busy. He scrolled through feeds, read email and ran around being productive.

He sometimes felt bad that he had no room for anything unplanned. One day his friend asked if he could play cards, but Joe was too busy for that. He looked around at his friends finding love and enjoying their time in college, but couldn’t see how he could fit those things into his busy schedule. “Google doesn’t care if you’re in love when they read your resume,” he thought. He kept his eye on the prize of doing work so he could get a great job.

And he did. He got a truly phenomenal job, by the looks of it. He made $90,000 in his first year out of school and got countless benefits. He networked with higher-ups, he stayed up late finishing reports and got up early to be the first to work.

He moved up the chain fast. He was soon managing a team, then an office, then a whole region. It wasn’t all great, though. His friends from school still invited him out, this time to weddings and vacations. Somehow they still didn’t get just how busy Joe was. He couldn’t attend those things. Hell, he didn’t even have time for his own dating life. He had to work.

As he got older and his joints started to ache more each day, he decided it was time to see what love was all about. He tried dating and gave it his best shot, but it just didn’t work. No one seemed to understand that when you’re the CEO of a multinational company, you just don’t have time for these things.

He gave up that pursuit and went back to the familiar playing field of work. He worked more, made more money and had a bigger house than anyone he knew. The bummer was, he was too busy to even enjoy it. The hot tub in the back went unused because he couldn’t bring his laptop out there to work.

He grew older and finally retired from the company. They threw a massive party and celebrated Joe’s achievements. The next day, Joe didn’t have work and it felt like he didn’t have anything. He didn’t know what to do with himself.

He hated sitting around. He had to find something else to do. So he started a new project. He started working part-time also. Soon enough, he was back to his busy ways.

Sadly, after a storied career, Joe passed away at the age of 78. Depending on what you believe, some say that when he got to the gates of heaven, he was asked how he enjoyed the journey of life. Joe said he wasn’t sure. He was busy while it happened.