Busy Livin vs. Busy Work

We all know what busy work is, right? It's when you make yourself as busy as possible in hopes that you look busy at work, and thus your boss(es) will think to themselves "hey, Johnson over there sure is busy. I should give him a raise". Well, that never really happens, yet I constantly hear people huffing and puffing about the amount of emails in their inboxes, the non-stop meeting schedule they have and how they just "love" eating lunch from their cubicle.  These people are busy, of course...it's a fast-paced environment, but I'm talking about the person that points out their busy-ness to everyone all the time, non stop.  

I think, as I've gotten older, I've started to see more and more people using this same tactic in life.  "I'm so busy...got this to do, that place to go, dinner with this person, lunch with that friend..." the list just goes on and on, and to me, sounds so exhausting.  Some people just thrive on personal interaction. I'm one of those people, but I don't find myself playing the "busy life" card as much as some do.  Are they really stressed out about the amount they have to get done, or is it an inner desire for someone to relate to them when they talk about it?

Maybe I need to try this tactic?  I've been feeling so busy with work, life, and everything in between that it does feel daunting at times, but could voicing it to everyone around me help relieve the symptom....or would I then become "that guy"? 

The fact is that I think we're all busy.  Whether it's work or life outside of work, we've all got so much to do, and it seems to get busier and busier as the days go on.  Maybe a quick solution is to avoid playing the "busy life" card, simply because it just takes up more of our precious time during the day, and instead let's take a second to tell someone we care or wrestle with our kids...

just thinkin.