She's busy but keeps texting you random stuff: what it means

She's telling you two things at once. The explicit message is her schedule is full. The implicit one is that you haven't moved to the top of her priority list. That's not necessarily rejection. It's just a fact.

But here's what matters: she still texts you. If she wasn't interested at all, she'd let the conversation die. The texts about her day or complaints about work mean she sees you as someone worth keeping around. Just not someone she's organizing her time for yet. That matters because it means there's something to work with. You're not starting from zero. You're stuck in the middle.

Your reply has to do two things. First, acknowledge what she said without fighting it. Don't argue that she's actually not busy or suggest she has more time than she thinks. Just accept it.

Second, and this is the move. Respond warmly to the actual content of her message, then suggest something small and specific that doesn't demand a huge time commitment from someone who's busy. Not a vague 'we should hang out soon.' Something like a 30 minute coffee or a walk. Make it easy to say yes and hard to hide behind the busy excuse. If she keeps using the busy line when you're being realistic about time, that's the answer right there. She's not prioritizing you and probably won't.

If she doesn't respond to your suggested plan within 24 hours, don't send another message. She either saw it and chose not to commit, or she's that swamped. Either way, texting again looks like you're chasing.

Give it three days total. If by then she hasn't confirmed a time or offered an alternative, accept that busy is her way of keeping you in rotation without actually dating you. Move on. Don't get bitter about it. Just stop investing energy. She can always come back with a concrete yes later, and if she does, you can revisit. But you don't sit around waiting for someone to clear their schedule when they won't even try.