Lately I’ve been seeing so much in the media on the topic of being busy. Here’s one from the New York Times – I wrote about it here. I posted this one on the World Tree Coaching Facebook page last week. And, I love what this woman has to say about how she’s going to get her life under control (I especially identify with her descriptions of what it feels like physically and emotionally when she’s on the busy wheel). As a culture, we’re driven by this running around, never feeling like it’s enough, wishing you could just take five minutes to ourselves.
Here’s a conversation I had with my mom one day last week at around 10:30AM:
Mom: Ugh! I’m so busy today. I have so much to do.
Me: Really? What’s on your plate?
Mom: Well, I have to go get a haircut, then I need to stop at the store and pick up some things and then I have to bake a pie for Bible study.
Me: Wow. That is a lot. Why don’t you just pick up something for the Bible study? Do you really need to make a whole pie from scratch?
Mom: I’m NOT going to just pick something up.
Me: Why not?
Mom: I just feel like that’s tacky. I should make something.
Me: How is it tacky? You can get really good pies at the bakery or even HEB (our local supermarket).
Mom: I don’t know….
Me: Tell me this – when you get to Bible study is a single one of your friends going to say, “Oh my God! Vickie just brought a store-bought cake. She must be so lazy. I can’t believe that.”
Mom: (laughing) No.
Me: Okay. Go to HEB and pick up a cake…or a pie…or some cookies.
Mom: (laughing still) Okay.
This is what I’m talking about here. Every single one of us knows that we must get off the busy wheel. We don’t like it. It’s not satisfying. If it’s not killing us literally, it is killing our souls. It’s forcing us to continue to live our life in the wrong direction – also known as someone else’s direction.
So remember, it’s never too late to make a change. Ask yourself the big questions – Why am I doing this? What happens when I say no to one more task, assignment or project? If I gave up half of what I’m doing now, how would I feel about what’s left over? Do I love myself enough to just take better care of me?
My guess is you can do this. More living. Less doing. Yes.
