When Busy Becomes a Lifestyle...
“I’m busy.”
”We just have a lot going on right now.”
”The calendar is a little wild these days!”
“It’s a busy season.”
These are phrases we hear all the time. We say them often. Do you ever wonder when it ends? I do. Maybe like me, you’ve mislabeled some of what’s Optional as Required. You might have so many “priorities” that none of them really matter anymore.
Do you think it’s time to REFOCUS?
I once looked up and realized I’d been waiting for the slow down of January for a few years. Each fall, we’d head into a family birthday season combined with back to school, quickly propelled into the holidays, and I’d begin to feel weary. It felt as if it’d been asked to run multiple marathons in a row.
So I’d long for January, when things would slow down. No more holidays, a break from the joyful chaos of celebration, a desire for the mundane and ordinary. But can I tell you? I longed for January, but suddenly it would be April. That mythical version of January never comes. Or least it won’t if you don’t intentionally stop the schedule and the busy. Slowing down isn’t something that lands in your lap, you have to go looking for it.
So I encourage you to ask yourself: Is this a busy season?
or
Have you made busy your lifestyle choice?
So…have you begun to view the optional as required? Often we have so many priorities that most of them aren’t truly important anymore. We look up to realize we’ve begun to treat the things that matter to our hearts as simple obligations. A list to get through.
I’m gonna go ahead and say it: It’s time to refocus.
Knowing the culture we live in, I imagine I’m not the only one that feels the pull and the tight calendar and the desire for slow, alongside a wonder of just how to get there.
It often feels like the things God whispers on my heart become the loudest echoes in my mind. This thought, to me, in this culture, is worth the space rattling around in my brain. Maybe it is for you too.
Coaching Corner: Reflection is lovely, but changing behavior because of it is better. Here, I invite you to consider the thoughts above and consider changes you can make.
A Question: What is one thing on your calendar that feels required, but is actually optional?
A Next Step: Look at the next two weeks on your calendar. Circle, or write down the three things that matter most. Then ask yourself: Does my schedule reflect those priorities?
An Invitation: Spend ten quiet minutes this week asking yourself: Where have I mistaken urgency for importance? Write down whatever comes to mind before you try to explain it away.