Admit it...you'll never get it all done

Most people struggle to get so much done by day's end. Well, at least what they think they should be getting done.

The fact is, we will never get it all done. It's just not humanly possible. Over the last few decades we have been asked to get more done in a shorter period of time while piling on more and more due to technology.

I remember as a teen and young adult hearing that technology was going to make life easier. In some ways it has.

Yet, in other ways technology has made our lives very unmanageable. On any given day we communicate with dozens, hundreds and even thousands of people. 

We have been misled to believe the more people we "touch" on any given day the better. But the truth is, this type of connection is often superficial at best.

Another fact most of us deal with are personal concerns that require much of our time and attention. Time and attention we may think we don't have because we have to get that one last email out.

The fact is the time we spend on all those "one last emails" could be put to better use by a true connection with another. Maybe it's time spent chatting with a neighbor. Or a call to a loved one who is in need of a kind word. Maybe it's a parent we are a caretaker for who needs only a few minutes of our time to feel safe.

Whatever it is we do have a choice in how we respond to it. We don't have to set ourselves up to be so bogged down we feel like we are on a treadmill that goes faster and faster with the only way off is collapse.

Sometimes simply stopping, breathing and consciously getting centered can lessen the burdens we have imposed upon ourselves.

I'm not talking about those things that really do need our attention. I'm referring to those things that we seem to have placed so much importance on that are so insignificant we don't need to put one last ounce of energy into.

Where are you putting your energy? Is it in what is truly essential and important or is it in something that really could be put on hold? Is it in spending a bit of extra time with a child that just needs to feel loved or is it in watching the last five minutes of American Idol? 

Is it taking time to smell the roses or trying to figure out a new computer program we may never use? Is it in taking time to volunteer for a worthy cause or..... you get the idea.

You make the choice moment by moment. Choose wisely.

Comments

[Melinda Copp]

Kathleen,
This is a wonderful reminder! I've been trying to be more conscious of this over the past few months, choosing to spend more time talking with my son or doing things he wants to do, and less time online, working on little things, that at the end of the day are truly unimportant. Thank you!!