Guest Author - Lori Phillips
Keeping up a blinding pace can prevent us from realizing our lives are dangerously chaotic—until too late. Take this true-or-false quiz for a lifestyle check-up.
1. My daily to-do list has more than five items on it.
2. I never complete my to-do lists.
3. My daily plans don’t pan out.
4. I fall into bed feeling more worried about what I need to do than feeling good about what I have done.
5. Church or volunteer activities leave me exhausted.
6. I spend hours rehashing the past.
7. I feel guilty if I don’t volunteer.
8. I feel lazy or unproductive if I waste time.
9. I often worry about friends’ problems and try to solve them.
10. I feel I could spend more quality time with my spouse, children, pets or people I care deeply about.
11. Every day on the calendar has a scheduled event outside of work.
12. I never spend time appreciating the sights and sounds of nature.
The good news is that there are no right or wrong answers. Some people thrive on a busy life pace. But a good guideline to determine whether you live a healthy level of busy or an unhealthy level is to check your emotional and physical state.
Questions 1-3: If you never complete your to-do lists because they are impossibly lengthy, you rob yourself of the good feeling that completion brings, and that good feeling translates into self-esteem. Also, making too rigid plans is unrealistic and leads to frustration.
Questions 4-5: People feel it is required to expend their last shred of energy for a good cause. Occasionally, yes. But give too much of yourself on a regular basis and it will lead to physical illness, emotional burn-out, and spiritual disillusionment.
Questions 6-8: Negative emotions, from guilt to regrets, are emotional baggage that complicates your life needlessly. Dump the flotsam and jetsam.
Questions 9-10: We take on the problems of friends because we care but the hard truth is that, aside from being a good sounding board, we can’t change their lives for them no matter how much good advice we dole out. Spending too much time mulling over your friends’ problems is an energy drain. Instead, be sure that the people who matter to you most get the best quality and most quantity of your time.
Questions 11-12: Some people are conditioned to run at a frantic pace. It takes practice to learn how to slow down. Start by leaving at least one entire day of the month to do nothing. If you feel edgy, antsy or bored, you’ve become too accustomed to a busy lifestyle. You should be able to feel an almost giddy joy when sitting and taking in fresh air and the sights and sounds of nature. Can you take a deep breath and feel gratitude for the joy of it all? Slow down until you do.
It is not a waste of time to step out of the rat race. When someone tells me, “I can’t just do nothing” I feel sad for them. There is a difference between “doing nothing” and enjoying the quiet moments of life. It is during such moments when the most brilliant ideas are born and the greatest joys blossom in the hearts of those wise enough to set aside their to-do lists.
