Technology, technology – practically every aspect of our lives is linked with technology. Children have “smart phones”; we buy cars with navigation or purchase portable systems to guide us from place to place. Ministers hold tablets with scripture and their sermons instead of the Bible in book form and notes written or typed on paper. It seems there’s an application or an “app” for most things in our lives. We, in the USA are technology addicts. We want to know everything NOW! We don’t want to wait for the paper to be delivered. We don’t want to wait for a letter to arrive. We find value in things that allow us to do things faster.
Is faster better? Is staying connected to the world every waking minute good for us? Being “plugged in” constantly can be good because we can be well informed. It also has some down falls. Our stress level increases. We buy into the concept that if we’re not the first person on the scene or give the first account of a situation, we’ve failed or our accomplishment is not really an accomplishment. We often suffer from information overload. Since we have access to information quickly, we tend to pile on the expectations – you can now do 2-3 times the work you could do 5 or 10 years ago because you have access to more information and things work faster than they used to. This however, negates the fact that we have one body – designed to do things with a certain timing and rhythm. We function best when we eat unprocessed foods, but that’s not fast enough, so we process our foods so they’re easier to access, but our bodies don’t function as well as they do with unprocessed foods. We function best with regular exercise, but we have to run our children to activities every evening and we are too exhausted at the end of the day to get our exercise in. We function best when we give ourselves a “Sabbath” a day each week to rest, but we can’t because we have to cram 3 days of activities into 2 on the weekend and we just don’t have the time to rest.
So how do we deal with this hippo of “stuff” that “HAS” to get done? We cut up the hippo and eat small pieces at a time. We recognize and place value on our bodies for each member has different functions and needs to allow it to function at peak performance. We give our minds, our hearts, our hands, our torso, our legs and feet things they need to function. This includes proper nutrition, down time from technology so it can rest, and exercise that’s heart healthy and good for the exterior extremities as well. Re-assess your projects so they can be accomplished with short bursts of energy followed by intervals of rest. Reward yourself in small ways when you’ve completed tasks.
Each member needs the other members and together they make you uniquely you. Reduce the potential for being overwhelmed and feeling like your tasks are an enormous hippo you have to deal with. Cut it into small, bit-sized pieces and feed your mind, body and soul so you’re up to all the tasks at hand.
You can do it… one bite at a time.
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