“How are you doing?”
The almost universal response for almost everyone I know is “Busy.”
How did we get so busy? Technology is supposed to make life “easier,” right? The truth is it just adds to the busy.
Remember back to the days when you would call someone on the phone and get a busy signal? No answering machine, no call waiting, no caller id. The line was busy. You hung up, you called back later. No big deal. You went on about your life.
I remember when our parents added a second house line for the kids. THAT was a big deal. I was younger and my brothers mostly used the line. When they moved out, that line was all mine. I was so spoiled by this and I spent much of high school on that phone. But when we hung up, we hung up. We shut down. We turned off. Or maybe we turned on MTV, back when MTV was one of a fairly limited number of channels, at least compared to now. Seriously, I rarely turn the TV on any more because I do not even know where to start. It’s almost overwhelming.
Imagine our kids will never know the simplicity of 13 channels – that you actually had to get up and turn the dial to scroll through. They will never know a life where you could ponder a question and realize you might never know the answer (Hello, Google!). You wondered about a lyric but short of buying the cassette and opening up all the folds to read through the lyrics there was no way to know for sure.
Today, our house phone (yes, we still have one) rarely rings. If it does it’s almost 100% guaranteed to be a sales call or a political call, or our parents. But our cell phones ping relentlessly. Sometimes they actually ring (again, our parents) but mostly they chirp and chime and beep with texts messages and Facebook messenger notifications and news alerts, etc. We are so seldom UNPLUGGED.
Of course the beauty of technology is that I can start my own health and fitness business from home and run it all online. I LOVE doing what I do. I am so grateful for Al Gore inventing the internet (LOL!) so I can be a full time stay-at-home to my boys but also use my business acumen along with my God-given gifts and abilities to help others. However, the same resources that allow me to run my business online are the same ones that make it so I can be available 24/7 to everyone.
I recognize that there need to be boundaries with my business. But don’t you find it hard to enforce boundaries in your life? Technology has created unreasonable expectations. Both the expectations of others of me and my expectations for myself and others. If someone needs me NOW, I want to help them NOW. If I need help from someone else NOW, I will likely text, call, or Facebook message them until I get what I need.
Some days it feels like we are on a giant hamster wheel. We keep running, running, running so the wheel will keep turning, turning, turning. Do you ever feel like you want to get off? Make the wheel stop turning?
My kids are down to their final days of school. So of course that means we are extra busy. I have things to buy, parties to attend, altered schedules to contend with.
But I, Erin Kvistad, am hereby making a pact with myself this summer to set some boundaries.
Not only will I establish hours where I will work, but I will also be intentional about taking time where I just shut down completely. I want to enjoy my boys (which means forcing them to unplug). I want to truly appreciate the fact that I am able to be home with them.
I want to model for them what it looks like to disconnect. I told them this morning that they have no idea what it means to turn off technology and be a kid like we were growing up, where the only reason we came home during the day was to eat lunch and dinner and when the street lights came on. This summer I hope they too will enjoy being unplugged. That they can learn that the “urgency” created by technology is not what is really urgent and important in our lives. I want us to be more about connecting with one another, talking, laughing, and enjoying each other.
This song by Jonny Diaz “Breathe” just reminded me this morning that I need to SLOW DOWN. This will be the anthem of our summer:
Third cup of joe just to get me through the day
Want to make the most of time but I feel it slip away
I wonder if there’s something more to this crazy life
I’m busy, busy, busy, and it’s no surprise to see
That I only have time for me, me, me
There’s gotta be something more to this crazy life
I’m hanging on tight to another wild day
When it starts to fall apart in my heart I hear you say just
Breathe, just breathe
Come and rest at my feet
And be, just be
Chaos calls but all you really need
Is to take it in fill your lungs
The peace of God that overcomes
Just breathe
So let your weary spirit rest
Lay down what’s good and find what’s best
Just breathe
Will you join me in slowing down this summer and taking the time to breathe? Let’s set aside time each day to disconnect from our devices and to reconnect with our families and friends. Are you with me?
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