I’m feeling nostalgic. Did you ever lay on a blanket under the stars and just look up, no agenda, no phone, no rush? Remember when reading a book didn’t seem like a monumental task? I love books! But now it’s difficult to concentrate for more than a few minutes at a time. Remember when people were kind and intelligent and took time to think before they spoke? I miss those days.
I also remember our family around a table talking and laughing. I remember road trips (long road trips!) with just the radio and books. “I’m bored”, I would say and my mom would say, “Only boring people are bored.” So I would look out the window and imagine.
I remember long drawn out card games and puzzles and my older brothers teaching me to play pool and ping pong. I remember sunsets when no one had a phone with them and sunrises that felt like a personal one on one with God, no need to record or post, that would only cheapen it. I remember phone calls with the spiral cord pulled tight so I could go in my room for privacy. I would talk to friends for hours on the phone, no rush. All before call waiting became a thing and if someone called our house it would ring “busy”. I remember thinking call waiting was “so rude”. Does anyone even know what is “rude” anymore? Now people wear watches that alert them every second about a news story or a text. They are out to lunch or dinner with friends but they are constantly looking at their watch. It’s astonishing. What could be that urgent?
Do you remember having to call a friend and say hello to her parents on the phone? Or did you have to answer your own home phone saying, “Hello, Koach residence, this is Sue speaking.” I remember calling my parents from my summer abroad – it was very rare, expensive to call and it was a big deal with an operator speaking Spanish. Now we just text from all over the world. A lot of people don’t even have home phones anymore.
I remember waiting for my pictures to be developed at Walgreen’s, getting so excited to pick them up and then realizing there was only one good one in the whole bunch.
As I’m writing this, I see the theme. We used to wait. We had to be patient, polite, present.
Was it always better? No. Progress is good. But I worry that we are rushing through life distracted. I’m afraid we will miss it. Or just collapse from the mental and emotional exhaustion.
This isn’t a post about limiting phone and screen time. Although that would certainly be a good thing.
This is about not settling. This is about owning the fact that we deserve more than this treadmill we are on. Something’s gotta give. It’s time for a reset.
You are a masterpiece created in God’s image. We all are. And yet, here we are scrolling social media for hours a day, letting the nonsense invade our hearts, minds and souls.
Why have we settled for a life of distraction and irritation and hurry over the beauty of stillness, peace and presence. Do you feel this?
Where did we get off track?
Were we off track before all of the lockdowns, fear and upheaval of the last two years? Even if we were, there is no doubt that it has gotten worse. There is a collective anxiety and it’s reaching fever pitch. We can only take so much. We were not meant to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders! I’ve talked to so many people who say they are distracted and irritable and unmotivated. We can’t settle for this.
This is not who we are! We have to remember that we are children of God and we are here with a purpose! We can’t waste any more time!
It’s okay. We can grab ahold of the time we have left. We can insist on being mindful and intentional. We can break out of the prison we’ve created for ourselves.
Step one: find some time today to sit quietly by yourself and do nothing. It will feel strange. Don’t have your phone near you. Turn off all external stimulation. Remember how it feels to breathe. Let your mind wander. Remember who you are when it’s just you. This is the beginning of the reset.