Have you missed me lately? If not, why not? *grin*. The title of this post may indicate why I haven't been blogging as frequently as I would like.
I try to blog about every three days. That gives my readers (and there are so many of them) *cough* time to check my latest post and comment if they wish. But now the busyness is slowly threatening to choke my blogging career.
I blogged about this topic last year (if you missed it, where were you? - you can read my post here) and now it's happening to my life AGAIN. In fact, I was reading Bek's blog about trying to stop her life getting cluttered with 'stuff' and out of control and I thought, 'yep that's me.'
I had to sit down and soberly evaluate what I can realistically get involved in and what I need to give a miss. I'm constantly battling with the temptation to take on new 'hobbies' and then I end up stressed and tired with no time for people. My housemate has the Boundaries book and I've flicked through it but never read it from beginning to end. Perhaps I should? Is that how you feel sometimes? You say 'yes yes yes' to everything people ask of you and then end up burnt out, stressed, disillusioned and angry. I'm not a chronic 'yes' person but sometimes when I say 'no' to someone, I'm left with a sense of guilt afterwards.
These last few weeks I've been extra busy at work, adjusting to all sorts of changes in my life and trying to maintain relationships with people. I need more sleep than most people in order to function properly - about 8.5-9 hours, otherwise I get cranky and dependent on caffeine. I don't know how some people can go to bed at 2am then get up at 7am and go to work! That's not normal!!
So I sat down and started to 'prune' stuff from my life. That sounds harsh but I believe it's necessary. I think because Christians in particular are frequently told we need to serve more that it leaves people burnt out and guilt-ridden. It should not be this way. We're all human and have our limits. I would rather focus on a couple of things and be committed to them and do them well than have lots of things and give a half-baked effort at each. One of the worst things about taking on too much stuff, is that you start to resent and regret the stuff you are involved in, the passion dies because you're so tired and it becomes just another 'thing' to do, rather than something you used to enjoy.
I was in danger of having something on every weeknight which leaves me too tired at work. Currently my weeknights look like this:
Monday - nothing but I call my nan in Albany once a week on this night.
Tuesday - Singing lesson then bible study (we all co-lead this group)
Wednesday - I meet 1-1 with a friend from church to read the Bible, pray and discuss what's happening in our lives. This is especially important to my friend as she can't make it to church every week. Sometimes I stay for dinner afterwards and sometimes this night is free.
Thursday - nothing
Friday - Easy English Bible Club. I (and others) meet with Chinese students who are investigating Christianity.
As you can see, sometimes three nights a week are taken up with church stuff which is good but it means I really need those other nights to relax, get some time alone and sometimes to catch up with other friends or family who aren't Christian. If I had something on every night of the week and had no time for them, how am I going to reach out to them and love them? It wouldn't be a very good witness.
Recently I was tempted to add even more activities to my schedule. I used to play tennis on Monday nights and Wednesday nights but have to decided to give it up for this semester at least due to lack of time and just go to the gym instead. Also, my singing teacher asked me if I was interested in joining a Christian a cappella choir that was looking for sopranos. I was shocked as there was no way I thought I'd be good enough and it sounded really cool but I just can't offer the kind of commitment they're looking for. It'd involve rehearsals on one night of the week as well as weekend performances, which means I wouldn't get to see Duncan as much :( So I said no. I've also dropped one TV show from my viewing schedule ;)
There you have it. Hopefully now I'll have less 'stuff' and more time for people and just staying sane. Don't get me wrong, there's lots of worthwhile things to get involved in and quite often these activities are people-oriented anyway - but I just can't do them all and neither can anyone.
We have to choose.
Oh yes, if you're a Christian and a soprano and would like to join an a cappella group, then leave a comment and I can put you in touch with them. You don't have to be a professional singer, just able to hold a tune.
2 comments:
I think thats why its hard for christians. We get caught up in DOING so much stuff for church that we forget about the things that really fill our tank.
Russells parents for instance dont go away anywhere for holidays because they have too many commitments at church.
I think that if we fill our lives with too much church stuff, even if its only 2 nights a week, and thats all we do...you will eventually burn out anyway because your not looking after yourself and doing things that you enjoy. It gets even worse when your 'career' is the church. My dad has burnt himself out over his 20+ years in ministry. I dont even really know what he likes to do for fun!
Its dangerous when your life gets too busy and you feel there is nothing that you can take out to make things less cluttered.
Good job on getting rid of some things!
That's so true. And it's bad that people are encouraged to burn themselves out. So many Christians who are overworked are upheld as examples to follow when we shouldn't put such a load on them in the first place.
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