Glennon Melton writes about having a sign in her kitchen that reads “We Can Do Hard Things.” This is the year I’ve needed that sign. Or I’ve needed it written in the sky.
It’s been a year of loss. A year of disruption. A year of letting go and then turning around to look for the next thing and realizing the next thing isn’t there. At least not yet. It’s been a year of examining what it means to be too busy, to have too much, to go too fast, then stepping back and asking “What is enough?”
Do you ever have the experience where you’re going along with the routine, your everyday habits, eating the food you eat, spending time with the people you spend your time with, doing the job you do, and there’s a disruption? A circumstance or an inner voice interrupts and you begin to question. Is this really the right path?
Maybe you’ve started something you thought was a good idea and now you’re afraid it might not be. Perhaps it’s a relationship that’s getting uncomfortable and needs some work. Or the job that’s paid the bills for years is starting to wear on your soul. Or you’re wondering how in the world you got so busy and overwhelmed and when it’s going to slow down so you can breathe and feel again.
Disruption and the Universal Ache
Rob Bell says, “The heart has tremendous capacity to love, and to ache. And this ache is universal.”
I don’t know about you, but lately I’ve been feeling a bit helpless as the volume on world events and the suffering and pain around us is getting louder. The ache is indeed universal. Seems it would be easier to ignore it all. Plus, do our personal disruptions even matter in light of the pain of the world? They do. Parker Palmer recently put it best. “We all live at the intersection of our small worlds and the big one around us. If we want to serve others, we must attend to both.”
We must attend to both. You see, our personal disruptions matter because the choices we make about how we spend our time and our money and our energy aren’t just about OUR humanity. They are about all of humanity. Our capacity to love and ache are universal and how we treat ourselves says a lot about how we treat the world.
It’s in the disruptions that we can begin to see with new eyes. If we’re brave enough, we can start to identify what is truly enough and then have some left to give. To be still enough to hear the whispers at the intersection of our small worlds and the big one around us.
Time to Slow Down
I’m wrapping up this year and beginning the new one by taking some time away from my job and my stuff and my routine. I’m hitting the road for an undetermined amount of time to an undetermined number of destinations. (Let’s be honest, for a girl who strives for simplicity, living out of a suitcase without a plan is not that difficult, but I have no doubt there will be challenges along the way).
Why not take time off and sit still? In the spirit of knowing thyself, I know I am most alive when traveling. My best voice comes from a life lived away from a desk and outside of Twitter feeds and emails and internet updates. I also think that the road is a great teacher of simple living.
I plan to write along the way and to prioritize a few things I’ve been missing. Join me?
Go somewhere you’ve never gone, even if it’s just a few blocks away. Write. Celebrate fleeting moments. Tell people you love them. Hug. Cry if you need to. Pet animals and play with kids as often as possible. Be grateful. Talk to friends and family. Like, really talk. Have slow, lingering conversations. The kind where “how are you” isn’t about what we’re doing, but about the state of our hearts. Breathe. Forgive. Let the disruptions in.
Most importantly, let’s GIVE. Attend to our small worlds so we can discover how to better serve the big one around us.
Two more notes before you go:
- That line in the photo up top? It’s from The Things I Regret on Brandi Carlile’s new album which is definitely worthy of any road trip mix.
- For those who have been following The Digital Breakup and may be wondering if I put email back on my phone to make it easier to check in while traveling, the answer is no. The breakup continues.
Leave a Reply