Taking time to stop is essential. Life gets so busy that we get caught going from one thing to the next and very easily lose any true sense of direction.
I’m a big believer in the importance of holidays. They don’t have to be expensive, but they do need to be a change of location where you are not working. We need space to reflect and reassess where our life is at and where we want it to be going.
Our culture makes it harder and harder to truly stop. There’s always something to be doing. We don’t know how to embrace silence any more and create space for reflection. We always have an iPod in our ears or a You Tube video we’re watching or the latest TV show grabbing our attention or the lastest bestselling novel we’re consuming. Then of course there are our Twitter accounts to update, our Facebook page to check, Instant Messenger to chat with friends, and, of course, all those emails. Oh, and then we have our jobs too.
None of these things are bad. In fact, I enjoy pretty much everything I’ve just listed above. But we do need to switch off now and then. We do need to make sure we don’t lose a sense of direction to our lives because we are so caught up with now.
We need to live in the moment but we need to do this whilst heading towards a intended destination. Or, if not that, at least a clear sense of direction. For me, my recent three weeks in South Africa has proven a great time to just see my life with a fresh set of eyes. It’s been great. It reminded me how important it is to get out, get away, and stop. I don’t want my life to end up anywhere. I want to choose the life I have. And that means I need to stop sometimes.
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