What goes into a great day?
Luck? Hard work with serendipitous results? At what point am I going to stop and enjoy myself? In my time with God this week, He has specifically told me, “Stop moving!” Have I attempted to play out what that looks like? Am I obeying?
Simply put—no I haven’t. It was something I jotted down on a blank page, only to be replaced with a to-do list written on the back of it.
And another thing—why do I continue with such expectations? My list for the day consists of life not met by the day before, and to-do’s that won’t get done until tomorrow. There’s never contentment in drawing a line through the list, because it’s only greeted by something else I don’t have time to do. I’m finding it to be quite American—this desire to slave myself into fitting two days into one.
Over. Load.
Instead of being content with myself and my battlefield of bullet points, for some reason I make the assessment it’s not enough, so I just work and work and work until the sun goes down, and feel unaccomplished because I know I could always be doing something. And when I’m not I don’t feel happy or satisfied. Ironically though, I am not usually happy when I am doing something, because it’s just on the mentality of trying to do something else.
Breathe. Relax.
I’m allowed to put away my Manhattan hustle for a second and take in my European tendencies of working to live. My twenty-something American-standardized rush for the sake of rushing habits are hindering what is beyond the borders of my laptop…
If I took an inventory of the people, things, and opportunities surrounding my life, I feel I would begin giving myself more of a break. I would calm myself down and begin taking in the world. God has built us to enjoy this Earth, not simply to work and die in it.
This world’s riches aren’t found externally, but internally in the hearts of those you share life with.
Am I living to work, or working to live? I plan on leaving a mark not for the things I’ve done, but for the man I became. So instead of trying to send five more emails out, I’m going to try something new. I’m putting down my laptop and picking up a glass of pinot to enjoy my first summer sunset with the most beautiful person I know. Here’s to a better life.
Cheers!
-Jason O’Toole
(Source: memoir.jasonotoole.com)
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