“Life is busy, shew.” Everyone *hears* that. Everyone *gets* that. Sad to say there’s no easy way to have a simple life…that I’ve found. It takes work and disciplined . Also developing thick skin for all the people you’re bound to disappoint, for those who want to please people. In fact as I’m writing this, I’ve got 10 mins before my next block of work. I do block of times so far it seems to work for me…kinda like batching things. But here’s the thing a long time ago I used to be a type b personality. I loved me some spontaneousness. The older I get? Not so much • well unless its fun. But most of my spontaneousness revolves around work and they’re usually long hours. Not so cool.
But now days, I must be careful in how I do my timings. As mentioned above I’ve got well…now about 9 mins and something counting. I’m serious as a … whatever the idiom is for that. I digress.
What’s the secret to NOT over thinking? Well it’s actually very very simple. Yet at the same time incredibly hard. Those wiser than I will already be shouting the words…I can hear them. Rest and surrendering to Jesus. In fact: when I’m agitated, truth be told sadly at least this week has been often. That tells me I’m not surrendered to Him, I’m not resting in Him. And the question to be asked is…am I in His will doing the things He wants done in the timing He wants done? I’ve learned to ask this question gently towards myself.
Perhaps you are not this way, but I am. I used often harsh and sometimes even cruel to myself in certain areas…mostly work ethics. Holding myself to a standard that not even God holds me to. Now I’m not saying not to have standard nor be lacking of manners. I am saying if my standards aren’t Gods standards for me then I need to shift. Put my focus back on Him.
4 mins left and I’m surprised at the deepness of my thoughts. Sometimes overthinking is a good thing. But often for me it isn’t. Why? Because I try to over prepare or I make a bigger deal out of all the details skewing the reality. Most importantly, I take my eyes off Christ.
By the way I’m talking of truly over thinking. Sometimes other thinking causes pain unnecessarily for others, it at the very least robs yourself of freedom of rest and happiness. I’m not discussing never being agitated for the right reasons, angry because its good (yes, I believe anger to be healthy in certain contexts), to grieve or anything else we might deemed “negative”. We are emotional creators that is how God designed us. But He also teaches us to control in a healthy manner our emotions. That sentence right there? That’s what I’m referring to.
My time is up, but I don’t regret taking this brief time to talk with you. One last thing…overthinking for a trip = overpacking which leads to exhaustion. I know this from experience. It’s not fun. Setting a reminder in my phone to tell you the stories from trips, but please forgive me if I forget to circle back. Much love to you and I’ll chat with you soon.
Christina Damron 