five-minute friday: breathe
Go.
My mind is swirling with the ever-present barrage of decisions to be made, things to be done, and thoughts to be thunk. The music playing in the background adds yet another layer to the cacophony, and I feel compelled to check my phone every time it dings. And it dings often.
It’s all right there — constantly flowing at / to / in me. I get overwhelmed by the enormity of everything. Not knowing where to start causes me to not start at all.
I haven’t journaled out the things I’ve wanted to. I haven’t written the heart-wrestling blog posts that are currently sitting in my drafts folder as only a sentence or two. I haven’t finished the book I began reading four months ago. I haven’t given myself time, space, and emotional reserve to process the weighty things in my heart. I haven’t replied to all my emails, cleared my Google Reader, or gotten in touch with all the friends I’d love to connect with.
And all those haven’ts weigh on me as need to’s any time I get a spare minute to myself.
But in that rare moment, all I want to do is drown that list out of my mind.
And just breathe.
Maybe, just maybe, that isn’t bad. Maybe that isn’t avoidance or procrastination.
Maybe it’s my heart’s way of reminding me that life is more about being than it is about doing.
Done.
@danielleH says:
It feels like we’ve had this conversation before….I think this is a lesson to learn over and over and what that looks like in different seasons.
I know you love me and I hope you know I love you even if we aren’t in communicaiton as much as we’d like to be.
A quick reminder…..you are always in my thoughts, my prayers and my heart. Today I pray that the Lord send you peace and love to embrace you affirming everything you have done for the LEAST of THESE…. You are very special, my friend
@christypolek says:
I think about this a lot in my quest to try and live more simply…
but how sometimes it feels like the things I “have to do” keep me from that…
I heard Scott Belsky speak at Catalyst and this post makes me think of something he said. He talked about how we have an “urgent list” and an “important list” and how they aren’t the same thing. And so often we get caught up in the urgent list and neglect the important list for so long. That really stuck with me.
Anyway, love you and your heart.
When it all seems too overwhelming sometimes we need to turn off the phone, the music, the mind full of all the things that we NEED to do, what we’re thinking and as you said just BREATHE. Just take time to be and not do. I couldn’t agree more. As awful as it was for me part of my way out was to embrace the wretchedness of where I was. To just be where I was and to feel how I felt. In fact that thought was shared with me by a dear, dear friend. On about the 5th phone call together where I could do nothing but cry she said to me, ‘Stephie, it’s okay to be where you are and feel how you feel.’ She essentially gave me permission to work it all through at my pace. Alece, just for you, give yourself permission to breathe and just be.
Blessings to you girl,
Stephie
@atangie says:
You have permission from me to breathe. :) Love you!
I vote for breathing. :-)
@cassgirl says:
Take care of yourself first….
God doesn’t want us to be yoke heavy or heavy laden with stuff.
Breathe in that Nebraska air or wherever you are today.
Love you!
Breath girl, breath!
Stop. Breathe. Breathe again. I bet the list is still there. I try to practice saying “no” at least once a day. You might just discover how liberating this feels – it helps you look at your to do’s and find the things that don’t really belong there. Is there anything you can delegate to others in order to open up your schedule for the things “you” need to do? And when all else fails, go through that date book/calendar right now and shcedule a meeting with Alece once a day – and it is your most important, non-negotiable meeting! Hang in there – you will get through this!
Well said…be, not do.
your post reminds me of a quote i read somewhere…”busyness is one of the greatest distractions to godliness.”
i know you have a ton to do. but don’t feel guilty about taking a time to rest and SLOW DOWN.
God is more concerned about who you ARE than what you DO anyways.
so take the time and work yourself out. explore your feelings and pay attention to where you are emotionally (which probably exhausted)
im praying for you, girl!!!
I think its bad to always be doing something, you need a break and a rest! Even God took a rest and something tells me he didn’t HAVE to rest but he did anyways. Maybe to set a good example for us to follow?
I will pray that when you rest you will find complete rest and peace of mind.
Love you sweetheart.
For the first time ever in my missionary life, I am not going to a church that has invited us. I was torn on it because I’m all about making an appearance and being an active part in the fund raising. However, I’m tired. Very tired. And when I’m tired my anxiety is heightened and I hate to travel when I’m like that. Sooooo, short story long, I’m not going. I’m keeping 4 of the 5 children with me and my Love and middle child are going by themselves. I thought I would feel guilty about it, but I don’t. I have to take care of myself if I’m going to be any benefit to my family and the ministry.
As part of taking care of myself, I joined a gym. I sit in the sauna longer than I jog on the treadmill, but it makes me happy so I do it.
I’m enjoying my furlough for many vain reasons—-new jeans, new shoes, new tanks, and Yankee candles. I’m also enjoying it for spiritual reasons—-a LOT of singing and preaching in English.
If you end up in the TN/VA area, let me know :)
I LOVE seeing what spills out of your heart in such a short 5 minutes of writing…wow!
Thanks for sharing your heart and where you are at…praying that you find the time to breathe.
:-)
one of my son’s friends said years ago, “suck in, suck out!” we’ve laughed about that one for a long time!
forget about the tyranny of the urgent. focus on what is important. God is more concerned about who you are than what you do, and so are your real friends. taking care of yourself is important. the best way to take care of the other important people in your life is to take care of yourself so that when you need to, you have something to give and a reserve from which to give it. you can’t give what isn’t there.
love you, girl! can’t wait to see you!
love and hugs from VA!
Four minute friday: Bracing myself for the inevitable of some of the weeks to come… stay tuned
@kamriereed says:
Your life sounds crazy. I hate those feelings of having to do all of these overwhelming things and never getting around to them. Then suddenly I realize how life is passing me by and all I have to do to live is take a deep breath and relax slowly getting to everything while I listen to Zack Williams smooth voice in the background as I conquer all of my tasks
@ginabob says:
I definitely could have written all of that as well!
Life is moving at a pace that makes me wonder if I am accomplishing anything.
Remembering to breathe –
Gina
You are tired because you care so much. Because you don’t put “check marks” next to people.
The reality is, there’s a lot that needs to be done, as far as the ministry goes. Things you care so, so much about. And just the mundane, too.
I wish I could help lighten your load. And just give you a hard, silent hug.
I’ll be praying this for you today: That the cry of your heart for those necessary Selah moments will be met in ways that will both surprise you and take your breath away. That you will physically sense Him quieting you with His love. And that He’ll give you wisdom to discern and separate the “wheat from the chaff” of what’s of Him, and what’s not.
@TomMartinATL says:
Five minute Friday reminded me of a lyric in a song by Alexi Murdoch ironically called Breathe
Keep your head above water
But don’t forget to breathe
http://www.youtube.com/user/TomMartinATL#p/c/BA65166D83076473/26/TtaOyo3YaqI
As he says…..and something I know…..sometimes the struggle to stay above water, keeps us from doing even the most basic of things like……breathing!
… at that point i try to turn it all off, take a breather, and regroup…
and try humming “it is well, it is well, with my soul”…
Alece,
Thank you for this my far away friend. Praying for you today. And asking for this … the Lord has started to change my husband’s heart. He asked today if he could come WITH us to church Sunday night. And he’s started to talk about what he’s been hiding. I see the Lord at work here and am thankful that I’ve been able to slow down enough to pick up on the few changes. Your post is a reminder of that. Being aware enough and in tune enough to see those things. The same things that would have been lost in the busy-ness of learning how to be on my own would have made me miss the potential opportunity to see this restored. Thank you also for your posts this week about forgiveness, especially with the other woman. I felt like I had reached forgiveness a long time ago, but what a good reminder … as last night I was blessed with the opportunity to speak those exact words to my husband: I forgive you. Praising the Lord this morning for HE IS GOOD and faithful. And He answers prayers, sometimes in the way we least expect though it is still what we most desire. I am praying for you.
My tattoo is a nice reminder to stop every so often and let my body do its most basic task, that without my voluntary effort, the body does without my permission anyway.
Amen to that, Alece. To me, that is the essence of grace: to be loved and embraced always, no matter whether we’ve “performed well” or not, to know that we are accepted and desired by God even if the Google Reader count has gotten higher than we’ve ever seen it before and the “blog posts to be written” count has zoomed so high it gives us a headache and stomachache.
You are loved. Exactly as you are.
PS: It was so great to meet you in person at the Storyville roasting studio on Bainbridge last month! I can’t believe I got to hug the lovely Alece in person! Count this my first official comment on the Grit (finally!).
xoxo, Christianne
“if the devil can’t make you bad, he’ll make you busy.” i remember hearing that as a college student and knowing i should probably grab hold of it. and i’m guessing it’s not all that rare that busy then leads to bad.
this is my first time on your blog (though i’ll be back, i’m sure) so i don’t know the answer to this question, but… are you a runner? because when you’re running, you can’t get to those to-do lists and post-its on your desk, and you’re kind of just forced to breathe. i think that’s how i get those moments you desire. i suppose it’s still doing, but it seems to me a different kind…
@gritandglory says:
i’m not a runner… mainly due to some health issues i have. AND laziness. ;)
i need to find me a running-esque “escape”…
yeah, you need something that’s mundane to some extent. maybe good views, but the same thing over and over — so that you don’t have to think too hard. and there needs to be some kind of feeling of accomplishment at the end. and it needs to let you breathe, and relax at the same time. probably something with a rhythm is good.
i am wondering about sewing or crocheting or the like. older men where i come from would whittle on a piece of wood. we’ll think of something…
Exactly. Breathe … and enjoy the amazing person that is you. Love you!
@tamhodge says:
oh my sweet friend…i think youve got it.
just be.