The Lie You Told Yourself

You told yourself “Life will slow down once we get through the holidays” …then you realize you have been telling yourself that about pretty much everything for years now… “After this event things will slow down”, “Once I finish this project things will slow down”, “As soon as we get through this holiday things will slow down”…but life never really slows down, does it?

One of my big weaknesses in life is that I get so focused on wanting to complete things that I often forget to enjoy the process of doing things. When I have a task I want to accomplish I feel stressed out until I’ve completed it. It often sucks the joy out of the process.

The desire to finish things has been a positive in that it has pushed me to stay driven and accomplish much in my life. But the requirement to finish things before feeling happy has been a negative in that it has kept me from enjoying the journey as much as I should be.

It was just a week ago I told myself, “If I just get through the holidays things will slow down”…yet sitting here tonight I am realizing that life is never really going to slow down, so if I want to be happy I’ve got to change my way of thinking about things going forward. I’ve got to recognize that I’ve got to stop getting all stressing out until all the tasks are done because the reality is that all the tasks will never be done. I’ve got to remind myself that the journey is supposed to be enjoyable, not stressful, and if I’m failing to enjoy the journey then I’m failing overall…

“Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured.”  –Gordon B. Hinckley

No more lying to myself – life isn’t going to slow down. But what’s true is we can choose to be better at enjoying the journey.

~Amy Rees Anderson

3 Comments

  • Jane says:

    The truth is we have the most time we are ever going to have right now. Time only speeds up and we have less and less discretionary time. You are wise to get things done. Look what you have done to make a difference. But you’re right. You need to look for the joy because it won’t come find you.

  • Susan Collins says:

    An absolute truth!

  • Brad Agle says:

    I remember going into my fifth year as Bishop in Pittsburgh thinking “this could be my final year in this calling (which it turned out to be) and I’m going to really savor the experience.” I consciously savored every experience that year, even the difficult and sometimes gut-wrenching ones. There really is something to slowing down just enough to enjoy the journey, just as we hopefully slow down when we’re eating something really delicious in order to savor the moment!

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