Time to Make Sense of Everything

In all the hustle and bustle of life, we barely have time to sit down and just breathe. I think it is incredibly important to find time to reflect about everything that has happened so that we can make sense of it all and find our place, where we stand in the midst of things. We need time to review our lives and be reminded of where it is anchored in so that we would know the direction we are headed going forward.

I want to have time for reflection, to connect the dots, to make sense of everything that has happened and formulate conclusions or action points to do something about them. This would require me to somewhat get away from the world for a little bit and to stop thinking about work or other people. I have not had the time to do so because the list of things to do seems to keep stacking up and I would find a reason not to have some alone time. Though I understand that the concept of "alone time" can be done regardless of the amount of work that you have - I mean that is the reason why you get time alone, to detoxify or relieve yourself from the stress and to be refreshed and renewed so that you can have energy and vigor to face the world once again.

But with all that's going on in me, I can't seem to wrap my head around not busying myself with something. This must be the plague that afflicts the millennial generation - the thought that you have to be productive all the time so that your life could be worth something or could be useful to someone. What with all the technological advances making our lives faster  and more efficient, the thought of never-ending work becomes more and more embedded in the culture and faced with all the issues of sustainability, this is bound to become the mindset of newer generations and it has.

The ironic thing about this, I think, is that people are finding less fulfillment and joy in what they do. We become restless from always seeking to have something to do when in fact, you can just be for the moment and take in everything that happens around you. Time has become a commodity just as much as knowledge and skills so that you are able to do more or achieve more when before, people do things that they want to do not to gain anything in return for it but simply because they find joy in them. Silence and stillness are two concepts that are slowly going out of fashion nowadays and people might even be chastised, if not openly, subtly for taking time to ponder.

Last year, I tried to focus on productivity and efficiency as well by working myself off and just focusing on things that would contribute to progress of some sort or that have some statistical significance so basically I spent most of my time just studying. And I found myself getting very tired and restless halfway through. I lost the motivation to achieve the goals I set for that semester and I began on a slow descent that eventually lead to an almost complete meltdown from which I have not yet fully recovered. I refused to spend some alone time or to take a retreat from the busyness that I surrounded myself with and it upended and backfired on me.

There are many activities that we can do today. Each one has its own value even if you think they're not worth your time or that they're not helping you achieve your goals because things like rest and spending time simply appreciating the things around you and the things present in your life could make that much of a difference to the way you live and the way you view your circumstances. Balance is key in all of this which is very difficult to achieve to be honest when you have so many things you want to do in life that setting priorities becomes a chore in itself. We simply cannot multitask because doing one thing takes so much time and effort already that you would not have enough to do everything that you want. Even if you try, you will crash and burn without proper moderation.

As always, we know our limits. We know what we value in our lives and what we envision for ourselves. We set our priorities based on them and we make decisions that would move us forward in the direct we want to go. This isn't rocket science but it's no stroll in the park either. It needs to be thought out carefully and executed with perseverance. It needs serious introspection and dedication. And this is why we sit down to breathe and think.