What Are We Doing?

“What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.”

Tim Ferriss

Do you ever take the time to just sit back and observe your habits?

Well, I was about two weeks ago. I realized that I was spending a crazy amount of time on my phone, and I challenged myself to use my phone no longer than two hours. Then I realized I could do even better: one hour.

So, I met my goal…but I was still wasting time. Instead of going on my phone, I was watching Netflix, looking up whatever things I had forgotten to check on, and all sorts of things that would take up time that I should’ve spent doing other things.

The good news is that I did spend more time relaxing (without a screen) and doing my Bible study, but I still was wasting a lot of time. There is always going to be another way to do the thing you are trying to avoid.

I wasn’t even realizing what I was doing for about a week and a half, but a couple days ago I sat back and asked myself “what am I doing?”.

And that made me think. In the United States, we have so many opportunities. We have so many ways we can help each other, get to know new people, and try new things. But what are we doing?

More and more people are feeling anxious, lonely, inadequate. What are we doing that’s causing these problems?

In a country where we are generally known as being progressive and workaholics, the main prayer request I receive from my friends or the frequent complain that I hear is this: I really need to stop procrastinating! I’m not getting anything done.

Or, more personally, you may be letting yourself slip into a cycle or a mindset that you don’t want to be in.

A problem that I have is generally not admitting the truth to myself. I would (and still) say yes to things that I don’t want to do, and force myself to think that they will be fun just to please other people. I pretend like a relationship is fine when I know that it’s mostly one-sided. I forget who I am when someone else defines me.

You may have similar problems or something completely different. The important thing is to notice when you begin to slip into thinking negatively, listening to unwise council, spending hours not doing what you should be getting done, hanging onto a bad relationship. It’s hard to have difficult conversations with others, but having that difficult conversation with yourself? That’s the worst of it. You have to admit that you were wrong, or someone else you trusted was wrong. You have to change.

I think that our society needs to change. And I’m not going to just be that person criticizing the way things are and putting myself separate from that. I know that I have fallen into the same traps of overlooking people, letting what the world says influence my choices. I know that it takes a community, not just one person, to make the differences we wish to see in the world. But I also know that if every person did one intentional thing to become more productive, more loving, more informed…that would change everything.

Maybe if we all take just one step closer to becoming more of who we were created to be, we wouldn’t feel defensive when asked the simple question “what are we doing?” because you can answer in confidence. You can say, “I’m doing what it takes to love others…to change the world.”

So, what are you doing?

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Romans 12:2