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Shuffling through the Rush Factor

Have you ever thought of a sentence that sums up your existence at one go? I didn't till I stepped into another one of our interesting team meetings.

Shambhawi, one of my colleagues quoted a few lines from Cecilia Ahern's latest book Thanks for the Memories. stating,"Rushing, rushing, rushing. We are always rushing. Never have enough time here, always trying to make our way there. Need to have left here five minutes ago, need to be there now "

The funny thing, or maybe the serious thing, is that all of us could identify with that concept of rush as something that dominates our lives. One colleague said that sentence sums up his daily life. Another person stated that it pertains to all our lives. See what I mean?

Talk about relaxing and I remember an old treehouse in Malawi, where I grew up. I had a friend called Sophie. She was the prettiest girl in our class, so I was always in awe of her. Beauty isn't dished out by God to all and sundry as I very well know. She had it all, beauty, brains, finesse, manners, sweet nature, soft voice, it was just too good to be true.

The kids in our class used to be invited for summer holidays to her home. Her folks were very rich and she was the only daughter. She used to serve us tasty snacks and ice cold lemonade. It felt so good to just kick off our shoes, sit in Sophie's tree house that her parents had built for her and just feel the sun, the breeze and the trees all around.

Looking back now, what I love is that it had none of those annoying interruptions that clutter our lives today - cell phones, telephones, pagers, TV, all that crap that we believe we can't exist without now.

Most of the time we don't realize that when we step away from the ceaseless emails and technological gadgets for a while, there is so much peace inside. I am not suggesting that technology has brought forth the miseries and tensions of our life but the truth is that life and relationships were so much simpler and easier then.

What it really comes down to is priorities and finding balance. For example, I love Twitter. It is my personal wealth of writing resources and information and even inspiration but the frequent, minute-to-minute status updates, makes me pause just a little to wonder and ask myself, “When do they write?” or “How do they manage to get all their other chores done?”

I am not sure I have that ability to balance so many things at one go. This summer vacation, I’m going to find time for the people I love like crazy and limit my computer time a little. I don't plan to push aside my beautiful moments or shuffle around with my happiness. With any luck, the months ahead will put me closer to my endeavors to find balance and perspective.

Comments

Rush said…
goodgoing girl..nice planning!!

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