I Made A Decision!

This morning I made a decision. Actually, I made 2 decisions.
Now, I guess there’s nothing in that sentence that is outright life-shattering right? I mean we make decisions every day, don’t we?

What will I have for breakfast?
Will I make the bed or not (actually for me that not a choice, I can’t function if my bed is not made!)
Will I or won’t I have my quiet time with God?
What will I cook for dinner?
How many pieces of chocolate will I have at 4pm?

If you are any kind of grown up, you will make an average of 35,000 decisions every day (kids only have to make 3000 decisions a day…..no wonder I often wish I didn’t have to adult!) But that is a lot of decisions people, no wonder we are often so tired!

But this morning’s decisions were different.
As I sat on the couch with my smoothie after everyone had left the house, I was having some quiet time and just steering out the window. Sitting there steering, daydreaming and listening to worship music, I was contemplating the last couple of weeks.

Coming back from the States is always hard for me, the longing to be back there is something I can’t explain and something I have learnt to accept happens every time. As I sat and thought about all that is going on around me, I felt that dreaded familiar feeling rising up within me. I purposefully tried to slow my breathing down, but I found myself going to my default mode…….BUSY! I don’t have time to sit here….I am so busy!

Busy looking after my family.
Busy looking after other people.
Busy with Church work.
Busy with cooking and cleaning.
Busy with life.
Just busy, busy, busy!

Busy is not a new concept for me. I wrote a while back about being so busy I didn’t even have time to wait for some fries (you can read that here) or questioned if I would even slow down for a million dollars (you can read that here)

But to be honest, I have grown to really dislike the word. Busy:
1. actively and attentively engaged in work or a pastime:
busy with her work.
2. not at leisure; otherwise engaged:
He couldn’t see any visitors because he was busy.
3. full of or characterised by activity:
a busy life.
4. officious; meddlesome; prying.

As I read the dictionary definition it made me dislike it all the more. There is nothing good in that word…..well not for me anyway. So I came to my first decision……I am removing the word busy from my vocabulary!

I will not use it anymore, in any sense of the word. It is gone, removed, taken away from my world. Now it doesn’t mean that just because it’s gone, I won’t have things to do, I am not that naive, but it does mean that I cannot and will not use it as an excuse anymore.

I had someone ask me the other day if I had a busy day and I went to say yes, but stopped myself and told them I had a full day but it was all good!

I know it is going to be a conscious effort but if I am going to change my world then it is going to take some conscious decisions to do that! And I know without a doubt breaking busy will also help me find my joy again!

So as I head off to a conference for the rest of the week, I am going to take a deep breath and enjoy it, not looking at all the things I could/should be doing instead, but enjoying the time away with my favourite Preacher Man and some uninterrupted time with God! (I am also taking my new book “Breaking Busy” by Alli Worthington)

As for my other decision, tune in next week to find out what that was……