Living Life in the Fast and Anxious Lane
Living Life in the Fast and Anxious Lane
Life has been happening and going and blurring and making us anxious. The years seem to fly by and as we move through them we are evolving and growing. What we focus on in each stage varies. However, what I find now is that technology though marvelous and helpful comes at a price. Although it seems like we are more connected through social media, we also consequently have created an illusion because the reality is we now have an increased level of disconnection and isolation. Research has found that technology and social media use have been linked to an increase in depression, anxiety, and social isolation.
I don’t blame the technology but instead our lack of perspective and ability to pause. We dive in, enamored with the obvious benefits of this new toy, but we do not stop to consider the consequences or the price we pay. We are in a fast-paced life sprinkled with anxiety. Living fast. Doing it all now. Grinding and going and doing. Our health, mentally and physically, is paying the price and we are not even aware of it. So my focus then is to return to the basics. I find that I have been caught in living the fast industrialized life like a spider caught in a web (pun intended) and the more I try to get out of it by grinding to make more money the more entangled I become. More and more I have been feeling that life is too fast, too much, and too engrossing in things that lack meaning.
We have taken on a lot of stuff that is weighing us down spiritually, mentally, and physically. Spiritually, it seems to me, that we have let our egos and the need to be right move us further and further away from humanity and our shared collectiveness. We have forgotten that we are one. We are from the same creator, the same land. We are nature but our need to be right and be dictators with the use of religious dogma has a spiritual cost- isolation from each other and the divine. Mentally, we are overwhelmed, fatigued, and lost. So lost and caught up that we are not even fully aware of it. Physically we are prone to a sedentary lifestyle that weighs heavily on our physical well-being. With everything at our fingertips, life appears to be too easy, and yet it has blinded and separated some of us from truly living.
How do we give up the stuff that weighs us down? How do we manage it all? This will be the hill I die on: back to the basics. Back to assessing your values. What is important to you and what do you have to let go to get there? I have started paying attention to my busy work. I have started paying attention to my downtime. Am I really resting? Am I really enjoying the moment? I have started to let go of the guilt surrounding my need to be productive all of the time. I have started to acknowledge and appreciate my accomplishments. I have arrived. I have achieved. I am worthy of breath because I am alive. I have started to let go of feeling lazy and accept that it is okay to be tired and get the rest my body needs.
This is a work in progress. This is under construction. Practicing giving up the stuff is not going to be an overnight success. It is an ongoing endeavor. I am trying not to stress myself out about not stressing myself out. Ultimately, life is too short to be weighed down. Let the transformation begin.
Journal Prompt: What do you think is weighing you down? What small changes can you make to live a more light and lively life? Consider completing a stress assessment to further explore.
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