Finding a balance in life is hard. It seems we never have enough time anymore and always have too many things to do. When someone calls and asks how I’m doing, my standard reply is usually, “Very busy!” We’re always so busy, busy, busy. Where does the time go? Why do I have so much to do? I suppose that the transition period before moving to Korea exaggerates the amount of work we have to do–moving from an old life to a new life while trying to live day to day. I keep hoping though that life will be different once we arrive in Seoul and settle in, but who knows. I may just be someone who thrives on multi-tasking. I can’t live without that trusty personal digital assistant (PDA) to help manage my schedule. If something doesn’t get done today, I can always move the deadline out to tomorrow or later.
Sometimes I get nostalgic thinking about the way life used to be. Life used to be simpler, no doubt about it. I read somewhere that Americans today work about 80 more hours per year now than they did in the early 1970’s. In fact, according to the International Labour Organization, Americans work more hours than workers in any other industrialized nation. It leaves us with a lot less time to do other things outside of work. Another factor is choice. We now have so many choices to make, far more than we ever had. It makes life utterly more complicated. Take the media, for example. In the 1970’s our media choices included ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, and the local newspaper. With the advent of cable and the Internet, however, our choices have multiplied infinitely. Life has become too cluttered.
Do I advocate going back to a simpler time? No, but I want to simplify my life and strike a better balance. I want to spend more time with my family and less with a language learning book, more time developing spiritually and less time micro-managing the day to day, and spend more time doing activities and less time in front of a computer. Can I do it? Time will tell.
Royalty-free image courtesy of Storyblocks.
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