Sitting in church a few weeks ago, I sat and listened to my pastor's sermon on technology. Going into the sermon, I expected a lecture about how technology is bad and we need to get rid of technology. But as I sat and listen to him speak about the importance of technology, my ears perked up.
He went on talking about how technology is amazing because we have so much information at our fingertips and that technology has provided new ways of communicating and interaction that we have never seen before. Despite his talking points on how technology can be good, he mentioned that the downside of technology is that we can lose a sense of self and lose a chance for good, meaningful life experiences and interactions.
I left the church that day just thinking to myself, I have a solid social life, technology isn't impairing it in any way, I don't need to take a break from anything. But the idea of taking a break was knocking at the back of my mind and I just ignored it. After some other life stuff had happened, I finally decided to listen to the nagging voice in my head and I gave in.
After reflection, I decided to go one week without watching any tv-shows or movies. No Netflix. No Hulu. No pop'n in a movie. No going to the movies. For one week. Should be easy, right?
The first day was weird. I got back from class and my usual routine is to crawl into my bed and watch an episode, or five, or whatever show I needed to catch up on. I walked into my room and did not know what to do - my routine was off! I sat and worked on my planner for the week and took at a look at what areas in my day so I sit in front of a tv or laptop to watch something? I then started scheduling out that time to be filled with friends, to work a little bit more on homework, or to read my Bible.
When I planned my time to hang with friends, I realized how many personal relationships I was missing out on pouring into because my normal routine was occupied by excessive leisure time. I found myself actually being fulfilled when I scheduled out my time around those I usually do not get to see every single day.
When it came to school, I realized how much more productive I was when I could not tell myself, "oh, if you finish this one paragraph, you can treat yourself to this, this, and this show after." Not having that reward, and by reward, I mean distraction, of watching a movie or tv show actually made me work on my assignments more and put more effort and care into them. Not that I wasn't a successful student beforehand, but I realized how less stressed I was for exams, how less pressed for time I felt that I did not have and so on.
When it came to reading my Bible, I realized how much I have been missing out in spending time with the Lord. He is our peace, our shelter, our comforter, our protector, and I realized in this time how much I had been putting Him to the side. What are the things most college students need? Rest, comfort and encouragement. He provides all these things for us, yet in this time we often push Him to the side cause we are so caught up in being successful in classes, having a great social life, making sure we are not missing out on anything and sleeping.
But all of our successes, relationships, and life adventures come from Him. Without His grace and blessings, we would be nothing.
During this week of fasting, I realized time is important. How you spend your time actually matters. You cannot realize how much one thing takes up so much of your time until you tell yourself "no." Before this, I thought how I spent my time by allowing myself to rest, was actually impeding on a lot of areas in my life.
There is nothing wrong with watching tv or going to movies. There is something wrong when one thing takes up so much of your time, you are depriving yourself of more meaningful things in life. The Pearson's will still be there, Meredith Gray will still be a mess, Michael Scott will still be making that's what she said jokes, but life moments come and go and if you miss out on the important stuff, Jack Pearson, Meredith Gray, and Michael Scott are not there fulfill your life.
Where do you need to tell yourself "no"?
