What is consuming us?
To find our inner selves or to not find our inner selves?
This is a response to Exploring a Quarter-life crisis in your 20s.
This can be a bit confusing if one of life’s questions “Who am I?” is brought up. Is there true happiness in embarking on a journey to find out, and if so, what are the guidelines in doing so?
Maybe.
Setting aside “me” time can be a good thing for self-reflection, meditation, praying, or simply to enjoy some quiet time. Too much alone time can also be a bad thing. According to the National Institute of Health, studies have shown there are higher risks for health problems such as: heart disease, depression and cognitive decline when someone is lonely and socially isolated.
It’d be a fair statement to suggest most of the population is aware of this. There are many wonderful books, articles, and groups encouraging people to focus on themselves to find happiness such as: setting aside “me” time, setting time aside for self-reflection, setting time aside to work on personal hygiene or sleep hygiene (which yes these two are very important and should already be a normal part of our lives) and many other suggestions that involve us setting this time aside to “work” on ourselves so to speak.
Could we possibly be missing the point by focusing too much on setting time aside for us? In today’s world there is the argument that people are very busy with work, school, marriage, relationships, children, social outings, etc. So, setting time for yourself is definitely healthy. This is true. So, we are encouraged to not forget ourselves in this wonderful life.
What if the idea of trying to set time aside for ourselves is something that ends up consuming us? After all, some people on social media seem to have it together by managing work, home, children, hobbies and life balance...and making it seem easy. Well, if that’s the case then perhaps comparisons are to blame.
If then we are consumed with these ideas...why not allow ourselves to be consumed with love, gratitude, and hope? Love the people whom we do have in our lives. Be hopeful always in good things; for ourselves yes, but especially for others. And be grateful for the things we do have, the people we are able to interact with, marriage, mistakes we are learning from, the opportunities we are given every day by the good Lord to do something different and good in this world.
From the BCBS 2018 Report "Major Depression: The Impact on Overall Health."
