Press Pause

Tiredness, the scourge of the modern world.  We seem to be constantly busy and constantly tired.  There is too much to see and do and experience and it is eating up all our time.  I watched a movie recently called The Bookshop and it made me think about how people spend their time.  The film was set in the late 50s so there was no television, computers, internet or mobile phones.  If people wanted to communicate beyond face to face interaction, they wrote a letter.  If they wanted to pass the time of an afternoon they went for a walk or read a book.  They had the same 24 hour days that we have now but they spent them doing things that now seem difficult to achieve.  

When was the last time you spent a quiet afternoon reading?  Yes, yes I know, work, children etc.  I mean the last time you had the option of what to do with that most precious of things, a free hour or two, what did you choose?  Did you use the opportunity to get stuff done or did you choose to switch off and slow down?  

Too often my choices involve to do lists and random scrolling.  I have been trying to reduce my social media time to concentrated bursts.  The thought of turning off my notifications seems like a huge step yet I manage to survive on days where I am busy doing other stuff and don't have time to look at my phone.  I quite like when Instagram tells me "you're all caught up".  It's like it gives me permission to stop mindlessly scrolling.  

There is an unspoken pressure to always be making the most of your day, using up those random little pockets of time - waiting to go into the dentist, or in the supermarket queue.  It's hard to resist the temptation to have a quick look at my phone when there always seem to be a little light telling me there is something to see.  

But always being on and up to date doesn't leave any time for just sitting, just looking out the window, just stopping for a minute or two to catch your breath.  Maybe that's why we're tired all the time.  We work ourselves into a frenzy using every available minute yet somehow we're surprised when we can't wind down at night and get a restful night's sleep.  If Instagram can convince me to stop scrolling, why can't I give myself permission to just stop and pause for 5 minutes?