Dieter F. Uctodorf’s address at the LDS General Conference last weekend was life changing for me. (If you’re interested, you can read, watch, or listen to the address.) It touched me to the very core. He talked about the balance of technology, social media, & real life & how in the end it’s the relationships, our families, & closest friends who matter most.
I have thought a lot about his words, the meaning & significance of them, & what matters most.
With these thoughts ruminating, & after I read this interview this morning, I just had to share with you what I’m feeling, because chances are, you have felt something similar.
I would love to spend my day reading & writing (like the woman in the interview). I also would love to have gotten 2 masters degrees & a PhD (maybe I’m more in love with idea, but I do love learning). Often I compare my work to the work of others who do not have children. That’s not right, & it’s not fair, to me or them.
I gladly, enthusiastically signed up for motherhood (4 times!) & as such, my life has to be different from other women who either 1) do not have children 2) have moved on to a different stage of life where their children are no longer home most of the time or 3) work outside the home.
I don’t have several degrees & I don’t have time a lot of time to spend developing my personal pursuits. But I do have four amazing children, who need me & I need them. They’ve opened up a world to me that in my childless days, had no idea existed.
I also realized after reading Sandra’s post yesterday about creativity, that time/energy constraints should be seen as a blessing not a curse (especially when she pointed out that the author of this beautiful daily blog only spends 20 minutes a day blogging!).
I also am reminded of a great posts by Alice Bradley that I read awhile back, You don’t have to be a writer, & realized that without life there is nothing to write about (& sitting around at home with nothing to do but write is no life at all). Without living, I’m talking life away from the computer or detached from the iphone, there’s nothing interesting to blog about.
Ashlee, a fellow blogger & reader (I’m pretty sure we’d be best friends if we lived in the same town), also talks about some of the same feelings & thoughts I’ve had (& shares another great quote from Uctdorf!) on her blog today.
So for me, as part of Pres. Uctdorf’s challenge, I’ve started only doing blog/computer stuff in the morning. I’m now getting proper sleep (going to bed around 9, so I can wake up at 5). I get up at 5, shower, dress, have time to work on my spiritual life (prayer/meditation/reading/journaling), then I have 2 or so hours to do what I need to do at the computer, until my kids are up & need me. Throughout the day have 5 or 10 minutes here & there to check email, twitter, fb, but beyond that, I don’t do anything else until the next day. Prior to this, I was just getting less sleep (going to bed at 1 or 2 in the morning!) so I could read everything I wanted to & stay on top of all my favorite blogs. But that’s not sustainable, it’s not realistic.
Pres. Uctdorf sums it up:
“In our day it is easy to merely pretend to spend time with others. With the click of a mouse, we can “connect” with thousands of “friends” without ever having to face a single one of them. Technology can be a wonderful thing, and it is very useful when we cannot be near our loved ones. My wife and I live far away from precious family members; we know how that is. However, I believe that we are not headed in the right direction, individually and as a society, when we connect with family or friends mostly by reposting humorous pictures, forwarding trivial things, or linking our loved ones to sites on the Internet. I suppose there is a place for this kind of activity, but how much time are we willing to spend on it? If we fail to give our best personal self and undivided time to those who are truly important to us, one day we will regret it.”
P.S. I’m really enjoying all the comments from Tuesday’s post about debt-free living & yesterday’s post on intuitive eating. Thank you, thank you for being so open & honest. I really do appreciate each & every word you share!
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Have you felt the pull of technology &/or work life take you away from what matters most? What do you do to make sure your priorities (family & friends) are not neglected? As always, I love hearing your thoughts.
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