You know how it is in sporting events when things start to ramp up and the coach calls for a timeout? Maybe the players are on the verge of exhaustion or fights are breaking out or their strategy just isn’t working and everyone needs a minute. I feel like we could all use a timeout right about now.

Anybody with me in this? Sometimes it all feels like a lot. And we forget to breathe. We’re afraid to set our phones down or turn off the news because something might happen while we’re offline. We might miss out. 

But the truth is we weren’t made for this. Our brains and bodies aren’t wired for a constant stream of bad news. It’s only been in the last 15 years or so that we’ve had the technology – and felt the need – to be “connected” 24/7. Until now, all the previous generations focused primarily on what was going on in their little corner of the world. Their families, work, churches and community. It’s only been in my lifetime that we all had access to the 6:00 news (which I always found as a child to be scary but far removed from life as I knew it). 

Now we receive notifications throughout the day and night of distressing news headlines crafted to cause an emotional reaction. We check in with multiple social media sites throughout the day, simultaneously managing email accounts, texts and facebook messages. The news is no longer a 30-minute briefing at 6pm but a steady supply of trauma taking place around the world, along with a more than necessary influx of commentary and personal opinion. And it’s now becoming clear that the popular social media sites are tailoring the news we see in a way that stirs up divisiveness and hatred of “the other side”. We’re not all seeing the same news!

We need to get back to the heart of gratitude, which is the key to experiencing joy.

No wonder the generation that has grown up in this has the highest rates of anxiety, depression and mental health issues ever recorded and those numbers are on the rise. Teenagers and young adults are inundated with fears of mass shootings, terrorism, economic breakdown and political agendas, right alongside the nagging underlying sense their lives are not measuring up to the posts of friends who seem to have it all together.

I just read an article about pandemic fatigue. Even as the news reports alert us that numbers are rising at an alarming rate, most people are just tired of the social isolation and the masks and the change in life as we know it. Elderly people are saying things like “I would rather die of COVID than spend my remaining time isolated from my family”. 

This is not meant to be an attack against technology or social media or any sort of political statement. I’m grateful for the ways I’m able to stay in touch with friends and family around the globe. It allows me to follow some amazing non-profits and ministries and inspiring bloggers. We can take classes online and share art and music and use it for all sorts of good in the world.

And I’m certainly not advocating sticking our heads in the sand and living lives unaware and apathetic to the needs of the world around us. 

I’m just saying we sometimes need to take a timeout. To unplug and allow our minds and souls to regenerate. Sometimes we need to sit in silence, to just be. It’s in these moments of quiet reflection that we reconnect with our Creator and remember why we’re here, which is to know Him and to make Him known. 

We need to get back to the heart of gratitude, which is the key to experiencing joy. The constant influx of anxiety is robbing us of our peace and it was never meant to be this way. It’s like the analogy of the elevator that was designed with a 1500-pound limit, then 35 people crowd on and it stops working. The elevator wasn’t faulty; it simply wasn’t designed to carry the heavy load.

What better time than now to make some changes? As the calendar turns to November we can choose to enter into a season of thankfulness and celebration. Our God has not forgotten or abandoned us. I pray that this year, if nothing else, has awakened in us an appreciation of life and health and family and community. 

So if I don’t respond to a text or fb message right away, it’s not personal ☺. It’s a choice to be more present in the moment with the people in front of me.

Much love,

Jana