Many of us are drawn to extremes.
- We’re wired to want to explore the edges of things, test boundaries and push ourselves.
Of course, going to extremes can be good—at the right times, in the right amounts, and on occasion. But when it’s the norm, when it’s persistent, and when it’s the way of life, it’s hazardous practice. You’re playing with fire, even though prevailing culture tell us:
- Work longer hours
- Sleep less
- Spend more money
- Stretch to a better lifestyle
These messages, generally speaking, are harmful and destructive, and more specifically, we weren’t designed to live with extreme calendars, extreme finances, extreme approaches to work, extreme obsessions with physical health, or extreme hobbies and interests.
We were designed to live with margin.
You can think of margin as the amount of time, money, etc. that we hold back in order to maintain productivity, stability, and integrity. And margin applies to various areas of our lives:
- Calendar margin means reserving time for rest, solitude and the people who matter most.
- Financial margin means living within our means and even changing our lifestyles, if needed.
- Work margin means focusing on what we’re made to do and excluding things we aren’t.
Re-source: Restoration
Margin is a gift. While you may be persuaded to believe that there are valuable things to be gained in the extremes (such as status and comfort), you’ll find much more valuable things in the margin
- relationships, restoration, joy and peace, which are all vital inputs to healthy, productive lives.
And these are things that we must have sufficient amounts of if we’re going to positively impact others.
- We care for others by caring for ourselves.
- You know what they say, “You can’t pour from an empty cup.”
- If you’ve ever paid attention on an airplane, you’d know that you should always put your own oxygen mask on first before assisting others.
How can you build more margin into your life? What are the areas where you’re living on the extremes?
- Instead of trying to live up to the world’s standards, how can you better honor yourself and others?
- What’s one concrete, measurable change that you can make today?
craving and resource from ” Change That Up” – changethatup.com
