book club

I hope you’ll join me over at God-sized Dreams today for the next installment of the spring book club I’m leading on Breaking Busy.

Here’s a sneak preview of today:

“My worries were born out of my need to be in control, my desire to know what was next in my life, and a lack of gratitude for the grace he had already given me… Worry is different than anxiety. Anxiety is a deep sense of doom rooted in a fear that is often a lie from the Enemy. Anxiety cripples us and leaves us feeling incapable of escaping our situation. Worry, on the other hand, is our attempt to control the future.”  Breaking Busy, Chapter 5

We have to cut out the worry stopping us from doing what God is calling us to do (and not to do).

As many of you know, I write for God-sized Dreams and this spring I am leading the book club on Alli Worthington’s Breaking Busy!

I had the pleasure of serving on the launch team and reading this book over the holidays and gained so much insight for my busy life.

I would love for you all to follow along in the study – I’ll post links here every Thursday if you’d like to read the book with us.

Here’s a snippet from my discussion about Chapter 1…

Most of the time, I can’t envision what capacity is because I’m so far over it.  Alli quotes to a study on p.21 which found women, especially those ages 30 to 60, reported being busier than men and were sacrificing sleep, recreation, hobbies, friends, and families!  Yikes.

Because of the seasons in our lives (think care for kids, parents, or spouse, a new work assignment, a relocation, illness, etc.) we have to recognize we can’t always function at the same capacity.  Alli helps us identify when we may be firing well over capacity.  Some of the warning signs include:

• The inability to control your emotion: Have you ever snapped or burst into tears when the circumstances didn’t warrant it?  I’ve nearly fallen apart at a pass the ketchup simply because I couldn’t do one more thing.
• Lack of self care: Even those of us that know how to eat right and get enough rest can find all that slipping away when we’re munching on a bag of chips at midnight to meet that deadline.  We’ve got to take care of ourselves so we can continue to function effectively.
• Self medicating/excess: Boy did this one hit close to home.  In the busiest and most stressful of seasons, I reach for a cupcake or glass of wine instead of identifying the cause of my stress and restructuring.  This is dangerous if you don’t reset before it becomes unhealthy or an addiction.

Won’t you join me for the rest of the insight from Breaking Busy over at God-sized Dreams?