Hidden Time
More time is not the answer for our busy lives.
What if I told you that have enough time in the day to do all you need to do?
We do. We just don’t often make time for it.
The average American spends 5.4 hours on their phone daily. It takes Americans an average of 24 minutes to actually get out of bed and start the day — after two alarms and hitting snooze twice. Netflix admitted the average user watched around two hours a day.
Add all that up and that’s almost 8 hours of the day. I call that hidden time. It’s time we don’t think we have because it’s covered by the seemingly urgent and meaningless tasks of our busy lives.
I think many people, myself included, live under the lie that if we had more time, we would finally live the life we desire.
I’m learning to unwork that lie day by day. It changes our lives when we recognize we are not enslaved to time or waiting to be less busy. We have time.
If you time-traveled back to my high school years, you’d see a tired Lisa, praised by others for her loving heart that stayed up til 2 AM making cookies for the choir party she was in charge of, buying candy to hand out to the whole school, and individualized valentines for her close friends. All the while she was waking up at 5 AM to figure skate in the morning, finishing her history homework, spending 2-3 at speech club after class, and meeting 2 friends for coffee of the 20 more that requested it of her.
I always felt like I didn’t have enough time and was waiting for life to be less busy.
Thanks to authors like John Mark Comer and Adam Grant, our society is starting to pick up on the need to stop praising busyness. While we are learning to value rest, we aren’t seeing it as essential. We don’t necessarily think busyness could be the very thing sucking the life out of our faith. We work harder, do more, and sleep less to get all of it done, never believing there is an option to do anything else. While there are some seasons that are busier than others, in every season, we have choices.
I remember in college I was very overwhelmed by my 10-hour-a-week job amidst 16 credits. I know that’s nothing compared to my friends with a full-time job and 18 credits, but for me and my lifestyle, it was a lot.
Then, there was a moment. I realized I wasn’t powerless. I could ask for more time off. If they said no, I could get a different job. Yes I wanted to travel that summer and yes, I wanted to have money, but to me, keeping my soul alive was worth way more. So I took fewer hours, and I trusted God would make a way. Two months later I got an email saying I received a $2,000 scholarship. Then, another came in saying that I got $5,000. I went to Peru and Bolivia that summer and the rest went to my tuition.
I know that not everyone had the financial support I did. I’m not a single mom or a student paying my way through school. Regardless, I believe there are always options.
Do you really have to take 18 credits? No, you don’t. Do you have to work overtime? No. Of course, maybe you’ve decided on a budget that requires it, but no one is holding a knife to your throat.
