I was thinking with the addition of the internet and cell phones in our lives, we've become much more busy and it can feel like we've been given an extra job on top of our regular work, and our personal lives.
Many of us carry around a powerful personal computer in our pockets all day which is like a miniature office that makes us have to answer calls, texts and emails in the midst of all our activities. Most of us also have a computer at home, which is often the center of attention and activity, replacing television and often communication between people in the room.
My client yesterday said she felt so exhausted because she wasn't able to keep up with all of the emails she felt she had to answer. Plus while we were working together, her cell phone rang about fifteen times, and she got innumerable texts. Every time someone was trying to reach her while we worked, she seemed to sink that much lower to the ground with tiredness.
She wanted to know what she could do to keep up with it all.
I said that she couldn't keep up with it all. And that's okay. It's normal. It's healthy to say that it's too much. It's only a problem when we think we should be able to keep up. It becomes clutter when it impedes on us.
The cell phone and email and texts and the internet are an option, not something we have to do.
It's okay to sometimes leave the cell phone at home. Or leave email unanswered for a while. Or ask to be unsubscribed to newsletters. Or go for a walk instead of trying to keep up with newsites, blogs, or friends updates on facebook. The gauge to go by is when we start to feel ragged. When we exhaust ourselves to "keep up" we do ourselves a disservice.