There was one story which was covered this morning on the amount of time American's work verses the time we spend in 'play' or on vacation and how it is affecting our relationships. Where this was something of interest, I think it feeds into our current lifestyle. We are in this need to make more money, cost of living is going up. A lot of families are living beyond their means, which puts them into debt and adds stress. Often we don't have the ability to free ourselves from work so we can fully be present when we are home.
I didn't catch all of the story, but I was able to get most of it from the closed captioning.
Where I do believe we spend too much time at work. More often I am seeing people turning into workaholics to provide for their families or to be able to afford the "American Dream". Cost of living is increasing and it is getting harder and harder just to get by.
In Nashville alone cost of living has doubled and tripled in some areas of this town. Some individuals never learn how to turn off the cell phone, how to leave work at the door. This can cause distractions and cut into family time. Unfortunately, with work schedules and overloaded after school activities for kids, there doesn't seem to be family time like there once was in our households. What is this teaching the next generation? That it IS ok to stay at work until 6, not have dinner together at all and run around like crazy creating stress? For some reason, instead of saying 'no' to an over abundance of school activities and keeping the focus of family at home, people run themselves into the ground, go without sleep, miss ball games, miss deadlines, attend meetings and then find themselves overly medicated to cope. Wouldn't it make more sense to cut back on some of the extra curricular activities in our lives, our kids lives, at church and enjoy a meal around a table? This is something which has become so lost in our country.
Rockwell art displays life in the home. It appears wholesome because is was wholesome. It was a time when family was put first, not third.
It is quite disheartening to see the divorce rate in this country increase year after year. The reason behind it I'm sure varies, between rushing into something two people were not ready for, meant for, prepared for and quite possibly never gave 110% towards because all of life's distractions. (work, activities, etc) I think we also take advantage of others and forget to put the necessary time and effort into a marriage or a relationship.
Regardless, I hope you will step back and really think about your life and schedule. Where are your priorities? When was the last time you had a homemade meal at the dinner table in your house with the people you love? Impossible, you say? Why? Yes, it does take time and effort, but this is your life, your family, it deserves the time and importance to make it a priority. Find a way to slowly break free from the schedule of rush, rush, rush, fast food and the other unhealthy choices we make in life. I think if we changed our ways, changed our lives, changed our eating habits and priorities, we would find ourselves in a much healthier state than what we are currently.
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