Too Busy to Learn

In the mad rush that we call life, are we blind to the fact that we’re losing out rather than gaining ground?

 

How often do you write up your To Do list for the day only to realize that it’s a checklist that grows and grows. What if time management isn’t the key? What if getting it all done is, in reality the trap? Think about that for a minute. Do you EVER catch up?

PAUSE.

 

I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that if you don’t keep running, you’ll never catch up. If you never catch up you’ll never be able to relax.

Really?

When was the last time THAT happened?

Oh, right…that Sunday when you vegged out in front of the tv for 2 blissful hours of stress-free time thinking, “Man, I’m wasting my relaxation time with this!”

 

Poof.
And then it was gone.

It’s funny how life lessons come around again and again and again.

 

Schools are stuck on prepping for the testing. Yes, it’s testing season again. Have you noticed how cranky your kids are? The almighty test takes over most real learning these days. Like a hamster in a wheel, schools chase that never acquired, yet always coveted perfect score. Convincing the students to buy into it all never quite happens the way the adults idolize it either. It’s a false god and the kids know it.

Superficial, cram-it-in-your-face learning isn’t learning. The jig is up.

Homeschoolers are cramming in content on days like these too when the curriculum carries on towards the requisite days towards some arbitrary end goal. When kids’ attentions wander towards moments of freedom, they are reminded that “learning is not done”. Does learning ever end? Perhaps on the day of our death, but doesn’t it go on forever?

We need not force learning to make learning happen. It is and forever it will be.

 

What if they key is really to LET IT GO?

 

Yes, the dishes….in exchange for putting down the washrag, and the cell phone, and the mental checklist you’re going through just to actually listen to your child tell you about his day.

For love.

Yes, the ticking off of the boxes, the endless (I do mean, endless) paperwork to verify, measure, and document the “learning” that is happening.

For life.

Yes, the nagging. Teeth brushing, cleaning rooms, taking out the garbage. Will it not get done anyway?

For a pause.

Yes, putting down the remote and taking a seat outside to watch the birds, the squirrels, the trees.

For beauty.

 

The curious thing I’m finding while leaving behind my type-A personality is that what really needs to get done, gets done. Yes, the everlasting layer of dust will be ever-present in my home, but you know what? I got to watch a squirrel sun himself on the deck today and it was much more memorable.

Rushing through life may check off your boxes, but you’re missing the beauty and the magic.

There’s a whole life out there.

And you’re missing it.