BUSY OR NOT, YOU ARE VALUABLE

I visited the coziest little bookstore last week while on vacation. It's on Route 6 between Hawley and White Mills in Pennsylvania. Barbara's Books isn't spacious, but it's special. It had that old book smell, which I love. In the back of the store was a small antique shop, and the place even came complete with a friendly, leisure-loving cat. I never paid for a book while a live cat stretched out on the counter, but it added to the charm of the place.

As I searched the aisles of books for my latest treasure, I wondered which subject would be the biggest blessing to me. I don't read many books for entertainment. I want to get something out of a book, something I can learn that will enrich my life. When I spotted a book titled, "Finding More Time In Your Life," I gave it more than a second glance. Time management is something I've struggled with all my life.

While scanning the book's pages, one profound sentence captured my attention: "Have you ever experienced the pain of wanting to do something, knowing it is the best thing to do, and then falling short?" Oh yes! That's me. Almost every day I feel that pain. Then another sentence sealed the deal: "Many people feel that everyone else in the world is on top of their time and has everything focused, organized, and scheduled. This is not true."

Whenever I feel like a book is talking directly to me, I have to have it. Dru Scott Decker struck a nerve with just those two sentences. First she described exactly how I'm feeling and then she told me I'm not alone. Why wouldn't I want to read more?

I would guess that 9 out of 10 people have time management issues. No matter how busy I am, I always feel that I'm not doing enough. Where does that come from? I haven't finished the book yet, but I'm hoping to get some answers. What I have learned is that we can't do everything perfectly and putting such high standards on ourselves only sets us up for a load of guilt.

I remember saying in an earlier blog that everything we do should be done in excellence. Maybe I should rephrase that: We should put our best effort into almost everything we do. To do it all and do it all perfectly is hardly possible. And at times, we may need to settle for less than our best. Feeling guilty about less than perfect performance gets you nowhere.

I don't know when it happened, but somewhere along the way, busyness has become the standard people use to measure their worth as human beings. I'll close by quoting the book directly because I couldn't possibly say it any better: "Personal worth does not depend upon what you do. You have value as a human being regardless of your activities. The prestige or economic value of your work has no bearing on your worth or your right to human dignity."

Put that on a plaque and hang it. The world needs to know.