How Positive Changes Can Easily Take Hold in Negative ways.

The cultural pendulum swings hard in one direction and then quickly reverses, changing everyone’s course. One minute we are to chase our dreams believing we can do anything, and the next, we are encouraged to slow down, to rest.

In the shift from one direction to another, we can label certain types of success or the hustle and hurry of our culture as bad and the pursuit of less or slow living as good. But perhaps it is not success, the hustle, and hurry nor less or slow living that is good or bad?

We know that there are consequences to our health, as well as emotional, mental, and spiritual impacts from living at the hurried pace most of us consider normal these days. Yet, we might not so easily recognize the potential consequences in our pursuit of a slower, more minimalist lifestyle.

While the pursuit of slower living and being content with less can be beautiful things (I am a huge fan of slow living, eliminating hurry and cozy minimalism), we can easily find ourselves having simply swung the pendulum from one form of pursuit to another. We can exchange the unachievable standard of achievement for an unattainable standard for perfection.

Without grace, love, and mercy,
chasing slowing living is still chasing,
elimination of hurry can find us living self-absorbed
and minimalism easily becomes just another standard of perfection.

Joy Marker

After my diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis, I found myself seeking out ways to control an uncontrollable disease. Oh, I did not label it as control; rather, I was attempting to seek ways to live well despite this disease. Perhaps if I were to live at a slower pace, eat the right things, do the right exercises, and have the correct mindset, I would be ok. And here’s the thing, none of those pursuits are bad. The danger was not in the changes themselves. The danger was in the swinging of my pendulum and the mindset that somehow, my actions would be enough to prevent the progression of this disease.

As it turns out, while my pursuit of healthy living at a slower pace helps me live better with MS, it can not itself prevent the continued progression of my illness.

After realizing that what I was doing was not enough, I found myself again staring at a pendulum. Watching as it gathered momentum to begin swinging thoughts back and forth, from a place of giving up to trying something else or simply trying harder.

The noise of current trends tells me that this particular diet will solve all my problems, this product is the solution, or perhaps I just need to reduce clutter or subtract expectations. And I find myself swinging, always swinging back and forth.

It seems the pendulum will swing hard until I begin to release the grip on my need to manipulate and control my life. The pendulum will swing until I find a way to silence the noise of culture and begin to ask my why’s.

Why is it important for me to live a less hurried life?
Why am I choosing to eat healthily and maintain a healthy lifestyle?
Why do I feel a need to declutter and simplify our home?
Why am I saying “yes” to this and “no” to that?

Without a true understanding of my why’s for change, I am easily drawn back into the motion of the swing of the pendulum.

Yet, as I begin to loosen my grip on control and performance, when I begin to reflect on my motivations and my heart, I find the pendulum slowing. The desire to eliminate hurry, declutter our home, to maintain a healthy lifestyle, these are not good or bad in and of themselves; they are just choices. Choices that I hope will be good and positively impact our lives.

Through my seasons of slowing the pace, of subtracting expectations, of compartmentalizing and tidying and decluttering and choosing, I have made every attempt to manipulate my life.

Erin Loechner, Chasing Slow

Even with good intentions, positive choices made without grace, and mercy, without love and patience for ourselves and others, can lead to a risk for good things to take hold of our lives in negative ways. But perhaps, in our ability to understand our why and loosen our grip on control and perfection, positive changes can, after all, leave a positive impact on our lives.

If you find yourself desiring to slow down, eliminate hurry or create a cozy minimalist home, but wish to do so without swinging the pendulum, these books are some of my favorite.