“Avoiding evil and learning to do good: this is the rule of conversion.”
– Pope Francis
Inspired by the new year and a good retreat, I decided back in January to go cold turkey (again) on social media. I was surprised at how quickly I was able to stop scrolling until summer vacation came and I got bored. Then I got hooked, again. After a few weeks, I decided that the root of my challenge was idleness. When I wasn’t moving, I was scrolling. I decided I would make an “Idle List,” - a list of little tasks or activities that I could choose from instead of picking up the phone: weed the flower beds, sweep the patio, do laps in the airport, go through books that I never read and should donate. As I hoped, the dopamine came from my newfound productivity, and the screen time decreased. My brilliant plan only worked for about ten days. On the plus side, the patio never looked so clean.
As I lamented my repeated failure to my wife, she did the thing I dislike the most: she asked me a question for which I didn’t have the answer. She said, “I’m hearing you say you don’t want to scroll, and you have a whole list of things to do instead of scrolling. What do you actually want to be doing? Maybe if you start there, you’ll have better luck.” As I looked at my Idle List, there were a lot of “should do’s” and “gotta get around to’s,” but nothing that was really calling my name.
As I walked around the neighborhood (item #5) I began to make another list. I began thinking about where else in life and leadership I may need to reorient the source of my motivation. How might I be acting to avoid the bad versus pursuing the deepest good? Am I merely trading one distraction for another? Don’t get me wrong, strolling is better than scrolling for a lot of reasons, and it’s okay to rely on a little extrinsic motivation from time to time. However, if I am only living to avoid, am I really living? The Lord tells us He wants us to have “life and have it abundantly.”
As we make our daily examen this week in all aspects of our lives, let’s remember we aren’t trying to break habits and avoid sin only because it’s bad, but more importantly, because God made us to be so much more, and eternal life with Him is better than we can ever imagine.
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