I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH
It’s reset time again. Another weekend. Whoooooo Hoooooo!!!! Ladies don’t we need it? As often as we can, ladies, we need to recharge and reset. We simply must replenish ourselves.
But I don’t have enough time!!!! Where am I going to find time to do that? I have sooooo much to do, when will I do that? Ha! That’s all well and good Sharon, but who will do this or that or the other (you name it), when I take “time out”.
I get it. Boy do I get it. We have responsibility. We have children and/or husbands depending on us, homes to maintain, work to complete and income to earn, service to give to our church and/or community, aging parents to care for, etc. etc. etc..
Our lists are long, our days are long, our nights are short, and our time? Well, let’s just say, WE DON’T HAVE ENOUGH!!!
Don’t we? Have enough time, that is. Don’t we have enough time? Twenty four hours each day. Hmmmmmmm. I wonder how many more hours we need? How many hours would be enough do you think?
Please share in the comments how many hours in a day would be ENOUGH for you.
See, I don’t know about you, but I just never have enough hours in my days.
You know things are really bad when your closest friends have to make appointments just to talk to you.
Well I’ve been talking to my coaching clients about ‘scarcity mentality’ and was reminded this week as I participated in a summit on ‘Getting Rid of Worry, Fear and Anxiety’, that it does not only apply to one’s mindset about money and possessions, but also about time.
We usually address scarcity mentality as it relates to NEVER feeling we can ever earn enough money. This means that even when we earn the money we don’t believe we can afford to spend it on the things we want - only what we absolutely need, and even so, we may have to sacrifice something we need now to ensure we always have for tomorrow. We worry about how to earn more and more and more money so we have enough. We worry about how to streeeeeeetch our money, so it will last, because we’re not sure we will ever or always have enough.
One definition of “scarcity mindset” is “when you are so obsessed with a lack of something — usually time or money — that you can't seem to focus on anything else, no matter how hard you try.”
For years I would get going as soon as my feet touched the ground, and never stopped doing until I lay my head on my pillow after 10:00 p.m. most nights. Even when my body stopped moving, my mind would still be going, planning something or ruminating on a solution to some problem or the other until I drifted off to sleep.
No wonder I would eventually suffer from panic anxiety attacks. Little did I know there was such a thing as “time anxiety” based on a scarcity mentality.
Oh yes. I did subconsciously constantly feel that I did not have enough time to get everything I had to get done, and so I had to use as many of the hours and do more and more in my waking hours as possible……and even IMPOSSIBLE!!!
So how do we change a scarcity mentality?
The opposite of scarcity is abundance. Abundance mentality is that there is plenty for everyone. In John 10:10 Jesus tells us “The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows].
”The solution to having a scarcity mentality is to trust God. I have to trust that God is my source - NOT ME. When I believe that God would supply every single one of my needs according to His riches, then I know that I do NOT need to run around relentlessly striving and chasing after what I need. I don’t have to “make hay while the sun shines” ….. and even long after it is no longer shining because:
“God will give us what we need out of His unlimited riches” - Philippians 4:19
Lately, in the early mornings I would do my bible study upstairs in my gazebo. I’ve been noticing quite a number of birds of all kinds flying around or flitting from tree to tree with abandon, playing with or even playfully charging at each other, and loudly making every possible sound birds can make. They are a never-ending chorus of chirping, screeching, singing, chattering, squawking, cawing etc. I’m compelled to stop what I’m doing from time to time and do some birdwatching. It’s quite intriguing.
Why do I mention them now? Well, in Mathew 6:26-27 Jesus addressed the matter of scarcity mentality by asking us to observe the birds:
“Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
Then he gives the solution in verses 33 to 34:
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
It’s still a work in progress but today, I sit up in bed for a little while before I get going with my day. Before I do anything else, I spend quiet time talking and listening to God - praying, reading my bible, doing my CBS bible lessons, reading and listening to music or Youtube messages. Then, I take time to exercise and have a proper, protein-rich breakfast. I do what I want to get done in the house before I start work in my office, and I take frequent breaks during the day to stretch, talk with God and take my eyes off the screen and my mind off of work.
Well……. I get this right, many days LOL. When I forget and start to get anxious again, I just have to remind myself of the truth of Jesus’ words above.
How about you? Are you ready to drop the scarcity mentality? I love to hear from you, so please drop me a comment by clicking below. Can we make time for each other, my friend?
Your Weekend Reset tip
Spend some quiet time with God to learn His plans for you toward the building of His kingdom, and for His empowerment to live a life which is pleasing to Him and fulfilling to you.
Sharon Carruthers, the author of the ‘Weekend Reset’ blog is a child of God, wife, mother of 3, a Human Resource Management and Development Consultant, and owner of the firm, ‘Bold Consulting’. She is sharing from her own experiences for women who are holding back, or living on autopilot; who believe their identities are in others and, or in what they do; or who neglect themselves while sacrificially taking care of others. She hopes that together Christian women can embrace the future with the beautiful hope of transformation one step at a time.