Okay friends, today’s post is a day late! It’s been a busy week over here as I prepare to leave to go visit my son in Portland! For today’s Thoughtful Thursday post I recently came across this quote from the ancient stoic, Seneca. He said, “For the love of bustle is not industry, it is only the restlessness of a hunted mind.” I found this quote interesting and appropriate for those seeking to live an intentional life. It is a reminder that just because we stay busy, does not mean we are living a life of meaning or intention. We can stay busy for the sake of being busy yet not accomplish anything.

The video I shared in conjunction with this blog post was a “Day in the Life” type video. Doing these types of videos is quite interesting because it organically gives me an opportunity to evaluate what I am doing with my time. Granted, I don’t film every minute in these videos, but it does make you more aware of what you are doing. I would really like to do an audit of my time and see exactly where I am spending my time and what I may want to do differently. It’s easy to get sucked into busyness, but we must really evaluate what is essential. On the other hand, it can be easy to waste our free time scrolling or watching things that aren’t even beneficial for us.

A quote that I shared over on Instagram this week, from Jim Rohn reminds us that if we are not intentional with our time, we can get carried away by the urgent or sidetracked by unimportant things. The quote says, “Either you run the day, or the day runs you.” We must prioritize what is important. Assessing our goals and values can help guide us as we determine what our true priorities are in life.

One idea I keep being exposed to more recently is the importance of living in the real world – spending time with friends or family, getting outside, working with your hands, reading, or pursuing other hobbies, versus constantly being online. Creating boundaries with technology is so important, yet also very difficult so we must be aware of how easy it is to get sucked into scrolling or spending mindless hours on technology. There are studies that have proven the addictive qualities of social media, making it really important to set those boundaries.

I know I have shared this idea or something similar several times before, but it’s definitely an idea that I keep circling back to and pondering. None of us are going to be perfect. We will all struggle, waste time, and sometimes spend our time doing things we wish we wouldn’t have done. But the more we expose ourselves to these ideas of the importance of living intentionally, the more we will pursue it!