Creating Margins

Highlighted by a professor of one of my classes:

A number of years ago, Dr. Richard Swenson, a medical doctor, wrote a book about the necessity of margins in life. A more recent book builds on his previous work. God is the creator of each of us, and part of our humanity is that we have limits.

“Life in modern-day America is essentially devoid of time and space. Not the Star Trek kind. The sanity kind. . . . People are breaking the speed limit of life.

Everything had become a burden . . . We were not involved in anything that was bad—nothing unsuccessful, nothing selfish, nothing evil. We were meeting needs everywhere we turned . . Yet life was obviously out of control. . . If we had such a perfect life, why did we live so far from Utopia? . . .

Carefully, and even forcefully, Linda and I carved out margin in four areas: emotional energy, physical energy, time, and finances. As we did, ninety percent of our pain disappeared. Life came alive again. My passion for medicine returned in full force.

We remain busy, to be sure. But we are no longer chronically overloaded. We still serve, teach, and help with a full investment of passion and enthusiasm. But always within the context of limits.” [Swenson, R.A. (1998). The Overload Syndrome: Learning to Live Within Your Limits. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, pp. 11, 12, 14]