What's the hurry? (Part 2)

A friend of mine had a plan. He wanted to meet with a friend for coffee, then help someone with a project and teach scripture. It's pretty admirable, right. The only problem is the timeframe:

8am- Meet for a coffee in Chatswood
9:30am- Help out friend in a work project at Town Hall
10:30am- Teach Scripture in Lindfield

Just in case you were unsure, he was constantly late.

We admire him for trying, although it meant that everyone had to organise their schedules around him.
Why did he have to do all of this in one morning?
Why couldn't he choose against one option?

That's the second area I want to pick up- choice.
Some have said that a major First World Problem is FOMO:
FEAR OF MISSING OUT

The thought of people involved in a collective experience and I'm not there- is unthinkable.
The concern is that there would be a group photo placed on Facebook which doesn't include me!

In the past we heard about an event that we missed. That's sad, but we had no real concept of what the loss was on our part. Now we see photos and updates. You can immerse yourself through social media on an event you didn't participate in. And that's the difficulty: you're acutely aware of what happened.

Social media is our friend, but it's also causing anxiety, stress and, in extreme cases, depression
People who suffer FOMO sleep less and keep their phone close at hand. They are unreliable, feeling obliged to break commitments due to opportunity cost. They try to fit more into each day, hurrying from one place to another.

Is there a solution? Yes.
It's called choice.
When you choose one thing you automatically choose against another. That is the opportunity cost.
People hate this idea and believe it is somehow possible to have it all. When marginal success comes (like my friend above), it reinforces our commitment to choose EVERYTHING.

That's foolishness. Make a choice. Know that there will other events, activities and tweets that you won't participate in. When you have resigned yourself to this, enjoy the choice you have made.

Not only will it help you feel less stressed, but you will have more time. When you embrace choice (you determine what you will do), then you can say no and set up boundaries in your life. You don't need to hurry from one event to another. In fact, you can stop focussing on the next few minutes and decide what is important in life.

For Christians, they make a choice to follow Jesus as their Lord. They then choose to seek first the kingdom of God (which involves sacrifice). To go to Bible Study group means you will miss out. To drop around on someone who is going through a rough spot means you will miss out.

Our choice isn't to experience everything this world has to offer. Our choice is glorify God.
So slow down and make wise decisions.