The New Normal: A Culture Of Half-Asses

We are over committed. The expectations are at times overwhelming; work, chores, bills, taxes, house work, yard work, church responsibilities, club and organization meetings, kid activities, school activities, spouse/partner support, car maintenance, exercise routines, cooking, shopping - the list seems endless. The new normal expects us to succeed at everything. The new normal requires us to multi-task and forces us to burn the candle at both ends.

It may appear that we are holding things together; smart phone in one hand, the phone is ringing, text coming in, email coming in - tablet in the other, trying to add an item to the task list all while rushing to an appointment. Recent studies in neuroscience reveal that we are not holding it together at all. In fact, the new normal is wearing us down emotionally and even intellectually. We are actually starting to dumb down as a species. Multi-tasking is making us stupid. Because we have so much on our plate, none of it is done well. There's nothing we do with all our heart, mind, and strength. We're not invested. We've become a culture of half-asses. Thomas Aquinas, in the Middle Ages, called this the sin of Acedia. He defines Acedia as "sloth" or "slow love". He described Acedia as, "not having the desire to try new things". He goes on to say that the result of Acedia is boredom, loneliness, restlessness, a lack of curiosity, ingratitude, and sadness.

It seems to me, that we need to somehow break free of the cultural expectations of the new normal. We need to free ourselves from some of our obligations. We need to learn to say no. We need to stop the multi-tasking. We need to strive for quality not quantity. The spirituality of Jesus is about loving with ALL your heart and soul, with ALL your mind, and with ALL your strength and might - not Acedia or "slow love".

I encourage you to break free today! Clean some things off your task list and make some space for a new paradigm. Today, climb out of Acedia and fully invest in something with all you've got. Today, give something your all. If you're gonna laugh - laugh with all you've got. If you're gonna make love - put the remote down, turn the TV off, and rock your partner's world. If you're gonna cook - make it a feast. If you're gonna play - play hard. If you're gonna love - love with all your heart. It's time for us to get the other half of our ass back.