I had the pleasure of reading Breaking Busy this past week over Spring Break. This is a book to read! Alli Worthington is a great writer and I love her candor and straightforward nature. She is approachable through her writing and the book really reached me as an woman, mom, and Christ follower who is looking to “find peace and purpose in a world of crazy.”
In today’s crazy world (as the tag line suggests) we seriously need to “break our busy” habits and lifestyles. I received a digital copy from the publishers in exchange for my honest review. That said I found myself wishing I had a paper copy so I could highlight, underline, and easily go back to what I was learning! In fact I probably will pick up paper copy for myself. Yes it was that good.
The pro to having digital copies of the book though was that I had it in multiple locations and found myself able to read anywhere and all the time since I have a reader app on my telephone. I was never without my “book” because I’m never without my phone.
One of my favorite sections was about
“How to identify and fuel your passions.”
Worthington outlined six points in the section…
1. What activities of you loved since childhood?
2. Discover what you love.
3. What tugs at your heart.
4. If money were no object, what would you do for free?
5. What energizes you?
6. What is something everyone says you are good at?
Worthington includes awesome action steps at the end of each chapter. They are practical, helpful, and useful. I plan to use this book with the moms group I lead in our community. It will make facilitating a group discussion very simple. And I feel like it could hit home with a variety of women in different phases of life.
I also particularly liked the second section where Worthington discusses the natural edits in our life versus the proactive ones we can make ourselves An example of a natural edit is- you won’t be a professional singer if you can’t sing well. A proactive edit is something that you choose to cut out of your life in order to simplify.. She says that “how we respond to natural edits defines our future.” And references Psalms 139:15-16.
She says there are five ways to make proactive edits and again highlights some great scripture. You will have to read the book to get these specifics!
I found myself taking extensive notes and truly valued her insights on things like “how to overcome negative thoughts.” She directly addresses the things that make us literally busy as well as mentally and figuratively busy.
I was challenged to think about the things in my life that make me feel busy versus things that actually make me busy. Things like anxiety and worry in our thought life can make us feel busy even when the things around us are not actually busy. I just love walking away with some more practical ways to tackle these ideas in my day-to-day life.
She also had a wonderful section about tweaking traditions to fit our families and our stages of life. She gave five suggestions. “Follow Jesus first, drop-or don’t pick up-the traditions you don’t enjoy, find an easier way to keep the tradition, look for a win-win solution, and give yourself permission to disappoint.” See what I mean. Easy to read and understand and just as easy to try and apply in our daily lives. I like that kind of book!
I could go on and on, but the overall feeling I’m left with when reading this book is a feeling of empowerment. I feel like it is practical enough for me to put into place some of her ideas and they will genuinely help me “break the busy.” I also feel like my thinking was challenged and I found myself wanting to share what I was learning. To me that’s a great sign of a good book.
“Having limited capacity is not a flaw in my character. It is by glorious design and for an incredible purpose: to realize my need for Him.”
I received this book for free, in exchange for my honest review.
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