Overcoming the Hamster-wheel Syndrome - with Dr Judy Bauer

EPIC CONQUERORS PODCAST:

Overcoming the Hamster-wheel Syndrome - Ep.2

Choose wisely. Choose life in Him

Ahh, the hamster wheel. I'm mesmerized by the little creatures endlessly running on their wheel as a never ending treadmill when I go into pet shops.

They seem to enjoy the exercise and jump off when they tire of it. I've noticed for us humans, we too, can easily find ourselves on the "hamster wheel" of life, an endless treadmill of activity going nowhere.

However, we don't seem to figure out how to get off that never-ending cycle of hyper activity.

Watching myself and others over the years it appears that there are several factors that determine our need to stay on "the wheel." I want to address only one of them in this blog. It becomes addictive. We may not enjoy it any longer but now we are addicted to the cycle of continuous chaos and activity. It has become our new normal. We unconsciously or consciously choose to remain irregardless of the detriment to our health, family life and spirituality.

Like an addict we return to our substance of choice to get the fix that we need to keep the belief alive that we are needed, valuable and cannot be replaced. We are important. When my dad passed away my world stopped. A death wail rose out of my innermost being as a guttural scream.

Life would never be the same for me. Then it hit me. In that split second, I realized a timeless truth. Our life is but a vapor. It is here today and gone tomorrow. The world carries on without even a blink irregardless of our presence in it. James 4:14 This truth became a huge "aha" moment in my life. The worldly system or machine that man has created to fill the inner
void to be needed, valued and wanted because we are important, after all, fuels us to crave endless pursuit of "xyz" fill in the blank. The importance of John's statement that he must decrease and Jesus must increase has taken on a whole new meaning for me. (John 3:30)

When my inner void is filled with Jesus I no longer crave or require the hamster wheel. Truth bomb: We can be born again and baptized in the Holy Spirit and not be filled with Jesus. "Filled with Jesus" means He has become my all in all. I am loved and valued. Therefore, the need to chase placebo's to be emotionally, spiritually and physically satisfied no longer exists.

As parents we strive to raise healthy kids so they don't fall into drugs, abusive relationships, etc. to give them a sense of belonging in life. We want them to be secure in our love so that the things the world offers will not lure them away into destructive patterns. Yet, often times we are saying one thing and modeling another. Kids watch us crave busyness, our moods determined by outside forces, our devices glued to us and our lives consumed with meeting endless demands and deadlines from our "work life." The message becomes loud and clear.

You say I am loved, cherished and invaluable and yet your time and attention are given to your jobs, devices and pursuits for more. Am I really your priority? Am I really invaluable as it feels like I'm easily replaced at a moment's notice or notification on your phone? Even when you are with me I can see you are distracted in your mind thinking of other things.

It often takes a wake up call to make the life altering decision to jump off the hamster wheel. The death of a loved one, a personal life altering health crisis or a moment of clarity to "see" that we're running our lives into the ground for nothing but more futile endless activity.

The issue now becomes what do we do to detox as the withdrawals can be hectic. Sometimes we can quit "cold turkey" but other times it will require interventions and help from others to face the inner pains that we've masked while using the hamster wheel to self-medicate.

Remedy strategy:

1. Run to Jesus. Repent of replacing Him with the hamster wheel.
2. Schedule times of quieting yourself in His presence. Keep that schedule as though your life depended on it, because it does.
3.  Schedule times with your friends and loved ones that you refuse
   to let others steal from you...and steal from them.
4. Schedule times of personal space to be good to you. A swim, a hobby, a slow walk in nature...leisurely spending time as though you didn't have a care in the world. You don't right? Because you cast ALL your cares upon Him. He's got this so you can enjoy just being...without doing.
5. Have a party attitude. James 1. Go out and celebrate God, you and your friendships and family relationships. Laugh. Put away your devices. Enjoy the moment. Once it's gone, it's gone. Create priceless memories laughing, looking at one another lovingly and embracing one another with hugs and heart-felt words.
6. Do acts of kindness, minister to someone, pray for those the Holy Spirit brings to mind. Purposeful times being a blessing to others shifts our minds and hearts away from being wrapped up in ourselves which feeds the destructive hamster wheel syndrome.
7. Spend time soaking in God's presence several times a day to reset your plumb line of priorities. He's Lord or He's not...you choose for you. As for me...He is my all in all and when I can't find time to be with Him that's my red flag...I've replaced Him with the hamster wheel.

To begin these new habit patterns of spending time with God I'll set the alarm on my phone. During that time frame nothing else matters. I surrender to Him alone to just be with Him. I might sing softly, pray in the spirit, read my Bible or be totally quiet and picture sitting with Him on a beach or in the mountains enjoying time together.

As EPIC Conquerors it's imperative that we recognize the trap of this world to keep us addicted to its ways rather than to God's way of living life fully alive in Him.

Choose wisely. Choose life in Him. Allow His presence to be more than enough to know you are loved, needed and valuable. Say, "Good-bye hamster wheel. You're a cheap substitute that I no longer crave. Jesus is my ride of choice."