Swenson Richard A - The overload syndrome : learning to live within your limits

"Dick Swenson has a way of surfacing issues we know we should face but would rather avoid. Our pace and style of life have become insane, and his is a needed plea for sanity. If you have time to read this book, you will benefit from it immensely. If you don't have time-then you really need to read this book"

JOHN ORTBERG, Ph.D., teaching pastor, Willow Creek Community Church

"Dick Swenson has done a masterful job of identifying why we all feel overloaded and stressed out. He gives practical and useful suggestions for daily living that helped me resist overload and renew my enjoyment of life."

PAUL BORTHWICK, author of 101 Ways to Simplify Your Life

RI(MARD A. SWNS*N, M.D.

The Navigators is an international Christian organization. Our mission is to reach, disciple, and equip people to know Christ and to make Him known through successive generations. We envision multitudes of diverse people in the United States and every other nation who have a passionate love for Christ, live a lifestyle of sharing Christ's love, and multiply spiritual laborers among those without Christ. NavPress is the publishing ministry of The Navigators. NavPress publications help believers learn biblical truth and apply what they learn to their lives and ministries. Our mission is to stimulate spiritual formation among our readers.

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PART ONE

Defining and Understanding Overload

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PART Two

Relieving Contemporary Overloads

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To my wife, Linda, and
to our children, Adam and Matt

Daily, you make it all worthwhile.

Although much of my study and writing is done in "solitary confinement," scores of people rightfully deserve credit for significant contributions.

Don Steffen provided timely advice and a providential gamesaving tackle. Don Simpson continues to inspire with his nobility. Bill and Gail Thedinga contributed helpful materials. The staff at several libraries-most prominently Dennis Olson and Lelah Lugo-lent valuable assistance. Ruth Swenson and Genevieve Wilson sent resources that fit perfectly into the text. Wilbur and Dan Hutchinson generously provided tapes.

The Bochmans, through their Hospitality House, provided a temporary sanctuary for in-depth work. Darlene Bochman once again demonstrated secretarial skills unsurpassed on this planetthe only person I have ever met who can finish transcribing before I finish dictating.

The NavPress staff has been gracious in encouragement, guidance, and resources. Terri Hibbard was patient and thorough in her editing, leaving the book better for her unflagging efforts.

My wife, Linda, helped more than I can recount. It would require another chapter to catalog her many contributions, including copy-editing, reading and research, handling administrative details and running errands, phoning and E-mailing, and so on, to say nothing of her nonstop affirmation. Adam and Matt contributed with their patience, and, of course, by simply being our children.

Jack and Diana Stimmel, Remy Diederich, Joanne Natwick, Joan Mecusker, Hector Cruz, Caroline Miller, Marcia Borgie, Warren and Karen Swenson, Becky Folkestad, Opal Harstad, Aggie and Tonya Wagner, as well as many other family and friends -all have contributed through both prayer and practical help along the way.

To each, please accept my heartfelt gratitude.

Life in modem-day America is essentially devoid of time and space. Not the Star Trek kind. The sanity kind. The time and space that once existed in the lives of people who regularly lingered after dinner, helped the kids with homework, visited with the neighbors, sat on the lawn swing, went for long walks, dug in the garden, and always had a full night's sleep.

People are exhausted. Like the mother of four from LaGrange, Illinois, who said: "I'm so tired, my idea of a vacation is a trip to the dentist. I just can't wait to sit in that chair and relax."

People are stressed. Like the neurosurgeon who quit medicine to open a bagel shop. People are breaking the speed limit of life. Like the man who confessed: "I feel like a minnow in a flash flood."

People are overloaded. Like ... me. Or at least I was. But that is the story of this book. If overload is sitting on our collective chests and blowing smoke in our faces, what can we do about it? Where is the pause button for the world?

We need more time. We need more space. We need more reserves. We need more buffer. We need, in short, more margin.

A FLAWED FORMULA FOR THE PERFECT LIFE

There was a point in my life when, of necessity, I decided to investigate a more margined way of living. Everything seemed out of control. I remember one day in particular-a Tuesday in 1982. 1 was finishing an evening meeting across town and beginning a migraine at the same time. Meanwhile back home, my wife, Linda, went for a late evening walk. Along the dark street, her crying could be in private.

My headache and Linda's crying were both manifestations of the same illness: overload. We were not only working, we were overworking. We were not only committed, we were overcommitted. We were not only conscientious, we were overly conscientious. We were not only tired, we were exhausted.