However, after this week, my schedule should slow down. Note: if you want to learn to slow down DON'T OVERCOMMIT YOURSELF. It's like a death-sentence to your plan to slow down, because even if you want to, you can't. Granted, I enjoy all of my surplus commitments, but still, I don't recommend doing it because it is taxing. Like I have said previously, it's hard to enjoy them if I'm overcommitted.
Anyway, I did find time to do a little bit of reading, thankfully. I read Catching Fire and Mockingjay. Both were excellent, and left me feeling very empowered. Admittedly, part of my blogging time went to reading those books because I could not put them down.
If you're not familiar with the trilogy, it follows a teenage girl in a post-apocalyptic society through her fight to relieve her family, friends, and people from an oppressive communistic government. Most of her relief efforts are accidental - small acts of rebellion stemming from her independent, creative, open-minded personality, but the large takeaway from the series is not only the tragedy of war and oppressive government structures, but also that small acts based on passion and love can make a world of difference and liberate others. Small acts can be monumental.
As I am starting my career within the next 4 months, I am encouraged by this truth. Small actions have big consequences; I want to make sure that my small actions are motivated by love so that the big consequences can show love to others (even if I don't get to see the result).
Which brings me to a larger quesiton - what exactly is love, anyway?
It's not just a feeling. You can love someone without having butterflies in your stomach (in the romantic sense). Just because you do something unpopular doesn't mean you aren't acting in love, either. So goes the age-old question - "what is love?" (baby, don't hurt me, don't hurt me, no more.)
Subtle Nineties movie references aside, I have been thinking how to define love lately. Certainly, a definition cannot be nailed down, but I have come to understand that love is dying to oneself. It's serving others and putting their needs above your own. It doesn't take the easy way out.
My point, however confusing, is that Katniss from The Hunger Games embodies what it means to love others. The lesson I take away from the books is that if I do small things with great love (as Mother Theresa says to do), big things will happen in the world. It's encouraging to know that if I stick to that mandate for myself, no matter what my career, I will have a fruitful life.
