Are You Leading a High-Maintenance Life?

I love scuba diving. It's my favorite thing to do when I am away from work, because it relaxes and invigorates me at the same time. It centers me and it opens up my world in new and exciting ways.

But of course it's not just a matter of me jumping into the water whenever I have the opportunity and a bit of time. As an accredited diver, I have to be responsible for the condition and ongoing maintenance of my equipment. In fact, my life depends on it. Being a diver means accepting the responsibility for that maintenance.

The fact is just about everything of importance in our lives requires maintenance. It may not be immediate life and death stakes, like it is with scuba diving or skydiving equipment, but everything you accept responsibility for – your relationships, family and home – all require ongoing attention. And your attention is a finite resource.

In yesterday's article, “How to Live Longer Without Adding Years to Your Life”, I talked about how you can slow down and extend your life by opening yourself to new and more varied experiences. But that can only happen if you have created the flexibility in your life to embrace those opportunities.

There is a tendency among dentists – usually born problem-solvers – to want to say yes to everything that comes their way. I used to be guilty of that myself. But then I came to understand the wisdom of the simple truth that saying yes to something means saying no to something else.

We need to fully understand the maintenance implications of each new demand on our time. If we don't understand, opportunities to do new life-fulfilling things can get crowded out by the obligations that just seem to add up out of nowhere.

Don't let yourself be controlled by the never-ending details of a busy “high-maintenance” life. Delegate the “noise” and choose to focus your maintenance time on the things that really matter. In a way, your life depends on it.