Jess Ray’s latest album, Born Again, is a collection of phenomenal tracks that speaks to the hearts of lost, restless, and disillusioned. Needless to say, it spoke to me.
Her song “Wisdom from Heaven” has been sitting deep most recently:
Thanks for sharing what you're streaming
All the books that you've been reading
There is some good there, I won't deny it
Say I'm above it, then I'd be lying, but
My brain is broken, my soul is shaking
Under the weight of all this information
My heart is heavy, my spirit screaming
Head above water, oh how I need
Wisdom from heaven
Mmmm. I feel that. All this noise that surrounds me is overwhelming and keeps me from rest and peace. It’s been very overwhelming lately, and I’ve noticed I try to sedate the feelings of being overwhelmed with the same things that are causing it.
“I’m so stressed, I’m just gonna scroll on Threads for a bit.”
”I’m still stressed, I’m just going to watch some TV.”
This just means I haven’t dealt with the problem, and I’ve also now disconnected myself from reality (and my wife!).
I was listening to an episode about this song from Jess’ podcast, Born Again. Jess and her sister-in-law Nancy have a really insightful conversation about how they find rest with all the burdens and distractions that modern technology brings.
I really appreciated this conversation and their outlook, especially from two people who need to use social media to promote their businesses. It’s not like they can just turn it off. Their discussion is thoughtful, smart, and offers some great ideas on how to set good boundaries with technology.
The important thing, Nancy mentions, is setting boundaries, because having no boundaries doesn’t work at all.
Some ideas I’m going to try for myself:
- Having my phone charge downstairs while I sleep
- Using Instagram/social media only on certain days
- Turning off all notifications (I’ve already turned off all “badges”)
That last one will be interesting, especially with work. I might need to set a focus on my phone that, during work hours, allows certain emails and app notifications to come through. But outside of that, not having notifications for texts, emails, and everything else sounds heavenly. We’ll see how it goes!
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