Take forever texting friends and family back? Change the norm

You must be the worst person ever right? 

You feel like you take forever to reply and worry that they think you're avoiding them. That they'll think you don't care enough. Even though you actually really enjoy their company and appreciate having them in your life. 

Honestly, we just can't keep up with today's expectations of being available 24/7. You're not the only one. So let's start changing the norm.

We all need time to process things. Life is complicated and multi-faceted. If you can give your friends patience, they can give you some. 

We can all slow things down a bit.

Start by changing your pace. Slow down your response time. 

You can let them know your pace will be changing if you're comfortable with that, but repeated action says the same thing in the end.

I'm not as available as I once was on my reply times. People got used to it. They know to call me if it's urgent and leave a voicemail. It's okay to change your boundaries into better alignment.

You don't have to be available 24/7 or even be a fast or "normal" replier. You can be a slow one and that is an okay way to be. I bet some people even look up to it.

Just keep giving care how you want to give care. Don't feel forced to give it in a way that is unsustainable for you. Screw what's expected. It's too much anyway and we all know it. We've been burning each other out.

We can make the world more how we need it to be. Let's course correct from the over-connected era and take back our availability and power. 

Yes, you're allowed to. 

-

Abby Anderbard