As the leaves start to fall and the breeze turns cold, society seems to pick up the pace. As a college student, this is always a busy time of year, making holiday plans, keeping up with schoolwork, planning next semester and–oh don’t forget about finals. How do you find time to be still, and should you?

I think for anyone it is important to stop and take a moment to be by yourself and rejuvenate, even when it doesn’t seem possible. In today’s society, it seems popular to be very busy and looked down upon if you aren’t involved in enough clubs, volunteer groups, sports or extracurricular activities. Along with all the things going on in your life, you also have to keep up your social life and hang out with friends. All of those things are great, but I think there comes a point where it is time to take a step back and care for yourself by being still.

But how do you be still when society is forcing you to be busy? I think it takes time, discipline and the realization that you need to spend time for yourself. All throughout the Bible there are examples of God telling us to go off by ourselves to get away from all the noise and find time for just ourselves and Him.

The need to be still and find joy in the simple things in life has never been more necessary. People today, especially in the U.S. have been so caught up in what is next. Starting from school age when we are involved in as many sports as possible, to high school when we need to be involved in everything and have a good ACT or SAT score to get into college, then college where we are constantly trying to better ourselves to get a well-paying job once we graduate, the cycle is constant.

There needs to be more time for the simple things. The simple things such as making a pie with grandma, reading a book, hiking a mountain, playing cards with your parents or meeting friends for coffee, because in the end those are the important things in life.  Those are the things that matter.