White Space

Do you allow for white space in your life?


This graphic design term is a great metaphor for how we choose to prioritize our days. To quote designer Keith Robertson of Logoorange.com:

White space is the absence of content. White space does not hold content in the way that a photograph or text holds meaning, and and yet it gives meaning through context, to both image and text. In fact, white space can make or break the effective transmission of image and text.

Ah, yes. We have a sweet oxymoron here. The lack of content (i.e., text, images) is content.


Hmmmm. Let that very powerful principle roll around in your head for a moment.


How do you fill your days? Are they so chock full, like those single-spaced mile-long emails, that your eyes glaze when thinking about your schedule? Are there so many to-do’s crammed into your hours that when you open that closet door to shove in just one more thing, the entire mass crashes down on you? Is there so little room to breathe that when something goes wrong you feel like are drowning?


There are all kinds of different solutions for this chaotic lifestyle, but they all begin at the same place: allow room for white space in your life by prioritizing and simplifying. Think about making different choices for the immediate and longer term that will free up time and/or money. Do your kids need to be in twelve sports? Do you need to be active in six organizations? Do you need to spend hours surfing the internet? Do you need to be supermom to everybody?


Let go of thinking that you just need to do a better job “balancing” your life. There is no such thing as balance. Rather, there are priorities, which we choose every day. What I am suggesting is making intentional choices, every day, and prioritizing based on what is truly important in your life.


If you start with something basic, such as creating a weekly menu, and grocery shopping around it, that small step can cascade into a series of benefits, such as having dinner at home, enjoying conversation with your family over a meal, saving money, working towards better health, and experiencing satisfaction at taking this step, as opposed to a rushed, frantic, unhealthy, expensive meal at the nearest fast food joint.


Sometimes taking the time for an activity actually provides greater benefits in the long run, such as praying, or choosing to use part of your lunchtime to walk. Both of these activities effectively increase your white space in the form of a little peace and clarity.


Start small. Be good to yourself. Take baby steps as you tackle the responsibilities and choices to which you have already agreed. Question the how new opportunities will be prioritized against your current reality.


And remember: white space, i.e., lack of content, is content-ment.

Birdsong at Sunrise. Photo copyright K. Hall