I pass a sign on my regular walk with Josie. It stands a few feet from a creek, surrounded by tall grass, a few cat tails, and a handful of oak and bald cypress trees. I’ve read the sign dozens of times as I’ve passed by, but I’ve only recently thought about what it really means.
It’s an odd sign, slender and tall, with just two words on it: buffer zone. There’s a sticker under the two words that reads “Rain to Recreation.” Turns out, Rain to Recreation is a “watershed management” program to reduce flooding, protect water quality and the environment. The buffer zone is the native vegetation that borders the creek and serves to stabilize the banks and filter trash and other pollutants from the storm run-off.
I’ve been thinking a lot about this notion of a buffer zone lately. Greg McKeown writes about the importance of buffer zones in his book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. Buffer zones, he says, “reduce the friction caused by the unexpected.”
We’ve all rubbed up against that friction, haven’t we? Often it’s something small – we run the red light because we’re late to soccer practice. We squeeze in one more email before logging out, one more phone call before turning out the office lights. We toss in one more load of laundry before hurtling across town to the dentist.
We say yes to PTO and church council and helping out with the local cancer fundraiser. We accept the extra hours or the additional project foisted on us at work, even though we’re already maxed out. We agree to enroll in the spinning class with our BFF, join a monthly dinner club with our neighbors and serve at the local soup kitchen every other week.
All these things feel good and are important. In and of themselves, they are smallish. How could this one extra thing or two possibly push me over the edge? we reason. And so we say yes. And yes. And yes again.
We say yes out of guilt or obligation or desire or because, as Greg McKeown surmises, we assume the best-case scenario. We assume all the tiny details will fall into perfect place. We don’t leave any wiggle room for the traffic jam, the sick kid, the snag in the “simple” project. We don’t leave any room for those times when the creek overflows its banks.
The best-case scenario with my little neighborhood creek is that it never overflows its banks in a roiling rage of flooding water. But the reality is that sometimes it rains hard for days on end, and the water needs a safe place to go where it won’t erode the land and damage roads, bridges and pathways. That’s why landscapers and conservation experts create buffer zones. And that’s why we should do the same.
As much as I can, I aim to live in that metaphorical grassy space surrounding my neighborhood creek by building as much buffer zone into my life as possible. This means I’m one of those people who arrives 20 minutes before a doctor’s appointment. I typically sit at the gate an hour before boarding my flight. I turn in writing projects days, if not weeks, before the deadline (case in point: I submitted my Luther manuscript to my editor two weeks early…which, I admit, paradoxically made me feel like a slacker).
I build this buffer zone into almost every part of my life not only to keep myself sane, but also to ensure that I have pockets of quiet and silence here and there. Allowing my mind to wander even for a few minutes is important for my creativity, my sense of well-being and the state of my soul. Building a healthy buffer zone reduces friction (i.e. stress) caused by the unexpected.
Which isn’t to say friction won’t ever happen. It will rain hard. The creek will overflow. But I do what I can to ensure the extra water has a place to go.
So tell me, are you a buffer zone kind of person? Do you have margin, white space around the edges of your life for those times the creek overflows? Or is your life jam-packed to the hilt with no wiggle room at all? {you can be honest; I won’t judge…there are plenty of times my life is packed to the hilt too!}
You sound very much like me. As an example, if I am not at least 15 minutes early. ..I feel like I am late. However, in some areas of my life I procrastinate, not the best word really but the only one I can come up with. There is a clear distinction for having (really more like needing) a clear “buffer zones” in some areas of my life but almost the exact opposite in other areas. I have never thought about it until now…but I think I will need to think about it. I may obsess about this for a while…I don’t know why, but I probably will.
I really get this, Christine….the key is to knowing when to work and when to rest. The opposite of the buffer zone (I mean taken to an extreme) isn’t good either. Michelle seems to have achieved the perfect balance.
Yes, Michelle, I’ve learned (mostly) to have margin. I learned it the hard way as executive director for the world’s largest airport USO. I can assure you that that job alone made a buffer zone impossible. More likely, I lived in the buffeted zone, being thrown from pillar to post, putting out fires daily, and meeting impossible deadlines and demands. I loved the job and grew tremendously in it. It was fun and interesting, fulfilling and exciting. Part of the difficulty is that we operated on a shoestring budget, so there was no one else to do some of what I was doing. But the point is, I kept doing the impossible. If I had just said no, I would have forced the board to give me the help I told them I needed. But during this time, I also added extraneous things….filling my already-buffeted zone to overflowing by adding on singing in a professional chorus with demanding rehearsals, involvement in an airport chaplaincy, serving as secretary for a professional non-profit organization (and as if that were not enough organizing their recognition banquet along with USO’s recognition banquet). I’m sure if I thought further I could tell you other things I added to the buffeted mix, but Im too dizzy just thinking about it. God eventually drew me away from the work, and I learned to give myself elbow room, breathing space, margin, sanity. Like you, I always give myself margin with appointments. I actually love sitting in waiting rooms in doctor’s offices and airports. In fact, at airports, sometimes I schedule up to eight extra hours if otherwise tightly scheduled flight changes give me an hour or less for the transition. (I almost killed myself running for a plane once. I really think I might have had a heart attack. So I vowed never again!) And what’s so bad about sitting and waiting? I take several books, a journal, and at an airport, which is a mini metropolis, I can wander down corridors for exercise or browsing, or sit in a café and sip tea. I also love the anonymity. At home, I leave time for walking and reading and just being. I will admit that of late, I have really had to push myself to be more active and tackle some longstanding projects. I think there is balance to be had. But in this frenzied world of ours, created by a God of order who rested as well as worked, I love your idea of the buffer-zone blessing. (And btw, I turned my book in early too. It was such relief). Love this, Michelle, and you.
Love
Lynn
PS In musical terms, we call the buffer zone the “rest”–when one’s part in the music pauses, which adds to the climactic effect. I wrote a talk on this once, and encouraged my hearers to know that we are never in the rest forever (some people really fear that). The key is to know that while you rest, the music continues, and when the conductor gives you your cue, you come back in and sing gloriously. That’s the key: knowing when God asks you to rest and then coming back into the chorus to sing on cue.
I definitely use and need the buffer zone! It protects my health in every aspect. Also, in developing this type of “being”, I find that when I need to slide by the seat of my pants–I can do it. Thus, the effectiveness of buffering…
Michelle, your writing so softly echoes your buffer zone. As I read, you give such space for me to contemplate my own life.
This article couldn’t come at a better time in my life. In the last few years, my buffer zone completely diminished as I overlapped too many things in my professional life. As it is started to dissipate, my buffer zone at home diminished too as I squeezed one more thing in constantly.
My husband and I realized this was not the life we wanted to live and made the decision to unplug from our regular lives for an entire year to live life in a more present state and be better role models for our kids. While I am very excited about this decision, sometimes it can be nerve-wracking as we prepare to travel and unplug for a year because there are actually more moving pieces now, but reading your post reminds me that the buffer zone can still be there (and needs to be there) now. The buffer zone is what really enables us to be our best self.
This one is going in my “Happiness” folder on Pinterest.
I’m loving this piece, Michelle.
And I’m also bouncing back and forth between contemplating the luxury we have of such control over our schedules and imagining the hilarity we give to God when He considers the schedules we make for ourselves (I’m thinking of Proverbs 16:9 here).
I really fail at buffer zones. The only time lately I have practiced this well so to have an day at home after travel. Probably need to build in more buffer zones on a daily basis. Thanks for the idea, reminder and inspiration!
Excellent article about “buffer zones.” I feel it is necessary to have this built into a life that is disciplined to obtain maturity and purity in living. Thank you for these thoughts and beautiful photos to captivate my vision.
I think thqt everything said was very reasonable. But,
what about this? suppose you were to creatte a killer headline?
I ain’t suggesting your information is not good,
however suppose you added a pokst title that grabbed
a person’s attention? I mean Michelle DeRusha | Why You Need a
Buffer Zone is a little boring. You ought to peek at Yahoo’s
front page and see how they create post titles to get people to opesn the links.
You might try adding a video or a related picture or two to gget peope interested about everything’ve got to say.
Just myy opinion, it would make your website a little bit
more interesting.