Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives
A Review of the book by Richard A. Swenson.
Introduction
I recently read the book, Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives by Richard A. Swenson. Swenson, a medical doctor, wrote the book as a prescription for the overloaded lives that he perceives many of us live today. As a pastor, I must confess that I am not comfortable with some of the theological assumptions made in the book. I suppose that is to be expected. I had to remind myself that Swenson, a Christian, writes not as a theologian but as a physician.
Further, Swenson writes as one with a loving concern for the many hurting people he observes in our contemporary society. I share this concern. So, this blog entry is both a summary and an analysis of Swenson’s book, Margin. If you are feeling tired, frazzled, and overloaded, I submit this to you with the prayer that you might find some helpful suggestions for restoring margin and for finding greater rest to your life.
Summary
Swenson begins the argument of his book by asserting that “the conditions of modern-day living devour margin” (13). Swenson defines margin as “the space between our load and our limits” (69). We are all limited and are incapable of going beyond those limits emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Thus, Swenson is very concerned with the developments in our modern world in terms of progress, which have greatly impacted the way we live, pushing us beyond our limits in these areas. In many ways, Swenson is rebuking the assumptions of the Enlightenment and of the hope too many people have placed in progress.
It seems to me that Swenson is on to something when he argues that in the modern age “we grew to assume that the solution to any problem could be confidently entrusted to progress” (23). As a matter of fact, I do not think that Swenson overstates either expectation or the failure of progress when he writes, “Food plus health plus warmth plus education plus affluence have not quite equaled Utopia” (22). Westerners especially have placed far too much faith in progress, and we suffer when our faith is misplaced.
Swenson argues further that progress has brought with it its own set of problems — problems for which we remain woefully unprepared. Human progress in terms of industry, education, technology, medical advancement, information sharing, and more has brought about an overload to our lives that is very unhealthy. As an example, Swenson notes, “A single edition of the New York Times contains more information than a seventeenth-century Britisher would encounter in a lifetime” (62). This is just one example of the kind of overload Swenson observes in contemporary society.
Far from producing a utopian work, progress has produced a world of hurting people. Swenson dedicates his book “to exposing and correcting the specific kind of pain that comes from marginless living” (15). He notes anxiety, fear, stress, and obesity, among the kinds of problems that are growing exponentially as progress has advanced. As an answer to these kinds of problems, Swenson prescribes margin — a remedy that progress has devoured. Swenson bemoans, “Progress devours margin, and we yearn to have it back” (73).
Insisting that the answer is not to abandon progress and return to the Middle-ages, Swenson advocates that “we must regain control of progress…and…redirect it” (29). We do this by gaining margin in our lives. But what is margin? How can it help us with our modern problems? Swenson explains, “Margin [is] the space that once existed between ourselves and our limits” (42). Or, to illustrate the idea, “Margin…is having breath left at the top of the staircase, money left at the end of the month, and sanity left at the end of adolescence” (13).
Swenson is arguing for the practice of intentionally leaving room in our lives in a myriad of ways. This is an important practice because we are limited. We are not infinite, and we are simply not capable of running at one hundred percent as our contemporary culture would induce us to do. Swenson argues, “To be healthy, we require margin in at least four areas: emotional energy, physical energy, time, and finances” (78). Having made his case for margin, Swenson proceeds to suggest practical ways of achieving margin in these important areas.
Analysis
I must confess that while I agree with many of the observations Swenson makes in the book, I do not agree with his understanding of the root of the problem. I am a bit concerned at the suggestion, “Let’s revisit the Third World” (117). That our contemporary culture has produced a world of lonely and hurting people cannot be questioned. However, I do not accept the idea that progress caused all the pain we can so readily observe.
Rather, I would suggest that we can understand the dilemma of living in our advanced world according to a biblical framework of creation, fall, and redemption. Creation, I would suggest, teaches us that progress is actually a good thing — an expression of the image of God in humanity working to subdue the earth. The Fall reminds us that the problem, as always, lies in the heart of man, not in the raw materials around us. It is what man chooses to do with the technology, information abilities, and medicine, not the advances themselves that lie at the heart of the problem. With that clarification, we can proceed to the idea of redemption. Redemption is found in Jesus Christ. As we work out the realities of a living relationship with him, we can learn to live in our world, fallen as it is, even as for the next world, which will be free from the effects of the Fall.
Therefore, I believe that the Scriptures provide everything we need to know in order to live life in our world. This includes our increasingly advanced world. Having said all of that, it seems to me that Swenson’s book can help us to see how to redeem life in an advanced and fallen world. While the emphasis of the book is not on redemption through Jesus Christ, many of his observations are accurate and helpful. I will provide you with a few of what I consider to be his most helpful suggestions.
The book is outlined in a manner similar to the way a physician would write a prescription. Swenson begins with the symptom, which is “pain”; he then diagnoses the reason for the pain, “overload”; for which he prescribes, “margin”; which leads to the prognosis, “health” (17). Many of Swenson’s prescriptions for creating margin in our lives are helpful indeed. If we will heed them, we can reasonably expect to find our lives increasingly healthy.
Strategies
Swenson suggests four major areas to which we need to add margin: “emotional energy, physical energy, time, and finances” (78). He devotes a chapter to each of these areas including several suggestions for adding margin in each. One of the helpful ideas in the book is that we all need balance in our lives. Creating margin in every area of our lives helps us to achieve the balance we need. One could devote much time and energy into maintaining physical fitness, for example, to the neglect of some of the other areas, which would render the person ultimately very unhealthy.
Among the best suggestions in terms of creating emotional margin, Swenson advocates the cultivation of “support groups,” “laughing,” and “crying” (88-89). Though these may seem obvious, Swenson accurately recognizes that one of the challenges of life in a technological world is the absence of genuine human social relationships. Computers and electronic gadgets begin to consume our emotional energy. It is far too easy for one to become a username and a password, instead of a person. Further, I can think of no better place to develop genuine relationships in which laughing and crying can done authentically.
In terms of creating physical margin, Swenson suggests, “Develop healthy sleep patterns. Retire at a similar time each evening and arise at a similar time each morning. Don’t engage in disturbing conversations immediately before bedtime. Instead, one should begin relaxing about an hour or so before retiring” (100). Of course, exercise and a healthy diet are on Swenson’s list, but the importance of proper sleep cannot be overstated. Many of our emotional problems would disappear if we would simply get enough rest.
In terms of creating time margin, Swenson advises, “Get less done but do the right things” (126). This suggestion recognizes our limitations and the importance of making healthy choices in terms of how we use our time. This has to do with the discipline of priority. Ultimately, we must be careful not to allow our culture to determine our priorities. We cannot do everything, and we can do little well. It is urgent, therefore, to learn to say “no” to some things in order that we may say “yes” to the best things.
Swenson’s final section has to do with finances. I am extremely concerned about this particular area in each of our lives. We must give serious thought to how we spend our money. Swenson’s thought about this, along with the concepts of contentment and simplicity, may very well be the strongest points of the book. Among many other suggestions is the idea of a fast from making purchases. Swenson suggests that “even a short-term spending freeze – a day, a week, a month – is helpful in reestablishing financial margin” (143). Could you do this? Is it even possible? How long could you go without spending? What does our apprehension about this idea tell us about our relationship to consuming?
Conclusion
Do you find yourself stressed out as you try to make it to work or church on time? Perhaps you could use some time margin. Have you recently overdrawn on your bank account? Maybe financial margin is in order. Are you regularly tired during the day? Perhaps more sleep would do you good. Do you regularly feel stressed or depressed? Perhaps the experience of positive relationships in a small group could help you deal with these concerns.
Richard Swenson’s Margin, though not without some doctrinal weaknesses, has provoked me to reflect on the way we live our lives in an advanced culture and has challenged some assumptions I scarcely realized I had even made. May God help us all to live balanced lives to His glory even in a world as advanced as our own.
