He identifies the following symptoms of this rampant
condition.
1. Speeding Up
You are haunted by the fear that you don’t have enough time
to do what needs to be done. When listening, you nod more often to encourage the
other person to get on with it. You chafe whenever you have to wait. At a
stoplight, if there are two lanes and each contains one car, you read the year,
make and model of each car to guess which will pull away most quickly.
2. Multi-tasking
You find yourself doing or thinking more than one thing at a
time. Psychologists call this polyphasic activity. The car is a favorite place
for this. Hurry-sick people may eat, drink coffee, listen to a podcast for
ideas, direct business on the cell phone, and drive all at the same time.
3. Clutter
One researcher noted that the average desk-worker has 36
hours worth of work on the desk and spends three hours a week just sorting
through it. The hurry-sick lack simplicity. They often carry around a time
organizer the size of Montana.
4. Sunset Fatigue
We come home after work, and those who need our love the
most, those to whom we are most committed, end up getting the leftovers. Some
of the symptoms of “sunset fatigue” are:
a. you rush around at home even when there’s no reason to.b. you speak sharp words to your spouse and children, even when they’ve done nothing to deserve them.c. you tell your family that everything will be okay “in just a week or two.” So many of us look forward to the day when things will lighten up, at least for a few days. Alas the day never seems to come.d. you indulge in self-destructive escapes: such as, watching too much TV, scanning the internet too much, looking forward to the cocktail hour.e. you flop into bed with no sense of gratitude and wonder for the day, just fatigue.
5. Love impaired
The most serious sign of hurry sickness is a diminished
capacity to love, for love and hurry are fundamentally incompatible. Love
always takes time and time is the one thing hurried people don’t have. Though
it doesn’t readily occur to us in the midst of our hurried lives, it is clear
that hurry sickness and its symptoms are a huge SPIRITUAL CHALLENGE for us. We
need to address it as such. The remedy is not just a matter of slowing down and
finding relaxation, but deep rest – it’s not a matter of getting “peace of
mind” but of “the peace of God which passes all understanding.” It’s not
relieved by entertainment, but by delight. This summer, as the rhythms of
suburban life slow down, each of us have an opportunity to reflect on the
quality of our lives, to let go of so called pressing priorities, to “vacate” and create some place in our
harried lives, for time to rest with God and our families.
We can lay our deadly “doing” down and take time just to be,
to listen, be aware, appreciate, pray. May this summer be for each of us a
“spiritual time” that restores us to the peace, joy, intimacy and productivity
God intends for us.
Peace to all,
Jeff
