I’m in a Hurry. Where is it Taking Me?

There is a song by the musical group, Alabama, “I’m in a Hurry.”

All of us appear to be in a hurry. Is that something that benefits us? At times we are in a season of hurriedness. That is understandable. But, if your whole life is that way I suggest that you are missing many things.

The first verse of the song states:

“I’m in a hurry to get things done

Oh I rush and rush until life’s no fun

All I really gotta do is live and die

But I’m in a hurry and don’t know why.”

In today’s world being in a hurry can be equated with being busy. We are busy because we are striving for greater self-esteem, wealth, possessions and property among other things. But, in looking at my own life and those of my personal business coaching clients I see that excessive hurriedness because we are always busy is a distraction. We rush and rush until life’s no fun. And we don’t either recognize or know why our lives are no fun.

Being continually busy never gives me, you, or my clients time to rest and recharge. The brain in order to function at a high level needs lazy time. It needs to take a break. But between texts, emails, phone calls, work and our day to day encounters it’s hard for us and our brains to find the quiet time to recharge. And without quiet time it is more challenging to be happy. I once heard that success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.

And, here is the truth. There is no success without happiness. The song goes on with this verse:

“Can’t be late

I leave plenty of time

Shaking hands with the clock

I can’t stop

I’m on a roll and I’m ready to rock”

The key phrases here are “Shaking hands with the clock. I can’t stop.” When we live our lives in the hurry mode, always having to be busy doing something it becomes a race everyday to see what we can accomplish. And, it has been shown that being too busy actually creates other distractions (too much going on at once) which causes us to accomplish less. We accomplish less and that makes us unhappy. And the cycle continues.

We believe in our busyness that we are taking care of what is truly important. But are we? Very often, I see myself and others missing what truly matters. What truly matters is the time we spend on our relationships and how we spend it. When there is always a time limit and a short window with our interactions with others, people don’t feel valued or that you have time for their cares and concerns. That becomes a breeding ground for frustration, anger and distancing.

And when the relational frustration boils over, all the hurriedness that got us to that point is the last behavior pattern we need to continue to get things back on course. At this point, we need to slow down. We need to take time.

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