HURRY IS ONE OF THE MOST TOXIC THINGS THAT WILL EVENTUALLY RUN YOUR LIFE, UNLESS YOU SHUT IT DOWN.
You may not even notice or realize that hurry has infiltrated your home because it’s such a commonplace that the elimination of it might make you feel out of place.
In today’s episode, we’re talking about what it could look like if you choose to eliminate hurry in your life and in your family as well as the peace, power, and purpose that could come from that choice.
Let’s raise them up right!
IN THIS EPISODE, WE COVER:
[1:48] What Are We Doing?
A few Saturdays ago, we found ourselves packing up the kids to rush off for soccer. Last year, Jack and Marie were on the same team, so Michael coached their team and Abby and I would watch from the sidelines for about an hour and we’d all head home. Now, they’re in two different age brackets, and of course, Michael wanted to coach both of them.
So, at 8 a.m on a Saturday, we’re rushing the kids to get their soccer gear on (which is a nightmare). I’m running around packing enough snacks to keep our two-year-old happy throughout the five+ hours that we’re going to be sitting at this field. I love watching my kids play, but I don’t actually get to do that because I’m chasing my two-year-old around, trying to convince her that she wants to be sitting among the bugs and cold from 8:30 in the morning to 1 in the afternoon. I’m sitting there and I find myself questioning: “What the heck are we doing?”
[3:32] It Doesn’t Happen by Chance
That was our weekend and I was starting to see this mirrored in our weekdays. My work schedule was slowly but surely getting more packed and I started to feel overwhelmed, the weight on my chest was getting heavier and heavier.
Hurry suffocates joy, choice, peace, health…the list goes on forever and ever, but cutting hurry doesn’t happen through more hurry. It won’t happen fast, it comes with serious growing pains and it becomes an addiction. Breaking the habits of hurry for me felt like detoxing a drug dependency. It physically hurt, it was difficult and it only happens through massively conscious intention, it won’t happen by chance.
If you want to eliminate the hurry, if you want to weed out those moments of your life where you feel the pressure of going from thing to thing and you’re not enjoying the process and soaking up the moments, raising your kids well, and being connected to your spouse and just having more peace in your life, it has to be your main focus.
[7:08] Know What You Want
Now, I want to share with you some of the things that are working for us:
- No phones. We do not use our phones in “the public spaces” of our house, meaning living room, dining room, kitchen, anywhere where we gather as a family. We also have protected hours and even days where the phones are not welcome.
- Dinnertime is sacred time and our dinner table is a sacred space. We honor our dinnertime; we pray, we talk, we share stories, we teach lessons.
- Saying yes to a lot less and saying no to a lot more. Michael and I are focusing on growing our team and building the infrastructure within our business that allows for long breaks and passivity to it, in order to get the freedom that we want.
- Time with nothing. We intentionally enable boredom in our home; be still, sit, rest, talk, but we’re not giving you the distractions to tell your brain what to do next. Check out our last Raising Luminaries episode, Episode 35 titled Enabling Boredom.
- Honor the calendar. We share our calendars and we make sure that it’s aligned with our desire to eliminate hurry. We use it as a tool to our advantage, because if we’re overbooked, we will be hurried.
- Patience. We’re trying to teach our kids to be patient. We want to create a space where it is okay to take your time, to wait until the other person finishes talking and to know that you will eventually be heard.
- Sabbath day. We’ve always gone to church on Sunday and made it a family day, but now we’re really trying to honor a Sabbath day, a day where we do nothing but lean into our faith in each other. It’s not a day to catch up on laundry or a day to prep food for the entire week, it’s a day that is intentionally designed for rest.
- Episode 35: Enabling Boredom
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