I work in a digital agency, and agencies are notorious for being cut-throat and fast-paced. Basically, it takes a certain type of person to work there and a certain type of person to survive. You need to be efficient and hard working to an unhealthy degree. Why is this, you may ask? Every hour of work is billed and a client must pay. This means if I take a tea break – a client is paying for this. If I talk to a work colleague – a client pays for this.
Often, I find this mindset impacts my day to day outside of work. I start to get frustrated with cashiers who aren’t efficient, the old lady crossing the street, the never ending traffic to work.
Our culture is becoming addicted to speed. This addiction has even been given a name… hurry sickness.
Hurry sickness is “a continuous struggle to accomplish more things and participate in more events in less time, frequently in the face of opposition, real or imagined, from other people. Our pace of life is unhealthy. We accomplish more in less time, but at what cost?
Look at the life of Jesus – He never rushed. He didn’t cater to the world’s timing or demands. He simply did what he set out to do at his own pace. Hurriedness isn’t from God. A hurried life, although it seems like a full life, is not a good life.
A hurried life prevents us from knowing God.
Where is God? God is in the beginning… in the tiny hands of a baby, the call of an eagle, the view from a mountain top, a long stretch of beach and a gleeful giggle. God’s hand is everywhere we look and is reflected in everything good around us. A hurried world has no time for looking for God, no space to notice him, and no appreciation for his beauty.
A hurried life decreases compassion and empathy
Compassion is seeing the suffering or pain of another and desiring to help. Empathy is seeing the emotions of another person and feeling the same thing. Compassion and empathy disappear in hurried cultures. Rather than helping your neighbour or listening to a hurting friend or co-worker, we see this as a waste of time. We expect everyone to “get over” their problems and don’t rely on each other for support.
Jesus always made space for compassion, regardless of the demands around Him. He welcomed thousands of hungry people and was continually side-tracked to heal the sick and talk with outsiders. How do you respond when you see someone hurting? Do you stop?
A hurried life negates process and preparation time
It’s good to get things done but you can not fast track things in life without losing quality. Jesus was 30 when he started his ministry – the years prior to this were preparation years. They may look to us like wasted years but this isn’t the case. This time was valuable. It’s time we stopped looking at our times of “obscurity” as negative, but instead see the time invested into something as an important part of the process.
A hurried life destroys meaningful relationships.
Much of what makes life meaningful – friendships, family, and community – need the very thing we don’t have: time. Hurried people don’t have the time to invest in friendships. Great marriages take years and there is no way you can rush this process. Kids require huge amounts of time to become healthy functioning human beings and hurried people who have no time for their children look back and regret this.
A hurried life leads to a superficial, meaningless existence
People who don’t have time to think and reflect end up making decisions which don’t represent them. Uncovering the gifts God has placed inside you requires stillness and time with God. Time spent thinking means when we take action we take it with wisdom and intention in the right direction. We can not spend our lives being more concerned with what we are doing than who we are becoming.