Let’s just slooooooooowwwww down for a minute….

So, is this really all there is?
Is this why we get up every day and work, work, work….?
We rush to get ready, we rush to get the crap off of our desks, we rush to finish so we can rush to the next thing that’s on our mental or written “to do” list.
We are all in trouble friends.. There is just too much…. too much, too much.
Too many ways for people to reach us.
Home phone, Cell phone, work phone, work email, home email, text, instant messaging, and I’m sure I’m missing more, but you get the point. I had to make an appt with myself just to slow down for a few minutes so I could write this on slowing down….. GOOD GAWD!!!!
There is so much on each persons plate now, none of it is dealt with in a quality manner that it deserves.
By the time I finish writing this, I’ll have another 25 emails that about half will require my attention to resolve. The others? Just delete them. Don’t respond.
There was a time in my career, that I made it a point to respect each and every email, phone message and return or respond to them all. You simply cannot do that anymore, because someone is telling you that you need Viagra or Cialis very badly and you should buy it from them?? First of all, how the hell do they know I need it?? Have they been talking to my people??? GD Scary thought.
So, you now click them into trash and block them, but they still find their evil ways into your life.
You have to be very selective now on who and when you respond to things. Therefore, things get missed.
It’s now the norm that messages are not returned, emails are not returned…
And then it gets you thinking, just because you get a read notification, that doesn’t mean jack really. Your long thought out message to whomever could have been dumped into the spam filter, or deleted my error, or deleted on purpose because whoever you tried to reach, didn’t remember that they knew your ass at all!.
So…. really?? this is where our technology has taken us?? To doing 5 times more crap in a day, but not doing it better?
How does this SPEED affect our health?? You already know the answer to that one. Blood pressures are up, sleep is down, stress is waaaaayyyyy up, hell you can’t even drive a mile to the Grocery store without a first hand glimpse of road rage. Because someone just is going too slow, and ” by gawd!! this jerk just cost me this stoplight!!!” I’ll kill em!!!” I found myself today just talking to me… ( scary I know ) I was returning voicemails, emails, texts….
following up with clients, vendors, friends……
feeling my stress level go up. up… up.
then getting a phone call from someone irate that I didn’t send them those prices that I promised.
But I did, and they ceremoniously deleted it without paying attention… So I resend it. No sorry, I’m a dweeb, just irritation and off to the next thing on THEIR list.
Back quickly to health. You HAVE to workout, you HAVE to, it’s really not an option.
It clears the mind, it clears the soul, it makes you more confident, calm. It makes you a better person in so many ways. You have to make time for yourself, YOU HAVE TO. It’s NOT an option.
This weekend, I went with my wife to a local Church that she really likes here in Bellevue, WA. It’s called Eastlake Community Church. Now, I wasn’t raised in church home, my mother was the black sheep of her Seventh Day Adventist household, therefore we didn’t regularly go to church growing up.
But I don’t have the normal intimidation factor or fear many have when attending an unfamiliar church or service. I just kept an open mind and went with her, as this was one of the few Sundays that I haven’t booked for some reason or another. ( another example of too fast ) Anyway this church is very casual, its tagline is: Church for the rest of us.
wearing jeans, shorts, tee shirts are cool, and I like that.
Anyway, the Pastor, Ryan Meeks is a very entertaining young man whose message on Sunday was:
What to do when you can’t slow down.
He described some of the same things I’ve written about above, and really got his point across.
If any of this applies to you, here’s some notes I took:
Signs of Chaos:
Flash Flood Anger
Addiction to Speed
Constant Multitasking
superficiality
Bad Decisions
Apathy
Relationship Fatigue
Spiritual emptiness ( means different things to different people)
Declaring WAR ON HURRY:

Admit the unhealthy pace
Practice Contentment
Invest in Relationships
Receive your rest
Start saying NO to some things.
Understand that every Yes is a no to something else.
Choose better what your time deserves.
Silence & solitude is OK
Say no to good things, so you can say yes to GREAT things.

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