SAYING NO TO HURRY & YES TO SLOW | PT 2
This post was written in my blog journal in February / March and has been modified in the light of recent events.
As I mentioned in this post, my church had been looking at John Mark Comer’s book “The Ruthless Elimination Of Hurry” at the beginning of the year and as a response to the message of making more space for Jesus and others in our lives, we all explored what unhurrying would look like to us. One quote that stayed with me and one that makes me shudder is this:
“If you grow dependent on your smartphone, it becomes a magical device that silently shouts your name at your brain at all times”
THIS is unsettling to me… because it’s 100% relatable to me! I find myself in the middle of doing something, the next I’m on my phone and then an hour later I come to my senses and realise I’ve just wasted a lot of time. I’ve currently left my phone in another room and the temptation to go and get it and place it beside me is real! I shall resist!
Here’s another interesting concept I heard in late 2018 at a Communications Workshop. Brace yourselves:
The average DAILY amount of scrolling on our smartphones is the height of the Empire State Building.
The Empire State Building stands “at 102 stories and 1,454 feet at its pinnacle.”
Anyway I thought I would share some practices I took part in unhurrying:
NO SOCIAL MEDIA FRIDAY
On my phone I have a focus mode which means I can disable all distracting apps such as Instagram which I can mindlessly consume for hours. So I use this mode to reduce my phone usage. During the week I used the Stay Focused App to set 2 mins per hour per app in between 8am and 9pm. I have let this one slip a lot since lockdown started for the sake of making sure I’m catching up on developments and people. However I have really felt the difference so this will be going back into full affect.
CONSCIOUSLY WALKING SLOWER
I am a London lady at heart (LANDAN BORN AND BRED) but Surrey has a slightly slower pace of life. Before lockdown, I sometimes found myself internally getting annoyed at a slow walkers and walking super speed to overtake, especially if I needed to catch a train for work. I would then catch my thought and walk a bit slower. Interesting fact, I actually found slow walking physically painful. It was like I was doing a resistance workout. How interesting is it now that our walking HAS to reduce in speed, so we keep to social distancing.
10 MINS OUT
When I got back from work, I would take 10minutes to be still and silence the noise of the day, internal and external and re-centre with God. Now I’m back at work from Furlough, I’m going to incorporate this back into my rhythm. To be fair I should have just continued 😂🙄
This week I challenge you (yes it’s challenge day) to do at least one thing to be slower - we can easily also fill day with STUFF, even when we are forced to slow down. Here are some ideas:
Watch one less episode of your favorite Netflix / YouTube / Disney + show to catch up with that friend you’ve been meaning to talk to.
Put your phone on “Do Not Disturb”, and if needed set it so that certain people can contact you. Better still, put your phone in a different room so you are less tempted to pick it up and scroll on Social Media.
Go on a walk and walk slowly.
Finish that book you’ve been reading for 4 months.
Lay down on your sofa for 30 mins - 1 hour with some relaxing music and just breath.
