Jesus walked. Why are we in such a rush?

Jesus walked. Why are we in such a rush?

For thousands of years, the fastest way to get around was by camel or by horse. We developed and designed our lives, our families, our hopes and dreams, all around the fact that we walked most places and sometimes if we were lucky, we took a camel or a horse to get there quicker. Moving at that speed, cities were built, nations were created, men and women migrated all around the world, and incredible achievements occurred. But, in the more modern times things have changed.

The development of trains, cars, airplanes, and the Internet has made us feel as if moving at such quick speed has always been present and necessary. Because of these newer inventions we can travel quickly from place to place. That increase in ability has now created an artificial increase in guilt if we don't get many things done each day. In the past, by walking or taking a camel you could accomplish only a few things each week. Now, with a car you can complete seven or eight errands in one day. Now that we can complete seven or more tasks in a day, we believe we must move quickly to complete many tasks in a day or we are a failure. We feel guilty if we move slower and only get one or two things done. That guilt is driven by an artificial expectation that you must get all these tasks done each day or you are somehow not living up to your potential.

For many of my clients, they have found that one of the best ways to reduce their stress and anxiety is to think about their life as if they had to walk or go by camel speed. If we can go back to thinking about our days that way, we can greatly reduce the demands on our day. As you reduce the demands on your day, your stress and anxiety dramatically go down. 

I don't have a camel. How can I move at camel speed?

So how do you make these changes? When possible, plan parts of your day as if you were only able to travel by camel speed. This will result in you greatly decreasing the number of activities that you schedule. Yes, you will get less done. That’s fine. That’s kind of the point. By reducing the demands on your day, you will feel less stress and have an increased amount of time for relaxation, family time, and other leisurely pursuits. 

You can simulate travel by camel speed in several ways. You can choose a slower means of transportation such as bicycling or walking. You can also schedule an hour between your activities. Often what causes some of our greatest stress is when we plan activities back-to-back. That makes us feel rushed to get to the second activity well before we are done with the first activity. If instead, we schedule an hour in-between our planned activities, then we will never feel rushed to get from one place to another.

Another way to travel at camel speed is to take a hard look at all the activities that we are doing each week and get rid of several of them. Over the weeks, months, and years of our lives we have built up a repertoire of all sorts of activities that we have come to believe are normal routine life. However, many of those activities are things we do not have to be involved in. Perhaps some of the activities are harmful to us emotionally or spiritually. I often recommend that my clients spend time going through their list of daily, weekly, and monthly activities and cross off any activities that are not essential for life, essential for maintaining your faith, or essential for maintaining healthy relationships with your family and friends. When we reduce the number of activities that we have on our schedule, we reduce our stress, decrease our anxiety, increase our fun time, increase our relaxation time, and then we can spend our days traveling at camel speed.

God Bless,

Dr. Lombard