By Kirk McCarley
If I hurry, I may be able to catch an earlier flight home. I dropped off the rental car at Charlotte Airport and scampered to the terminal. As we approached the ticketing agent, I reached into my wallet to retrieve my driver’s license only to discover no wallet, thus no license. Darn it, I left it in the rental car.
I was furious at allowing myself to have misplaced the valued possession and proceeded to unleash self-directed aggravation and fury.
Back I jogged to the rental car customer service desk to see if a wallet had been retrieved as I recalled right where I had left it. National Car Rental had already dispatched my vehicle for service and cleaning, an impressive turnaround. After a few moments my missing possessions were located and in about ten minutes returned to me, everything intact except for some cash that seemed to have affixed itself to some sticky fingers in transit.
The missing dinero is another story, however.
Why such a reaction to begin with, though?
It had not been much more than a month earlier that I left that same wallet in a grocery shopping cart. The friendly and professional staff at my local Publix took my phone number and, after I returned home, called me not much less than half an hour later to report that they had a find.
In both instances, there was little reason to have been so frenetic. So why? It was inexcusable.
“Hurry sickness,” “time urgency,” or whatever you choose to call it, isn’t an actual medical or mental health condition. Is it brought about by a case of wanting to make the “most” of any moment? Are there issues of self-worth, of legitimizing oneself to demonstrate value to yourself or others? How often do we hear others or even ourselves respond, “busy,” when asked how we are?
Which of these acts and actions strikes a chord?
- Speeding, both in your car and through your meals, conversations, or the grocery store?
- Frequently performing time calculations in your head to see whether you can fit in another task?
- Feeling irritable when you face delays?
- Endlessly running through your “To Do” list in your head to make sure you haven’t forgotten anything?
Do stress, anxiety, and worry creep in? Are there other effects, such as difficulty sleeping, headaches, or stomach upset? If we don’t slow down, might we misplace our wallet, or bring about something worse?
What to do? First, schedule time for yourself. With that, physical exercise such as a 30-minute walk can be of benefit. As you walk, focus on your breathing. Disconnect the temptation to multitask by talking on the phone or texting. After the walk, slow down the inclination to respond immediately to every one of those emails. Assess the items of highest priority and address them first, one at a time. Apportion quality time to family and loved ones; listen well. Allow adequate time to unwind at the end of the day and ease into adequate sleep.
The good news is that my wallet was recovered at both Publix and the Charlotte Airport. In Charlotte, my regularly scheduled flight was not for another five hours. I could choose to camp out at my gate, working, but was instead called to something of greater substance. In my many trips through Charlotte, I’ve often passed by the entrance to the Billy Graham Library and had been curious to check it out. Here was my opportunity to visit the boyhood home of one of the great faith leaders of the 20th century. My wife and I hired an Uber to transport us to spend a delightful and inspirational couple of hours after making our way through the “foot of the cross” configuration at the entryway. At the end, one of the volunteer workers prayed over us and our family.
That day, God had gotten my wallet and taken me exactly where He wanted me to be. The message I sensed to me: “Slow down, son, now do I have your attention?”
A graduate of the University of North Texas, Kirk McCarley is a Certified Professional Coach as well as a Professional in Human Resources (PHR) and SHRM-CP Certified. He is also a Production Assistant for both college football and basketball for ESPN and leads group cycling classes as a Certified Spinning instructor. Contact kirk@theseedsowercoach.com, theseedsowercoach.com, or call (314) 677-8779.
Author: Sowal Editor
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