Avoiding the Trap of Hurry Sickness in Homemaking

Hey homemaker, are you always rushing, hurrying and worrying? Do you catch yourself rushing your kids along and don’t even know why? Do you catch yourself talking fast, walking fast, or driving fast and you aren’t even late for anything? 

I used to do everything at warp speed. I was always multitasking, rushing through tasks, moving so quickly I was constantly breaking things, rushing my kids to go, go, go at moms pace. And now, with some intentionality, I’ve sloooooowed way down. I tend to get less done in a day, but I feel so much more peace. 

Slowing down is certainly a practice to be honed. There are some things that you can do to intentionally slow down, though and that’s what I’ll discuss today. 

What is Hurry Sickness

But why should we slow down? Isn’t it better to get it all done? I would argue, no.

There’s something called “Hurry sickness” coined in cardiologists Meyer Friedman and R.H. Rosenman book “Type A Behavior and Your Heart” isn’t an actual medical condition, but it’s known as a sense of excessive time urgency.

• You may constantly feel rushed or anxious and have a feeling of urgency to get things done when there’s no need.

• When you’re chronically in a hurry, it can mentally and physically affect you. 

• In fact, Friedman and Rosenman found that hurry sickness was a component in type A personalities and may lead to stress-related heart issues.

• Here’s what hurry sickness may look like:
• rushing through task
• feeling irritable when there’s a delay
• interrupting or talking over people
• running through your “to do” in your head
• treating everything like a race
• always feeling behind schedule
• continuously multi-tasking
• always having a sense of urgency

When this happens, you may notice physical health effects, such as:

• fatigue
• headaches
• low immune system

Rushing in general can put your brain in a frantic state and lead to stress, anger, and being more easily triggered. 

The trap of hurry sickness in homemaking

I heard someone say that “you can either rush with satan or walk with God” – God is methodical and doesn’t rush around frantically and he doesn’t want us to do this either.

Whenever you’re in this rush, hurry, worry state, use your recognition of this as God telling you to slow down. 

Because if you’re in a state of rushing, it’s probably not in your best interest to keep going. you should probably just take a beat and slow down.

The consequences of not rushing will not be as bad as the consequences of keeping your brain in this state of panic. 

So we slow down. We take the time to disciple connect and correct our children. We take the time to look our husband in the eyes and to really connect with the Lord. 

How to get out of the trap of hurry sickness in homemaking

Did you know that I created a course for transforming your homemaking? It’s called the Transformed Homemakers Society and its course all about transforming your homemaking from overstimulation and chronic stress to a peaceful and thriving home so that you can serve your families and the Lord.

So let’s get into how I’ve intentionally started slowing down and getting out of the trap of hurry sickness: 

I’ve stopped multitasking.

Ok, moms are always multitasking, but the extent to which I used to do this was comical. I actually used to pride myself on how much I could get done at one time. 

I used to look down on my husband for moving in what I would call “slow motion” and never multi-tasking. Now I realize that he had the right idea all along. 

I focus on slowing each movement down and being really methodical about what I’m doing. This is truly a practice and something I’m working on.  

I’ve started creating more margin in my day.

Where I once would have had a punch list of 50 things to do, now I have 1-2 important goals and I’m happy with that. 

With that, I’ve lowered my expectations. Of myself, my children, and how things look. 

I get outside more.

I found that I naturally move slower when I’m closer to nature and I do believe the Lord created us this way for a reason. 

I sit down on the floor and play with my kids more.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a big proponent of independent play because us moms have a lot to do; but what a blessing it is for us to sit down and connect with our kids in their play. 

I take the time to beautify my home and actually enjoy it the home my husband and I are making. 

Setting out flowers, lighting candles, baking cookies and putting them in a cute cookie jar – this is all helpful for slowing down and actually enjoying homemaking.

I put my smart phone AWAY and watch my children play.

The other day I was watching them play in their little splash pad and they were finding so much joy in it and they were so cute I just couldn’t even believe how blessed I am. 

Had my face been buried in my phone, I would have squandered the opportunity to see this little gift God was giving me. 

Finally, I addressed my overactive nervous system that was causing this constant state of panic and hurrying. 

All the glory be to God, I was able to heal my nervous system and feel what it feels like to relax again. Something I hadn’t felt in years. 

If you resonated with any of this, I would love for you to join me in my free workshop – it’s my five step framework for overwhelmed and overworked homemakers.