How to Slow Down in A World That’s Constantly On The Go

I find myself in a season of constantly being “on the go” both in my personal and professional life.

I’m on an airplane right now, headed to Kansas City to meet with a laminate company about their branding. I have two suitcases packed in the back of my car in the airport parking lot because, when I get back, I only have a few hours between landing and heading to New Jersey—with a day in New York— before catching more flights to North Carolina.

I have five more trips like that before I have a week at home where I finally get to catch up with my friends, do a crazy amount of laundry and play in a tennis tournament before heading out again.

I don’t seem to be able to slow down, let alone stop.

If I use the sentence, “If I can just make it through___ everything will be ok…” one more time, I think my friends are going to slap me.

This is not new for me.

I like to pretend like this is just what is happening right now, but really, this is a pattern I have developed over years of being constantly on the go. Sometimes it is because of commitments I have made with work and sometimes it is because I want to do fun things.

But it is always my choice.

I get to say yes and I get to say no.

The only real problem is, my choice or not, being on the go constantly is not sustainable. Nobody (except maybe Bob Goff) can keep up with that kind of lifestyle for very long.

It begins to weigh on you relationally, physically, and even spiritually.

I am learning this the hard way, again and again.

Years ago, my friend Scott Congdon taught me that, in order to stay healthy, we need to create points of demarcation in our lives. These are real or symbolic moments that mark an ending of one season and the beginning of another.

Scott is the President of AMOR Ministries, a short term missions organization doing community development in the some of the most poor areas in the world.

Every year, starting in January, the team prepares for thousands of teens and adults to come to Mexico over the six weeks of spring break.

Once spring arrives, it’s a sprint to the end of April—building hundreds of homes, schools and churches. By the end of April, they have about one month to prepare for the hundreds of more team members coming down for summer, followed by the 14 weeks of actually building homes.

It is non-stop “on the go” the whole way through.

It would be easy to not take a break for 9 months.

After all, the work being done is important. Lives are being changed on both sides of the border, families finally have a roof over their head before another winter, communities can find pride in a new school or church.

Yet even in the midst of the chaos and the drive to get things done, Scott always takes time off between spring and summer.

He said that he found if he didn’t, he would burn out and become ineffective. So each year he takes three or four days and heads out on retreat to rest, recover and reflect. While on the retreat, he asks himself a few questions.

The main one goes like this: “What did I learn?”

He celebrates his successes, mourns his mistakes, and learns from both. He closes the door on a season. This retreat has become a lifeline for Scott, something without which, he could not do the amazing work he continues to do.

In the Hebrew Psalms you will occasionally see the word Selah.

It’s meaning has been debated over the years, but most scholars believe that its intent is to offer the musical director a hint of how the song is supposed to go. The word is derived from the Hebrew root word that means “to hang” or “to weigh.”

Selah is a pause, most likely a musical interlude, in the middle of a song that is used to reflect on the words that have just been spoken.
Selah is there to tell the worshipper to measure or weigh carefully the meaning of what has been said: i.e., here is wisdom, reflect and understand.
It is often at the end of a phrase or verse, but still in the middle of the song.

I have found over the years that finding space for moments of demarcation or Selah is vital to my sanity and health.

Selah.

When I was a youth pastor, I would take a week away at the end of summer, our busiest season, to reflect on what had transpired over the past few months.

Yes, I could have been preparing for a fall kickoff, but I needed space to plant a flag in the ground and say, “This season is done” before I moved on to the next.

I needed to “hang” in the moment and “weigh” what I had learned from my successes and failures, and then not remain stuck in either. When I worked in higher education I would take some time away after each semester.

I continue to do this today.

Sometimes it is for a day, sometimes it is for a week. Sometimes my time is spent at a monastery in solitude and silence and sometimes it is spent in Vegas, eating great food and sitting by a pool.

God and wisdom can be found in both the feasting and fasting of life.

Like the Selah in the Psalms, these breaks come in the middle of the song. It is not a separate journey, distinct and disconnected from the rest of my life. It is a pause that allows me to reflect on the experience, wisdom and life that have been given to me over the recent past.

I get out of the noise and bustle of ministry and career to sit softly, learn and reflect on what has happened, why things happened, and what needs to happen next.

It is not always easy to find the time, but I choose to make the time.

What does “Selah” look like in your life?

Whatever season you find yourself in, make sure you take time to eventually end the season. Even if there is not a “good” time to pause, make time. Whether you classify the season as good or bad, mark the season with an ending.

Then take time to pause, weigh what has happened and what will happen next.

You have to make it happen because it doesn’t happen on accident.

I will be on the road for the next seven weeks, but at the end of that season, I would like to take a weekend to drive up to Connecticut and go to the Elephant’s Trunk flea market.

I’ll walk the rows, hold items that remind me of my youth or help me dream about homes in my future, and enjoy the day in the sun. I will take the afternoon journal and reflect, have a nice dinner with a steak and bottle of wine, and cheers to the end of a season before preparing for the next.

Selah.