In the midst of my preparation for our Advent Journey, I have revisited Barbara Brown Taylor’s Learning to Walk in the Dark. This morning, she reminded me: “By day, I am a servant of the urgent. Nothing important has a chance with me. I am too consumed with the things that must be done to …
Last week, I found myself moving slowly on 1-26, a familiar experience for me. Usually I can turn up the kids playlist or podcast and remind myself that this is a moment and invitation to slow down and look around. Last week, I wasn’t in the mood to slow down or look around. I just …
Over the past year, I have been on a journey to analyze and to resist the hustle of a capitalistic society. I have tried to keep track of my learning and my reading here in this space so that I can remember the revelations that occurred when I started asking, “Why?” And then, I hit …
Our five-year-old and two-year-old are right at that age where they are asking questions like, “But whose castle is the best?” Or “Who won the race?” Underlying these questions is their desire that they matter. They want to know what is required for being worthwhile. In our capitalistic, hustle-driven society it would be easy to …
A few days ago, Dr. Christena Cleveland posted this: Perfection is a white patriarchal tool designed to prevent us from true intimacy – with ourselves, others, and the Divine. Dr. Christena Cleveland Yes! Perfectionism is a hustle. A hustle designed to make us doubt our self-worth and spend all of our energy in a useless …
The more I research and read about our hustle society, the more I realize how deeply entrenched it is into our daily lives. I hear myself reverting to hustle language when we are trying to find shoes and load up the car or are trying to do a quick grocery store run. Lying underneath this …
The self-help or self-improvement industry is a worth an estimated $11 billion. While it started with books, apps, calendars, morning routines, and numerous other outlets have stretched the industry to include and comment on every minute that you are awake so that you can have “your best life now.” The irony of course is that …
I’ve been a part of a lot of systems: being a student for thirteen years, studying at university, and teaching in the public school system. Systems and institutions develop characteristics of their own over time. It’s why so many entrepreneurs study and analyze culture and how it develops. They want to develop a different kind …
Giving Up the Hustle of Protecting the Institution Read More »
In the midst of the contentious presidential election in 2020, I heard conversations on both side of the aisle that claimed the righteousness of their choice for president. I heard justifications and defenses, but I never heard actual debate. Debate listens to the person and the responds to the person’s points with counterpoints without demeaning …
Over and over again as I have researched and read for this Lenten series on hustle and its impact on our culture and ourselves, I have felt betrayed. Our culture is teaching us and moving us towards a life that isn’t fulfilling. We are being hustled. We are being led to believe that having more, …
