Posted by TerryS (24.24.79.72) on January 09, 2001 at 16:28:00:
GETTING A BUSY SIGNAL
Two natural gas company service personnel, a senior training
supervisor and a young trainee, were out checking meters in a
suburban neighborhood. They parked their truck at the end of an
alley and worked their way to the other end.
At the last house, a woman looking out her kitchen window watched
the two men as they checked her gas meter. When they finished,
the senior supervisor, proud of his physical condition,
challenged his younger co-worker to a foot race back to their
truck.
As they approached the truck, they realized that the woman was
huffing and puffing right behind them. They stopped and asked her
what was wrong.
Gasping for breath, she replied, "When I saw two gas men running
as hard as you two were, I figured I'd better run, too!"
In another way, we spend a great deal of time running, don't we?
We are running to catch up at work. We are running to keep up at
home. We speak of "running" errands. We "rush" off, we drive in
the "fast" lane, we stop at the "Quick" mart, we buy "fast" food,
we use the "express" lane, and we "hurry" back so we can "race"
through our meal. Too often our lives are lived in fast forward.
No wonder we "run down"!
One telecommunications company executive went to see his doctor.
She listened to her patient's heart, shook her head and said,
"All I get is a busy signal."
An important part of reducing harmful stress is to simply slow
down. Take a walk. Spend some time alone. Be still. Listen to
your soul. Surprisingly, you may find you have more energy left
for the important work. In time, you may wonder why you ever
rushed at all.