No Hustle November

Pursing the unhurried heart

Oct 19, 2023

The hustle is killing us.

I can make a great case for that, but I don’t want to, not now, maybe next month. I don’t even want a make a case, a persuasion, a cause for you to join me.

I am simply inviting you to take a step towards an unhurried heart through No Hustle November. No Hustle November is just a small part of the journey towards wholeness and living out of a spirit of rest that I’ve been walking for nearly ten years.

Conquering the heart

Ten years? I can’t believe it began not too long before my third child was born. It has been a slow process, you see. It was first ignited through a dissatisfied soul—despite my success—when I encountered the book, With: Reimagining the way we relate to God. Then it came through maternity leave at an anti-trafficking org, and only a year later, a choosing to step down from being the executive director. It came through naming burnout what it was, and being ripped from the home I had built on the East Coast, through a slow, meandering road trip to the West. It came through homeschooling and really learning how to parent and become present. It came through renouncing co-dependency and people-pleasing, especially in my marriage. It came through completely changing the way I practiced life, from morning until night, through disciplining my time and thoughts. It was realignment; it was refocusing. I was changed by trying to see the Kingdom of God through a blurry mirror.

My unhurried heart came by believing in God’s unconditional acceptance of me and clawing against the lie that I needed to prove myself. It came through a drastic shift of building with God, instead of for God. It came through walking with friends through their hardest seasons, advocating for my children with their unique challenges, fighting back death, and sucking in deep breaths of oxygen. It was created from shouting to a valley that God’s power could transform me. It was the routine of prayer, practicing coping skills, and emotional regulation. Then it was formed through surrendering in an uncontrollable pandemic, trapped when I rather fly.

My unhurried heart was developed through splashing in the waves and mountain hikes, through meandering highways in both pine forests and high deserts. It came through cobbling snowballs from the slush, exploring tourist sites, and crying into a bowl of chocolate ice cream. It was birthed in family dance parties and museums, formed from children’s laughter, and languid nights with my husband. My unhurried heart was made through spoiling dinner with a best friend, indulging in homemade pretzels and pub cheese. It came through campfires and walks around our village green, under the swaying palms.

My unhurried heart was born through healing. It required relinquishing roles and titles that I loved, being stripped away, and then, laying for months in a bed, woken by beeps in a hospital or pushed in a wheelchair. It came through being stabbed by needles hundreds of times, and in the back—which hurt much more—a couple times, too. It came by looking at suffering in the face, examining its lines. It came through the unwrapping of smelly bandages, restless nights, and then choking-up, week after week in therapy. It was made through renouncing religion and realigning with the pursuit of new wine.

My unhurried heart was also formed through No Hustle November.

The pursuit

Oh the journey has been slow, friend. The crazy thing is, I look inside, and am acutely aware that I am just a baby. There might be a white flag permanently set in my heart. I’m feel good about this—it did take nearly a decade to get this land conquered and cleared, the banner centered and staked. And yet, it is only a tiny parcel of land. There is still so much jungle to tame for my heart to be completely at rest.

But, because I so greatly love the part of me that is fully surrendered, I will plow, fight, and wrestle onward to gain more territory so this heart of mine can be unhurried.

No Hustle November

No Hustle November is an intention. I push back while autumn’s busyness is peaking, with all the demands for a productive season. I make a stand before the holidays coalesce. I choose not to hustle because it is how I proclaim that I am already enough, in a season where this can feel particularly challenging to do.

I know everyone likes to get into gratitude during November, which I love too. Gratitude is our daily bread and butter. But the hustle, the sway of demands, anxiety in the shaking, and the itch to prove myself is what I must fight against for my wellbeing and wholeness.

It isn’t just a me problem. As I look around me, I see my whole culture also running on a hamster wheel to nowhere and nothing—at least nothing that will satisfy or give them worth. We are much too content with fruitless endeavors.

And so, in November, I get proactive about resting in my identity, trusting in God’s provision, and that God my enough, my covering to making me enough. (Honestly, I’ve got nothing for you besides this as the solution for the incessant rat race. Even for my unbelieving friends reading this—I’m glad you’re here—these are the only words of life I hold to. I hope you join me anyway!)

The intention of No Hustle November was born in 2019, and has grown within me and my content each subsequent year. We are still at the beginning and I’d love it if you came along.

Your hustle probably looks different than mine does, as a wife, mama, writer, coach and activist. But whether it is the push to be healthier, skinnier, stronger, smarter, volunteer more, finish that degree, that project, make your thing bigger and better—there is always something that can be hustled for more. I am sure you feel it.

Our culture capitalizes on getting busy, pushing in, being strong, making things happen, proving ourselves, and working as hard as possible for change. On the other hand, it gives little validation to slowing down, doing nothing, refilling, or giving ourselves grace and acceptance in who we are and where we are at. Feelings of shame, comparison and inadequacy often come with relaxing. We feel we have to earn rest. Sabbaticals and sabbaths are not the norm. Explaining idleness seems necessary to prove we are not lazy. Only recovery is encouraged, and even that usually comes with a heavy weight to be productive again as soon as possible.

The only way we can transform our culture is if we fight this fiercely—first for ourselves, then for our children and their children.

How to No Hustle November

No Hustle November is actually very simple. There are only two goals (with an optional third). Here is how to No Hustle November:

1.) Living it:

First, you want to practice not hustling. Especially fight against it when you feel the pressure building inside, the stress clawing, when you are feeling less than, when you are itching to just Get. It. Done. or hear a voice that says, be better, already!

Stop and examine that. Pray, and ask yourself what is driving this need. Fight back by rooting into who (and whose) you are.

Then wonder. How do you get in touch with rest? Slowing down? Being present? Saying no? Radical acceptance? Refilling? Practicing skills in your toolbox? Giving yourself time to heal? If you need ideas, I share plenty. I am looking forward to learning from you, too!

2.) Showing it:

Do this in-person, around your friends and family. Be an example by vulnerably talking about your own desire to prove yourself through hustling and how you are trying to counteract that to claim an unhurried heart.

For example, choosing to not hustle can powerfully influence the way you approach the holidays. When I was a child, once my mom cooked a chicken for Thanksgiving instead of a Turkey. Instead of slaving all day in the kitchen, they took us on a hiking adventure in the mountains. I was annoyed that we weren’t eating the traditional meal. But now I see she was modeling of refilling and not hustling. (Thanks mom!)

Use your influence to inspire and invite others in your circles to join you in this intention!

3.) Weave it into your message

This of course is optional. But, if you have a platform, please talk about No Hustle November through your specific context! For example, No Hustle November has a very unique look to my audience of everyday changemakers and activists, who I spend most of my time writing to.

Share your struggles. Share what you’ve learned. I’d love to see how you frame this to serve your own audience! As always, you can link back to me, tag me, or use the hashtags #NoHustleNovember or #Nohustlevember.

Two things to remember

As the intention of No Hustle November is to not hustle, one of the requirements of participating is to not hustle as you practice not hustle. You can’t do better, be better, reach higher for the standard of not hustling. Because that is hustling.

Secondly, you don’t have to be good at resting and not hustling to participate in No Hustle November. In fact, you probably don’t need to do this if you’ve got a white flag raised on a totally unhurried heart. (And if so, share with me your secrets!)

What I know is that sharing our honest struggles and stories reduces the shame and stigmas that tend to want to hide to better prove ourselves. That in itself—being authentic—is a middle-finger to hustle-culture!

So give yourself grace and be real. Both things that are good to practice always and forever, beyond November.

Will you join me in No Hustle November?

Of course, I am sure you might want to have a more unhurried heart—who doesn’t? Maybe it isn’t the time for you—maybe you are gearing up for that gratitude challenge. That is okay! Go, gratitude!

But, if you are like me and need to go to war against hustle to claim rest for your heart, join me. Put this intention up in your life, in your home and run wildly n pursuit after it.