Right in the middle of the rat race

By Bryan Painter, Staff Writer

Published: November 14, 2008

EDMOND — “Where am I at?”

As puzzling as it sounds, you may be asking this because you know exactly where you are — right in the middle of the rat race.

Randy Cochran, a licensed psychologist and director of the Oklahoma Christian University counseling center, said part of changing the habit of being caught up in the rat race is “really getting a feel for what I am involved in.”

He said we have to stop long enough to realize how over-extended we are by writing down our activities. Too, we must look at time management. If we don’t know how our time is being used, we might just think we can take on even more, he said.

“If it’s not really organized, then we find ourselves slipping into other activities that we can’t account for and that are overwhelming us,” Cochran said.

Many things can lead us to add more to our schedule. How often do you hear, “I just need you to” or “This shouldn’t take that much time.”

But there’s a more subtle one that we often sell to ourselves: “It’s now or never.”

“A lot of times people think about the opportunities that they can’t pass up,” Cochran said. “They don’t want to turn that down. They may not have another chance. And so I think those are ones that cause a lot of pressure too.”

This goes back to taking just long enough to realize where you’re at before you moved ahead.

“It does take practice to deliberately monitor those” he said. “Try to drop one or two that are not a priority. Try to live without those for awhile. Get used to changing that behavior, to not overextending to do too much.”

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