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iQuestions Faculty, Dr. Tim & Darcy Kimmel 
 
 
Question: 
 
Everyone in my household is on different schedules. We wake up tired, 
even after a full night's sleep. How can we stop this crazy pace? 
 
Answer: 
 
DARCY KIMMEL: Well, that hurried lifestyle we can relate to.  
 
TIM KIMMEL: Big time. 
 
DARCY: I think it’s here to stay.  
 
It used to be that we tried to determine how we could avoid the 
hurried lifestyle. Now, I think it’s more, “How can we just make the 
most of it, and make sure it doesn’t undermine our joy and our 
family?” 
 
TIM: It’s part of the success allusion that we are all bombarded with. 
But the problem is, when it gets a hold of us, it just is a wet blanket 
over the whole family. It takes the joy right out of the equation.  
 
And it gets us second-guessing ourselves. Next thing you know, we’re 
not connected at the heart. But there are some things we can do about 
it, because if you don’t manage the hurried lifestyle, it is going to 
manage you. 
 
DARCY: That’s right. And we have raised four children, and with all the 
kids and all their schedules, one of the things that we have found to be 
really helpful—and sometimes it happens at the beginning of the 
school year—is that we just kind of pretend we are a sinking ship. 
 
 
 
TIM: Yes. 
 
DARCY: And something has to go. So, we evaluate what everyone is 
involved with, our schedules, and ask, “What can we do to get rid of 
some of that stuff, to get down to the bare minimum?” 
 
TIM: You know, another thing is, if you consistently eat dinner 
together—now, very few families can eat 7-for-7 in the evenings in a 
week, but if you had two, three, four dinners a week where you shut 
the television off, nobody can check their emails, nobody can text-
message anyone, and you just spend some time—it’s amazing how 
much calm and rest that brings back to the hearth. 
 
DARCY: And because it’s a time when you all touch base with each 
other, it keeps those relationships stronger, and that gives a lot of rest 
and peace in a child’s heart.  
 
Another thing—and this is hard to achieve, but it’s very important—is, 
make sure everybody is getting enough rest. Teenagers need as much 
rest as little kids. Otherwise, they can be very grumpy. And moms and 
dads need a lot of rest. 
 
So, make sure that you are quieting down the house, and everyone 
has the opportunity to get good sleep. 
 
TIM: And you need to learn the most positive word in the English 
language—and that’s the word “no.” The more you can say no when 
you need to say no, the more you are going to be free to say yes when 
you really do need to say yes. 
 
Listen, the hurried lifestyle is here to stay, but we can do something 
about it. 
 
 
 
DARCY: Yeah. It doesn’t have to manage you. 
  
 
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