Everything I’ve done has always been in a rush.
100mph Harry, my mum would call me.
I would quite literally run from one task to the other.
Hammer the keyboard, wolf down some food, straight out the door again.
Even since getting Long Covid, this tendency to rush hasn’t stopped, and it’s not just when I’m late for an appointment, or got lots to do.
It seems engrained in everything I do, from preparing food, to answering emails to eating.
I notice this pang of excitability and anxiety to hasten, to quickly finish whatever I’m doing, and it’s so automatic, that I need not think to lean into it.
But I’m now trying to notice it more, to question, does this really need to be rushed?
Do I really need to chop up this food at 100mph? Can my return from lunch really not wait?
It all comes back to living more in a state of flow.
Rushing is not actually so productive or enjoyable.
It’s frantic, and anxiety-inducing, and you’re never left with a satisfying sense of completion.
So if you’re anything like me, I’d encourage you to try the same.
The next time you feel yourself in a rush to stop, notice, and question if you do indeed need to be rushing.
I am training with Alex Howard to become a therapeutic coach, and we recently covered people’s “timelines,” or their relationship with time. I realized I spend all my time (in my head) in the near future, always thinking one step ahead, always trying to get to the next thing. I’ve had to deliberately work on presence and mindfulness, but it’s hard to undo decades of a pattern. But we have to keep trying! The best parts of life are passing us by when we rush to get to the next thing.
A great reminder! Even though I’m aware of my rushing and know better than to be rushing, I still do it. So it bears repeating …often! 😂