As a society, we’re always rushing around to the next job, the next event, the next anything. It’s no surprise then that I am one of those people who feels rushed to get to the next thing. I’ve been conditioned to be in a rush, but I have also been conditioned to give myself the time to get to wherever I need to get to without any rush.
Since childhood, I have been an early riser, or at least one who knows to wake up with enough time to eat breakfast, get dressed and be at school before the bell rang. I’ve followed this ritual even after college: when I worked in San Francisco, I made sure to give myself a couple hours before work began to get up, work out, get dressed, eat breakfast, and commute downtown with time to spare. I made sure I was always early to work, giving myself some buffer time to relax a bit and get into “the zone”.
Even though I now work from home, I still make it a point to wake up with enough time for breakfast and get myself prepared mentally for my work. I do my ritual even when getting ready for events I attend, making sure I give myself enough commute time before the beginning of an event.
In the times where I lose this buffer time, I find myself panicking about being late. I don’t know where this panic originated from in my past, but I always feel so anxious when I know I am running late to something. Oftentimes, though, when I finally do arrive (albeit a few minutes late), I see that there was no real reason for me to stress out…that no, I didn’t die because I was late. I may have been embarrassed but no, nothing dramatic happened.
Many times I still have to remind myself to not stress out if I am running late to a place, although I still make sure to notify the interested parties about my tardiness (if necessary). No, the building won’t burn down, and pretty much, if the other party is empathetic enough, they’ll be fine with the tardiness…well, as long as it’s not past 15 minutes late…that’s another rant for another day.
Life’s too short to spend stressed out rushing around, so remember to give yourself some time beforehand to get to your destination and then unwind!