There’s No Time To Rush
3 reasons why you should slow down
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The End of Year Rush
Even with my deliberate attempts to slow down, I feel the energy of rushing all around me.
Everyone is trying to fit in everything before the clock winds down. As if the stroke of midnight on Sunday night is the last call for getting on the boat to 2018. If you’re not there, sorry, you’ve missed your opportunity to sail into the new year.
I hear it all around me, I see it in my news feed. Panic: I don’t have my goals yet. I’m not ready. I haven’t finished everything.
No other turn of the calendar induces so much panic and stress.
January is perhaps the most arbitrary month to start anew. It’s the dead of winter.
Seasonally, this is the time for hibernation and going inward, not for starting new projects. I’ve always been convinced that one of the reasons people fail in their “resolutions” so quickly is simply because it’s not the right time.
And yet everyone is rushing, afraid of being late to the party.
Energy is contagious, and the slower pace is still new to me. So as much as I try to keep to my slow pace, I can get caught up in the swirl of what’s going on around me.
When this happens, I remind myself of a mantra that I heard from meditation teacher Tara Brach in 2011.
There’s no time to rush.
There’s no time to rush
Tara tells the story of a woman who was diagnosed with cancer about a year after giving birth. Faced with only a year with her daughter, the woman adopted this mantra as a reminder to savor each moment.
This approach requires a mindset shift: instead of worrying about what you might miss by not “keeping up,” focus on what you might miss by not slowing down.
We miss so much when we rush. We miss the crucial moments that give life meaning and joy.
