Lately, I have become increasingly anxious about driving anywhere. I heard some statistic recently that automobile accidents have increased by some ridiculous amount. I want to say 40%, because I’m too lazy to look it up.
Everyone appears to be in such a rush to get wherever they are going. You get folks passing you with inches to spare. They are practically riding in your trunk as if they believe they can go through you. On the regular, I see someone flying up the shoulder with total disregard for the fact that someone might be pulled over on the shoulder further down the road. It’s as if no one ever took the driving test. They forgot about the one car length for every 10 mph. They don’t care! Passing on the left; on the right. Total recklessness and disregard for human life, including their own.
A few days ago, someone attempted to pass me, but seemed to forget that they couldn’t quite pull that off when their rear door hadn’t cleared the entire front quarter panel of my passenger side. Had I not hit my breaks, they would have hit me and probably sent me into oncoming traffic. For what? Is there any place you need to get to that is worth risking your life or the lives of others?
And they’re ready to kill you (and have!) if you get in their way or attempt to address their irresponsible behavior. In a split-second lives could be lost and for what? So, you can get to your destination a whole ten minutes earlier? Total recklessness.
But why all the sudden is everyone in such a rush? We seem to be living in a time where pretty much everyone you encounter is in a damn hurry! When did this happen? We want everything NOW! (Especially our youth! I feel bad for them! And yes, I believe technology is largely to blame!) Look, no one is going to speed up the earth’s rotation. Impatience is not a virtue. It’s a flaw that can result in chronic stress, half ass results, and relationship problems. (If you have a teen or a young person in your life, be sure to talk to them about the value of patience!)
We live in a time of instant gratification, and it’s made a whole lot of folks pretty impatient. Sadly, we now live in a world filled with a bunch of impatient and lazy folks. Some people are just impatient, and always have been. It’s part of their personality. Then there is the greed thing. It’s all about productivity and quantity and becoming less about quality. And I mean quality in products and services, as well as quality of life! We also have shorter attention spans. I also think as we age, some become less patient. Perhaps it is because we feel we have less time to waste!
So, it got me thinking about the idea of rushing. Not just in your vehicle, but in life in general. We rush so we can do more or get more, but what really happens is that we miss out on a lot. We miss opportunities. We miss out on experiences. It sort of comes back to the idea of mindful living. If you are rushing through life, and always thinking ahead, you’re not present. You’re not living in the moment. I know this because I am guilty of this myself. (Not the driving part!) But the rushing part. I realize that I have two speeds. Fast and faster! Sometimes I feel incapable of slowing down. I have always juggled so many things. As a result, I would have to rush to get everything done that needed to be done. But when I thought about it, I realized that I have always been that way. Even as a kid. I had so many interests. I wanted to do so many different things that I would jump from one thing to the next. I became a jack of all trades of sort, but a master of NONE. Always multi-tasking. A lot of women are like that.
For me, not being very good at asking for help is one reason. Being a perfectionist and a bit of a control freak was another. I never wanted to delegate to others because I wanted things done my way. But in doing so, I routinely stressed myself out because I existed (and to a large degree still do) in a constant state of overwhelm. I create totally unreasonable to-do lists each week and then become stressed out and frustrated when I’m unable to cross everything off the list. (When the list was insane to start with!) Then I beat myself up and feel like I failed because I wasn’t super woman and did accomplish everything. (Shit. Where’s my cape?)
For years I have constantly pushed myself to meet unreasonable, and often unnecessary self-imposed deadlines. These habits have caused me a great deal of stress. The constant feelings of being overwhelmed and anxious from taking on too much all of the time, is probably the reason my blood pressure is elevated. Of course, there can be other factors (in my case, it’s probably not diet or exercise because I’m pretty good about both!) but I’m feeling pretty confident that constantly taking on too much is definitely a factor that is affecting my mental and physical health.
My brain is just constantly going. Not only does this cause stress on my mind and body, but it affects my ability to sleep. While I might not be driving too fast, I’m doing everything else too fast, and it’s just a matter of time before I crash!
So, in my research, I discovered there is such a thing as “hurry sickness.” Of course, there is! Someone will slap a label on any issue you can come up with. But I read about it and thought to myself, OMG, “You have hurry sickness!” I read that if you spend your day racing to check items off your to-do list and then get pissed off when anything gets in your way, it could be hurry sickness. I mean, when I’m on a mission to do anything, just someone attempting to talk to me is irritating. One article also said, “If you walk fast, and talk fast,” you may have hurry sickness. Totally me! Well, it is just not a healthy way to be and there are repercussions! I, like many people these days need to slow down! NOW.
According to cardiologists Meyer Friedman and R.H. Rosenman, hurry sickness (Related to Type A personalities….who me? Nah.) is really a thing. They referred to it as a “feeling or urgency to get things done when there’s no need and a sense of excessive time urgency.” They coined the phrased in their 1985 book “Type A Behavior and Your Heart” and even though it is not considered an actual medical condition, they did find that it may lead to stress related heart conditions and you guessed it, HYPERTENSION! Ding! Ding! Ding!
I found this list on psych central (link below) and it’s totally me! Do you have any of these habits?
- rushing through tasks
- feeling irritable when there’s a delay
- interrupting or talking over people (See, I’m not just rude. I have a sickness!)
- running through your “to do” in your head
- treating everything like a race
- always feeling behind schedule
- continuously multi-tasking
- always having a sense of urgency
If so, we need to slow the hell down! But I’ve been this way my entire life. Maybe some of you are the same way. How do we learn to slow down? Well, like every other issue, the first step is to recognize that you have the problem. I’m there. Now what?
Well, there are some steps you can take. (Not 12, but a few!)
- Practice Mindfulness. And I said practice for a reason! Because it takes practice. Focus on the now. Focus on one task at a time. When you feel yourself speeding up or becoming overwhelmed, focus on your breathing.
- Learn to prioritize. It’s not all equally important and some can be delegated. Give others an opportunity to help you! You lose nothing.
- Set some boundaries and learn the art of saying NO. There is such a thing as too much for one person!
- Remind yourself that constantly rushing around is not healthy. Practice self-care daily. Even if it’s just making time for a short meditation or a cup of tea and some quiet. Put it on that to do list! (At the top!)
- Remember, this is your life! The only time being the fastest matters is in an actual race! (In sports!) For the rest of us, there is no need to rush toward the finish line! It’s your life and not a race. I’m in no rush to finish life! I’m finally ready to enjoy it.
So, just slow the F*%K Down!
https://psychcentral.com/anxiety/always-in-a-rush-maybe-its-time-urgency#hurry-sickness
https://www.mentalhelp.net/blogs/why-are-people-in-such-a-hurry/