Taking Your Time

We humans are bad at being rational in a lot of things. A lot of what drives us is based off emotion one way or another, so I have to ask. Is that sense of urgency telling you that you're running out of time really helping you? 

Of course. Urgency helps you get things done, and a dose of eustress is healthy. So if you are running off the perfect amount of stress, I'll be out of your way.

I do hope you can wonder, though, whether or not the stress you're having is good or not. Maybe it's a bit obvious to you based on whether or not it feels good or not. For some, maybe you're either just stressed or you're not. Maybe you're stressed most of the time.

I have a few things where I have (nearly) all the time in the world to take care of something. Others, I have a deadline for, but these are all reasonable deadlines, and following a regular schedule I could get these done well before the deadline.

...So, what's with this feeling slowly creeping up on me? It's really counterproductive, because I end up feeling like I have to either jam-pack a ton of my tasks into one day, or I get so anxious over my work I put it off. Putting it off gives me a real reason to feel like I'm running out of time. Deadly combo. 

How about doing the unthinkable, taking my time? Just set aside some time to do something, and do it. Put on some jazz or classical music or whatever you like, and do it slowly. Maybe you'll discover that you're so used to rushing through everything that slowing down feels unnatural. You might find yourself enjoying it more, or if it's something you don't quite like, you'll find it less agonising to go through. That sounds counter-intuitive, but I've found some things to be more bearable if you aren't trying to fight it by constantly distracting yourself.

And hey, you might surprise yourself. Maybe work isn't so bad after all.

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