Why Are We Always in a Rush?
"Don't rush."
It's one of those pieces of advice we've heard so many times that we barely notice it anymore. Parents say it when we're kids. Friends say it when we're stressed. You see it in books, podcasts, and social media posts almost every day.
For years, I thought it simply meant slowing down.
Then one day, while waiting at a traffic light, I realized I had completely misunderstood it.
The countdown showed less than a minute before the light turned red. Cars started speeding up to make it through. I would've done exactly the same. Missing the light meant waiting another minute, and somehow that felt like losing.
Then I caught myself thinking, Why am I in such a hurry?
I wasn't late.
Nobody was waiting for me.
One extra minute wasn't going to change anything.
Yet I still wanted to beat the red light.
The funny thing is, it wasn't really about the traffic signal. That one minute just reflected something much bigger. I had become someone who was always rushing.
Not just while driving.
While eating.
While working.
While finishing one task so I could start another.
Even while relaxing, I'd already be thinking about what came next.
Once I noticed it, I couldn't stop seeing it.
Most of us do the same thing.
We eat while checking our phones. We think about tomorrow while trying to enjoy today. We spend Monday waiting for Friday, then spend Friday planning the next vacation. Even vacations have become schedules packed with places to visit instead of moments to enjoy.
It's almost as if we've trained ourselves to believe that the next moment is always more important than the current one.
I used to think rushing made me productive.
Now I think it was doing the opposite.
When your attention is always on the finish line, it's hard to enjoy the work in front of you. You start measuring everything by how quickly you can get through it.
The task becomes something to finish instead of something to experience.
That reminded me of a verse from the Bhagavad Gita that I had read years ago.
"You have a right to perform your prescribed duties, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions." (Bhagavad Gita 2.47)
For the longest time, I thought this was only about work or success.
Now I think it's also about ordinary life.
Wash the dishes without thinking about the next task.
Drink your coffee without scrolling through your phone.
Listen to someone without planning what you're going to say next.
Write without worrying about how many people will read it.
The more I think about it, the more I feel that "don't rush" has very little to do with speed.
It's about attention.
John Lennon once said, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." That line has stayed with me because it's surprisingly easy to spend months waiting for something that's always just around the corner.
The next promotion.
The next vacation.
The next weekend.
The next goal.
The problem is that life isn't hiding behind those milestones.
It's happening on a random Tuesday afternoon while you're eating lunch.
It's happening while you're driving home from work.
It's happening while you're waiting at that red light you were trying so hard to avoid.
I'm still guilty of rushing.
I still catch myself trying to do three things at once or thinking about tomorrow before today is over.
The only difference is that now I notice it.
And every time I do, I remind myself that there isn't always somewhere better to be.
Sometimes the place you're trying to rush through is the part of life you'll wish you had paid more attention to.
References
- Bhagavad Gita 2.47: https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/2/47/
- John Lennon quote: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/1483-life-is-what-happens-to-you-while-you-re-busy-making-other
