85. Apologies in advance

Apologies in advance, I have some urgent living to do.

I was talking to my sister recently about living and loving with a sense of urgency. I often feel a sense of urgency that not everyone seems to feel. Until now, I haven’t thought much about this state of being or preference for living...though I will admit that I have felt that my sense of urgency of living can come across as impatience, rude or even dismissive. So, I started doing some investigation.

This led me to ponder the difference between urgency and being in a hurry.

Unfortunately, I believe I suffer from both conditions.

First, the hurry. For most of my life, I have been told that I move too fast and don’t thoroughly check my work. I didn’t get into a fancy college prep school in Dallas because after I completed the placement exam, I closed the book and started doodling. I didn’t bother to go over my questions again. I am certain that some of you have been wildly entertained by the typos on this blog. I hurry to go to the bathroom. I hurry in the shower. I want the dishwasher unloaded in a hurry just in case the dishes decide to run away again. I would like to make one trip from my car into school, while regularly dropping things on the way in, as two trips would take more time. There is no excuse for hurrying. It is a bad habit that I can’t seem to kick.

Second, the urgency. In my research, I have learned that living with a sense of urgency is a real thing. Some of us have a heightened awareness that time is finite, and we want to make the most of every moment.

You read it here first -- this kind of mindset is frequently considered: effing annoying.

12 Signs You May Also Struggle With Urgent Living Syndrome (ULS):

1. You set goals, you do the work and then you set new goals.

2. You wickedly prioritize/calendarize 168 hours a week.

3. You don’t wait for things to happen – you take initiative to make things happen.

4. You don’t dwell in indecision – you do something.

5. If it isn’t the right thing, you do something else.

6. Even if you are scared, you take action. You don’t sit in your shit.

7. If something appears to be hard, you eat one bite at a time and then it becomes easier.

8. You never stop learning. Because if life gets boring, you may die.

9. You want to find work with a lot of purpose as purpose is your lifeblood.

10. If things don’t work out, it is okay. You learned something. You try again.

11. Work is joy. Joy is work.

12. Balance. What is this concept you speak of?

Some of my favorite quotes on the topic...

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.

– Lao Tzu

The trouble with life in the fast lane is that you get to the other end in an awful hurry.

– John Jensen

No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anybody but yourself.

– Virginia Woolf

Desire without knowledge is not good - how much more will hasty feet miss the way!

– Proverbs 19:2

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