No time
This turtle had time to pose for me near the Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco, July 2003
“I have no time to be in a hurry.”— Henry David Thoreau
When I was a child, I often heard talk of “the lazy days of summer.” I haven’t heard that phrase in a very long time. Indeed, summer seems more hectic than any other season, with vacations, activities and daily obligations packed so tightly that the time slips away before we accomplish half of what we had planned.
It’s no use getting into a rush, though. At least it’s not for me; I make more mistakes and get even farther behind when I try to do more than I’m capable of doing within a certain period of time. And the stress of running behind, trying to make up lost time, is almost unbearable. In my case, haste really does make waste.
My challenge is having a poor grasp of time and how long things will take. Thus I pack way more ambition into my plans than would be realistic for a time slot twice as long as the one I’m dealing with. The only way around this I have found is to leave huge cushions of time whenever I’m planning anything. It feels like sloppy planning until the time arrives, during which I normally STILL run out of time, even with a generous allowance built in. I keep hoping I’ll get better at planning, because just as Thoreau says, I really have no time for hurry.
Whatever you have planned today, or this week, or the remainder of the summer, don’t be afraid to SLOW DOWN if things start spinning past you too quickly!
This post was originally published seven years ago today. The original post, comments and photo are linked, along with two other related posts, below. These links to related posts, and their thumbnail photos, do not appear in the blog feed; they are only visible when viewing the individual posts by clicking on each one. I have no idea why, nor do I know how they choose the related posts. That’s just the way WordPress does things.
- Posted in: Uncategorized
- Tagged: calm, deliberation, go slow, hurry, planning, rush, serenity, slowing down, steady, taking time, time management
Defeat Despair 
Julia, so many truths here. Time has always been an interesting concept, to me. So many books, songs, and movies have attempted to “explore and explain” it. In the end, it’s really quite simple. If you accept the premise that you are your own person, and can make a decision, it’s simply priorities. I kid myself, I’m sure. Nothing is that simple. Here’s hoping your “to do” list is whittling down to nothing as we pass mid-week! I gotta go; out of time! Ha! 😊
Chris, I never seem to whittle my to-do list down to nothing…but maybe I need to just eliminate some things to put myself closer 🙂 . As my friend Ashleigh has said, “Some things leave my list after I’ve done them – others after I’ve abandoned hope of doing them.” Aging brings an ever-clearer perception of reality and what is actually possible, at least in some cases. Have a great weekend!