Sometimes I look at what I’ve done in my life as opposed to all of the things I still want to do.  That’s almost always a mistake.  It’s really easy for me to think I have accomplished very little.  Then I judge myself and tell myself I should have gotten a lot more done by this point.

That’s when I usually panic.  Ahhhh!!!  Time is slipping away!!!  My life is waning!!!  The zombie apocalypse is coming!!!  I need to get things done NOW!

Now

Now

NOW!!!!!

The problem is when I feel like I have to get things done immediately, I rush around like a deranged chicken clucking at windmills.  Seriously.  You should see me.  I pull things out of my mental (or physical) closet and throw them around the room.  I dash from one end of the house to the other.  I mutter to myself about my plans.  I make lists.

And lists.

AND LISTS.

Then, invariably, I feel overwhelmed and stuck in a prison of my own making.  Which is when I curl up on the sofa, sobbing softly while I eat carbohydrates and play solitaire.  It ain’t pretty.

So here’s the thing I have to remember.

There’s really no need to rush.

Yes, I have a lot of things I want to accomplish.  And yes, I need to move forward.  I can’t just sit in my rocking chair and watch the world go by.  But just because I recognize there are things I still want to do doesn’t mean I have to get them all done this second.  In fact, as in Mario Kart, rushing to get everything done at once only increases the chance I’ll run off the road and crash into a brick wall.

I think the most important thing is to move.  If you move, you’ll eventually get things done.  How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.  Sitting and staring at the elephant isn’t going to get it eaten.  By the same token, trying to stuff an entire elephant into your mouth all at once isn’t exactly productive.  

So join me in taking a deep breath.  Ready? Okay, INHALE….hold it, hold it, hold it….EXHALE.  Good.  Let us all be calm.  Just because we may not be moving as quickly as someone else we know doesn’t mean we’re failures.  We don’t need to judge ourselves.

We need to move, but we don’t need to rush.