Hi lovely,

Rushing Woman Syndrome... what a term. Let me explain:

Do you feel like you are constantly rushing around? Do you never have enough time? Always on the verge of running late? Sending emails with grammatical mistakes? Forgetting things? Short-tempered even with those you love? Are you a total time-optimist?

I get it. So many of us feel like we constantly have to rush in order to get it all done. Our email inboxes are flooded with unanswered and starred messages. We drink coffee to keep ourselves going. Then, we still don't feel like we have done enough, anxiety builds up and we wonder how we can manage it without actually doing less.

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine forwarded me a TED talk by Dr. Libby Weaver, a nutritional biochemist, author & speaker who gave a talk on “The Pace Of Modern Life vs. Our Cavewoman Biochemistry” and WOAHH, it blew my mind. As I was watching, my head basically did not stop nodding.

Yesterday, I was so lucky to meet Dr. Libby in person during a trip of hers to NYC. And of course, she is totally amazing. Check out our little group of girls below. So fun!

Dr. Libby makes so many amazing points in her Ted talk and connects all of it back to women’s health specifically and how cave women and modern women basically still share the same DNA, but have drastically different life styles. She lays out the effects that constantly rushing takes on our physical, mental and emotional well-being. I highly recommend you take a peek and watch her video. It honestly is transformational.

After our brunch yesterday, I started to think about my own “Rushing Woman Syndrome” and I realized that I am totally guilty of all of that myself.

When I was a kid, my family was constantly running late… 30 minutes was totally normal. We didn’t try to be late. We were just overly optimistic with time.

Time-optimism is still something I personally carry with me. I am not actually running very late in my own adult life, BUT, I often feel like I am constantly rushing. Speed-walking. Checking my email on the go. Feeling incredibly impatient at a red light. Racing into my acupuncturist’s office with my bike helmet still on.

And I gotta be honest, I hate it.

What happened to leisurely strolling? What happened to taking long lunches? What about sitting on a bench, soaking up the afternoon sun, and letting your mind wander? What about getting to yoga early enough to stretch and breath for a couple minutes prior?

A few days ago, I actually hit the ball out of the park when I was rushing out of my apartment to meet a friend for Pilates when my cat, Mufasa ran out with me and I DIDN’T EVEN NOTICE. My fiancé found him meowing in front of the door. I felt BEYOND guilty for the fluffy little guy. Thankfully he was all fine, but it really woke me up to the fact that I am not present because I don’t calculate any buffer time into my schedule. As if putting on my shoes, getting my bag ready, and walking out of my building takes zero time… really?!

And so, I made a new commitment to myself: I will take action against my “Rushing Woman Syndrome” by committing to leaving 10 minutes before I think I have to leave. This is something I am doing for myself and for my health because I want to feel calm and present now and in the future.

Rushing is one of the only things that throws me off balance lately as my schedule went into Spring/Summer (read: busy) mode and I want to return back to my calm equilibrium. The good thing is that all of this rushing is totally self-imposed by my misaligned relationship with time, which means that it’s also in my power to change it.

I’m curious: what is your relationship with time like? Are you constantly rushing? Do you feel like you want to make a new commitment to yourself that help you create the space and time you need to not rush so much? Let us know in the comments below.

xox