I Don't Trust Urgency

When I was in my thirties and suffering from a low grade anxiety disorder, I let the feeling of urgency steal my life. Because I was always anxious, I did not know what it felt like NOT to be anxious. I thought how I felt was normal, even though I also felt enormous shame for being so afraid all the time.

One day I just got sick of being afraid. I decided I would practice being a little braver every day and I would never trust urgency again.

This day my life changed forever.

I am legally blind. Some people with vision just like mine do not leave their homes to get the mail. I get that. When we practice being afraid, we become good at it and our world literally shrinks around us. We are either getting braver or more cowardly. There is no neutral.

Now I travel all of the world by myself most the time. I even traveled in India on a train by myself. Well, certainly not by myself. Unaccompanied I should say. For twenty four hours I was in a compartment with three men. I was wearing a dress and I had the top bunk. No one spoke English. The toilets were, well I couldn't even see what they were but the smell scared me.

I turned this experience into a verse in a song I sing now to introduce myself. Yahoo!

Anti-Urgency Tip

Never trust the feeling of urgency. Real emergency situations call for clear thinking and level-headed action. The push of urgency, “Now! Now! Or something terrible will happen!” is addictive and it is a Lie. Never, never trust it.

When I feel urgent, I stop what I am doing. I do not make the urgency choice. I do something else.

I urge you to go cold turkey and never trust urgency again. It does not like you! It hates you and it wants to steal your joy, creativity, and the essence of your life.