Author: Tara May

Time is a funny thing. Some things improve with time: works of art, wine, friendships, skills. Some things get arguably worse. In particular, the things we choose to put off or avoid do not improve with time; in fact, time often makes the thing we are trying to avoid a whole lot bigger. I am just as guilty of this behavior as the next person. If there is something I don’t particularly want to do, I inevitably delay getting it done. Even though I know that putting it off will only make it worse, I still let the time go...

Many of us operate in a perpetual state of rush. From the moment we wake up in the morning, we are launched into overdrive. We rush to get out of bed, to brush our teeth, to make the bed, to get dressed. The pattern continues throughout the day. We rush to make breakfast, to get to work, to get started on a project, to get to the gym. As the day wears on, we rush through bathroom breaks and phone calls, meals and conversations. On the road, we want to be in the fast lane; in the grocery store,...

I recently had a conversation with a stranger about stuff. In particular, we talked about our attachment to things and our aversion to getting rid of them. This woman had recently lost her husband, and she shared with me the anxiety she felt about going through his things and possibly giving them away. The task seemed so daunting to her—she didn't know where, or how, to start—that she found herself avoiding it altogether. She carried the weight of that avoidance with her, along with the guilt that came with it. I could relate. Not directly to her specific situation,...