Stop Chasing Time

You know that feeling when you wake up, glance at your phone, and suddenly your mind starts sprinting before your feet even touch the floor? Emails piling up, calls to return, projects half done, and somewhere in between, you remember you should probably drink some water and maybe if you’re lucky — take a deep breath.

We all do it. We chase time like it’s this elusive prize, always a few steps ahead, just out of reach. No matter how fast you run, time runs faster. It’s exhausting, isn’t it? That constant sense that you’re falling behind, like life is some never ending to do list and your worth is measured by how much you can cram into 24 hours.

But here’s the thing, time isn’t something to catch. It’s not running from you. It’s just there, ticking along whether you’re stressed out or blissfully unaware. The real problem isn’t time; it’s the story we’ve told ourselves about it. That if we can just be a little more organized, a little more efficient or if we just get up earlier, we’ll finally “win.” Spoiler alert: there’s no finish line.

Somewhere along the way, we started treating time like currency hoard it, spend it wisely, don’t waste it. But time isn’t money. You can’t save it for later. You can’t lock it in a vault. The only thing you can actually do with time is live it and that’s where everything shifts.

What if you stopped chasing time and started noticing it instead? What if you let yourself actually feel those quiet moments, the seconds when your coffee is just the right temperature, or when the light hits your wall in a way that makes your whole room glow? What if you gave yourself permission to breathe between tasks, instead of trying to squeeze productivity out of every single minute?

When you’re always racing the clock, life becomes this blur. You move so fast that you forget why you’re even moving in the first place. It’s like running with your eyes closed sure, you’re covering ground, but where are you actually going?

Slowing down isn’t the same as falling behind. It’s not laziness. It’s presence. It’s remembering that you’re a person not a machine, not a checklist, not a productivity app with legs. And, believe it or not, you might actually get more done when you stop obsessing over how much you’re getting done.

Because here’s the sneaky truth no one tells you: the more you chase time, the more anxious you become. And the more anxious you are, the harder it is to focus. You’re not working smarter, you’re just working scared, afraid you’ll lose some invisible race. But when you stop treating time like an enemy, it stops feeling so scarce. You create space, mental space, emotional space and that’s where the good stuff happens. That’s where clarity lives, where your best ideas show up, where you remember what actually matters.

So maybe today, just as an experiment, you could try living like time isn’t something you need to catch. Let it flow. Trust that you have enough of it, even if you don’t tick off every box. Give yourself a break "a real one" without the guilt that usually comes with it. See what happens when you stop counting minutes and start experiencing them instead.

Time isn’t running away. It’s right here. And so are you!

Best

DS