Taming the Terror of Time

The common plight of working people today, is the struggle with unmanageable workloads, severe time pressures and being pulled in too many directions. We seem to have little control over our workloads either at home or at work, but there is one immediate action we can take, and that is to adapt our approach. Challenging the physical and cognitive overload can help us salvage the scraps of our autonomous functioning. So, to re-set my relationship to the world, I’m re-reading Pip Pip by Jay Griffiths, because the hounds of time are once again barking at my heels.

Griffiths examines at how the speed of modern life damages our relationship to nature’s time. She advocates stepping outside the race imposed by ‘clock time’ and reconnecting with the natural world, where wild time holds sway. Tuning into the core rhythm of life can help us adapt our approach and gain a wider perspective. In an act of anarchy against the unrelenting terror of time, I took off my watch and haven’t worn one since. This might not be practical, but it did help me re-think my relationship to time and realise my sovereignty. The hounds still bark furiously, but for the most part, I’ve managed to establish my position as pack leader.

Ruled by Timepieces

As mental health and wellbeing facilitators we see hundreds of people every year who are dealing with overwhelming workloads, tight deadlines, back-to-back meetings, endless appointments, huge to-do lists and unrealistic expectations. These are considered the norms of modern life - but so too are chronic health disorders, poor mental health, and burnout. The impact that constant rushing and overwhelm have on our physical, mental and emotional wellbeing, is a study in madness.

Rushing increases our risk of accidents and injury and speeds up our biological clock, so that we age faster. The inability to say ‘no’ because we feel insecure at work or in our social networks is at the root of this reticence. To thrive, we need to face our fears and place greater value on our wellbeing.

In western culture where time is money, human productivity has trumped personal wellbeing as a standard business ethic. Living and working in highly pressured environments renders us prone to ‘hurry sickness’. In this compulsive race and quest for self-optimisation we are making ourselves ill and unhappy and are greasing the whip that drives us. In addition, we are being bullied by our watches, phones and computers as we try to accomplish everything in a day. We need to question the sanity of this state of being and practice re-asserting our autonomy.

Before digital technology and our obsession with constant productivity, we worked according to seasonal time, the stars and phases of the moon and had frequent periods of slow time. Only in recent generations have we been micro-managed by the 24hr clock, and although we need to work within this standardised system, we can change pace and steal moments of ‘still time’.

Rushing can become an entrenched habit we may be unaware of falling prey to. Society has encouraged and rewarded this unsustainable condition of being in which everything is ‘urgent, frantic’ and we are left ‘tired and wired’ (Weaver, 2014) but it’s time to examine this practice and seek a healthier way of living.

Because stress is contagious, we must resist being drawn into other people’s speed streams and remember that others ‘watch how we manage our own workloads and use our choice as a model – whether we mean them to or not’ (Brower, 2023). If we recognise our own stress levels, we can consciously slow things down enough, to allow our brains to process and our bodies to recuperate. By exercising self-control, we can improve our ability to manage expectations – both our own and others’.

According to science, the benefits of rushing are so marginal that the costs outweigh the benefits, so acting with focussed deliberation, by walking tall at a steady pace and breathing consciously can quieten our racing thoughts when things get hectic. If we find ourselves attempting to do everything in a hurry and feel agitated, frazzled and on edge – we need to pause and re-set our mode of being. (Re-origin, 2023). It is also worth having a seasonal re-think about who we might ask for help and what tasks could be delegated.

In rushing through our days, we take little delight from them and are too fatigued to care for ourselves properly. We eat at our desks or on the run, forgoing the healthy options. We skip our exercise routines and creative pursuits and neglect mind, body and soul. Carlo Petrini, the founder of the slow food movement refers to this as ‘the universal madness of the fast life’. (Petrini, 1989). But if we are mindfully engaged with what we are doing, whether it’s eating lunch or putting out the bins, this measured approach acts as an antidote to multi-tasking and makes our days more manageable and pleasant.

Earning our bread by losing our head

Most of us sell our time and skill to make a living but these contractual relationships require frequent negotiation, open communication and should always be under consideration.

A recent YouGov survey found that 35% of people questioned were not comfortable voicing concerns about pressure and stress to their line managers or leaders and almost half said their employers did not have a plan in place to spot signs of chronic stress. (Moloney, 2024).

Considering that ‘70% of people surveyed said that their manager had more impact on their mental health than their therapist or doctor— equal to the impact of their partner' (Brower, 2023), the prominence of these relationships reveals how important workplace wellbeing is to our quality of life.

Although it’s difficult to identify the fine line between optimum and excessive pressure, being alert to our own stress signals can help us take steps to tune things down. The talent for protecting our energy is something we develop through practice, and helps us establish a more comfortable and productive working rhythm. We do though, need to communicate our capacity more readily, which can sometimes be tricky, but if this doesn’t garner the support we need, then at least we will have exercised our autonomy muscle and boosted our self-respect.

Micro moments of headspace

Our headspace is the most precious thing we have and it’s where we reside. The author Frederick Franck proposes that we regularly ‘switch off from the world and come back down to earth’ by disconnecting from technology and reclaiming our personal headspace. He suggests we can counteract our busyness by creating “island[s] of silence” - focussing our gaze on something natural or beautiful that brings us ‘back to our senses’.

‘Deep slow breathing, physical movement, laughter, creative expression and positive social interactions are all micro moments that signal to your nervous system that you are safe.’ (Misra, 2023). Flexing these simple mechanisms can significantly improve our functionality. The trick is to salvage these micro moments throughout the day so that we might notice things we hadn’t seen before, improve our listening and comprehension and so, make better decisions.

Living more consciously can make our lives more rewarding, so when you find yourself walking tall, breathing deeply, laughing easily, and have a renewed sense of vitality, optimism and enthusiasm, you know you’re successfully training those hounds to ‘sit, stay and wait!’.

Written by MHScot Team Member, Sonia Last.

Sources:

Griffiths, J. Pip Pip, Flamingo.

Berry, Susan Weiss, ‘Becoming Unbusy’ Blog, (2020). 

Poynton, R. Do Pause/You are not a To Do List, The Do Book Co. (2019)

Petrini, C. Slow Food Manifesto, (Paris 1989), in Eating Words, Gilbert & Porter, Reichl Publishing (2015).

Slack, Workforce Index, The Surprising connection between after-hours work and decreased productivity, (2023). 

Weaver, Dr. L. The Science and Impact of Rushing (2014).