A matter of pace

Are we all moving too quickly? Given it’s almost Friday afternoon in the first full week since March, we somewhat doubt it right now. 

But it’s apparently a big issue. Many of us, according to psychotherapist Erica Schwartzberg, are in ‘urgency mode’, where everything feels like a rushed emergency, regardless of its importance or priority. 

If you’ve ever found yourself rushing through a task that doesn’t have time pressure, or feeling guilty for relaxing, you may be stuck in urgency mode. If you don’t feel that, The Cave would like to know how.

This tendency is also linked to our ever degrading ability to concentrate. Research shows our attention spans are about one third as long as they were in 2004. Cal Newport, the author of ‘Deep Work’ believes the problem is so grave it requires a response at the national level, akin to previous guidelines for processed foods or recommended cardio.

This feeling of constantly sprinting on a treadmill, desperately trying to keep up with normal life while being distracted by a deluge of content, is…rational, quite frankly. 

The dream of a slower, more relaxed life pops up regularly. But for the vast majority of people, it’s ludicrously unrealistic.

This week, Australia saw the sharpest drop in consumer confidence since Covid. In the US, 57% of employees now identify as job huggers, staying in roles because of insecurity. AI-powered side hustles are on the rise to such an extent that teaching people how to side hustle is now the hottest side hustle gig. 

Economic uncertainty and a fractured social contract is pushing us all towards constant hustle, constant distraction, constant urgency. 

In response, trauma therapist Chloë Bean suggests having an anxiety bag on hand filled with gum, lotion, and candy. We’d probably suggest fixing a profoundly broken system, but in the meantime, you could do a lot worse than lotion and candy.