When I hear someone saying they “just can’t wait” for something in the future, I sometimes remember this little exchange in Lonesome Dove1:

“I see you’re in a hurry to get someplace. It’s a great mistake to hurry.”

“Why?” Joe asked, puzzled by almost everything the traveler said.

“Because the grave’s our destination,” Mr. Sedgwick said. “Those who hurry usually get to it quicker than those who take their time…”

You’ll reach the end of your days at some point, whether you hurry or not. But if you’re always in a hurry, that last day may seem to get here faster than if you had taken your time. Now, the life expectancy for hurryers may not be statistically shorter than those who don’t hurry. But if you live in a constant state of hurrying, it’s bound to affect your life experience.

If you’re so focused on getting through today because you “just can’t wait” for tomorrow, you also run the risk of missing what’s happening right in front of you—today. It’s totally normal to be excited about the future. But when the present moment becomes something you “just can’t wait” to get through, remember that once you’re through it, you can’t get that time back, and you’ll be just that much closer to your final destination.

  1. Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove. ↩︎