Being late equals being anxious. But now I've seen the light...
A few months ago, my sister and I took our annual weekend getaway with our girlfriends. The trip was fabulous, as it always is, but it was the start of the trip that really set the tone for the entire weekend. What did we do differently? We left...drumroll, please...early for our outbound flight. That's right - this chronically late gal gave in to big sister's whim and left extremely early for our flight out of Baltimore, which is an hour away. Our flight left at 10:15am, and my sister requested that we leave the house at 7am. Yikes! Normally, I would have begged and pleaded to leave later. But this time, I was willing to accommodate. I knew we might run into some traffic, but more than that, I just didn't feel like arguing.
And leaving early turned out to be the best decision I've made in a long, long time. As predicted, we ran into traffic. But did we panic? Not all. We had plenty of time. When we arrived at the airport, we ran into a backup in security. But we did we panic? Not for one moment. We still had plenty of time. The lack of anxiety during that travel day was remarkable - and I took notice. It made a difference in my overall demeanor for the rest of the day, and my fatigue level was much less than what I thought it should be. Walking out the door, dressed and ready to go by 7am should have necessitated a late-morning siesta. But I think because I was so relaxed and unstressed, I wasn't depleting my energy reserves unnecessarily. I felt great until my normal nap time that afternoon, and all weekend long.
It's been way too long since I've felt that way on a travel day. Normally, the girls and I are dashing out the door, one shoe on, the other in hand, bags half open, with Johnny ushering us into the car. We race out of our driveway, at least 15 minutes late...usually more. I follow my own advice of packing the night before, and packing the girls two nights before, but when it comes to actually leaving on time, I struggle.
But I never considered the toll that being late has on my health. I know stress contributes to my symptoms, but I hadn't put the anxiousness of being late into the "stress" category before. Having experienced the joys of being punctual, let's hope this weekend with my sister serves as the catalyst that will make me chronically early. Time will tell!
And leaving early turned out to be the best decision I've made in a long, long time. As predicted, we ran into traffic. But did we panic? Not all. We had plenty of time. When we arrived at the airport, we ran into a backup in security. But we did we panic? Not for one moment. We still had plenty of time. The lack of anxiety during that travel day was remarkable - and I took notice. It made a difference in my overall demeanor for the rest of the day, and my fatigue level was much less than what I thought it should be. Walking out the door, dressed and ready to go by 7am should have necessitated a late-morning siesta. But I think because I was so relaxed and unstressed, I wasn't depleting my energy reserves unnecessarily. I felt great until my normal nap time that afternoon, and all weekend long.
It's been way too long since I've felt that way on a travel day. Normally, the girls and I are dashing out the door, one shoe on, the other in hand, bags half open, with Johnny ushering us into the car. We race out of our driveway, at least 15 minutes late...usually more. I follow my own advice of packing the night before, and packing the girls two nights before, but when it comes to actually leaving on time, I struggle.
But I never considered the toll that being late has on my health. I know stress contributes to my symptoms, but I hadn't put the anxiousness of being late into the "stress" category before. Having experienced the joys of being punctual, let's hope this weekend with my sister serves as the catalyst that will make me chronically early. Time will tell!
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