If you’re a high-drive, time-conscious, self-motivator like me and can relate to my burnout story (and if you haven’t read it, check out chapter 1 of my book), you may be at a special kind of risk of burning out.
I learned this the hard way after my book launch marathon earlier this year. Even when my schedule started to lighten up, I found myself feeling frazzled and frenetic, constantly on high alert and looking for the next thing to cross off my to-do list.
It finally hit me during a massage appointment—I was lying there trying hard to relax, but thinking “I need to hurry up and get out of here so I can finish everything I need to do today”—that I was experiencing hurry sickness.
What the heck is hurry sickness?
You might have an intuitive sense that you “get” what hurry sickness means just by reading the term—I did. To be specific, hurry sickness describes a chronic feeling of urgency and the compulsive need to rush through life. People experiencing hurry sickness often find themselves constantly pressed for time, leading to a pattern of frantic behavior, multitasking, and frequently checking the clock.
When I learned just how much this growing societal issue is affecting our mental and physical well-being, I started digging into the research 🤓. To my lack of surprise, I found a number of studies showing that this relentless pace can lead to chronic stress, anxiety, and—you guessed it—burnout.
The term “hurry sickness” was coined by Dr. Meyer Friedman, a cardiologist, in the 1970s. He and his colleague, Dr. Ray Rosenman, conducted research on the impact of lifestyle and personality on heart health. They identified hurry sickness as a significant contributor to stress-related health issues, particularly in Type A personalities—those who are competitive, highly organized, and often overly focused on time (like yours truly).
Before I get into the causes and symptoms of hurry sickness, take a second right here and now to check in with your body. What’s your physical environment? How’s your breathing? How is your body positioned? We’ll return to this below.
What causes hurry sickness?
Several factors contribute to the development of hurry sickness:
- Cultural Expectations: Our society often glorifies busyness and productivity, leading individuals to believe that their worth is tied to how much they can accomplish in a day.
- Technology: The digital age has created a constant influx of information and communication. The expectation to respond quickly to emails, texts, and social media can add to the sense of urgency.
- Lifestyle Choices: Overcommitting to work, social engagements, and personal responsibilities can create a backlog of tasks, leading to a never-ending cycle of rushing.
- Personality Traits: Some individuals naturally possess traits that predispose them to hurry sickness, such as perfectionism or competitiveness.
When you consider these factors, it’s hard to imagine how anyone in our society could entirely avoid hurry sickness. We have only limited control over numbers 1, 2 and 4, and it takes courage and discipline to swim against the current of our culture, technology, and social circle. So if you’re feeling recognition, or a sinking feeling like “well this explains a lot,” you’re in good company. I’m right here with you, and it’s not a life sentence—I share some changes I’m making to address my hurry sickness in a sec.
How to recognize if you have hurry sickness
Hurry sickness is not a diagnosable condition (at least, not yet) but a pattern of behaviors and signs or symptoms that you might recognize:
- Always in a rush, always feeling behind
- Rapid talking, walking, rapid driving (!)
- Irritation, especially when you’re delayed or you feel others aren’t moving quickly enough
- Tendency to interrupt others
- Rarely slowing down or resting; experiencing psychological distress when you’re unoccupied or physical reactions (such as fidgeting)
- Impatience (generally, and also finding yourself hurrying others along)
- Rapid heartbeat, hypertension, insomnia.
- A preoccupation with your to-do list, getting things done, productivity, efficiency, and saving time
- A fixation on the passage of time and time slipping away
- Everything feels urgent
- Relying on adrenaline to get through everything—which can even become addictive!
Before we go on, check in with your body again. Do you notice anything different now that you’ve read this list of symptoms? Do you notice any happening right now? I have exercises and resources that help you check in with and regulate your body and nervous system in chapters 3 and 4 of my book—it’s a key skill set in achieving burnout immunity and, I suspect, “hurry sickness immunity” as well.
The problems hurry sickness causes
What happens when you’re chronically rushing and constantly wired? Sub-optimal decision-making when you don’t take time to think or feel through a decision. A lack of creativity, because creativity can’t be hurried. A reduced ability to effectively collaborate with others when you’re frequently impatient with their pace or skeptical of their ability to get things done efficiently. An increased irritability with others, from strangers to your loved ones. A decreased ability to take in, process, and use new information. And last but certainly not least, a lack of awareness of your mental and physical health (the short body check-ins you’ve practiced here help with this!).
What I’m doing to combat my hurry sickness:
I’m paying closer attention to what I’m doing (and what it’s doing to me). For example, I have a habit of gunning the accelerator to get through every yellow light (to “save” a few microseconds, I guess?). But what that’s doing to me is putting me at greater risk of getting a ticket or causing a car crash. Instead, I’m stopping when I need to and taking the time at red lights to breathe and look more closely at my surroundings. It’s amazing how much I notice when I pay attention.
I’m getting more comfortable letting other people down. This includes saying “not right now” and “no thank you” more often, so that I don’t feel so overcommitted and frazzled when I do say yes.
I’m implementing forcing functions that compel and motivate me to slow down. This includes blocking out buffer time on my calendar to deal with unexpected to-do’s, and scheduling time to reflect and recalibrate my to-do list so I’m not approaching everything with the same sense of urgency.
I’m prioritizing grace over accomplishment. This is a hard one for me, especially since one of my favorite past-times is GSD-ing and crossing things off a to-do list. Rather than being hard on myself for what I don’t get done, I’m practicing self-compassion by giving myself a little extra grace when all the things don’t get done as lickity-split as I want them to.
Enjoying the peace and relaxation that comes along with un-hurrying my life. I’ve been practicing all of the above for the last 2 months and I’ve noticed a big improvement in my sleep, relationships, and overall sense of peace.
A big influence in recognizing my own hurry-up-and-go patterns was my mini-sabbatical this summer (I’m grateful I could take one—I know it’s not possible for everyone and I wish it were). During my time off, I reflected on a few questions that are still with me:
- How can I best balance my mission to help other people protect themselves from burnout, without putting myself at risk?
- What’s the next frontier of my noble purpose? (More on this in chapter 5 of my book)
- Is there another area of research that’s calling my name?
Remember (and note to self): it’s not about how fast you go—it’s about how well you live.
