Recently I was late to something. I particularly did not think it was a big deal. Still don’t, but it was the source of a very intense argument and it weighed on me. This incident didn’t weigh on me per se but since I’m never on time and haven’t ever been and it has been a source of consternation for me off and on over many years, I decided to take a hard look at why and how to fix it.

My mental noodling has come down to this and it seems rather self-serving but I tend to be late to situations when I have not taken my self-care time seriously enough. It becomes a passive aggressive sub-conscious or sometimes even a conscious thing. It is almost like a “I don’t wanna” because I wanna do what I wanna do.

Also I asked my friends what to do and what they do to not be late and I got tons of good stuff. The majority of the advice was about preparation both in getting things aligned before going, realistic estimation about how long it takes to get places, not lying to people to not disappoint them when I’m running late and the most important thing – intention and taking my obligations seriously.

So I’m saying no to more things, taking time to turn off and do things for me and paying attention when I start to mentally dig my heels in over things I have promised to do.