The Fallacy of Urgency
Fear tells us to go full-speed ahead without thought.
When fear strikes, we often feel as if we have to take urgent action. Urgency: the need to make the current situation change as quickly as possible, back to a state that we experience our reality as better.
This is our lizard brain, which believes fight or, if we can't fight, then flee. For our ancestors, this urgency could be the difference between life and death. There is no strategy nor plan within urgency. Simply the sensed need to make change happen immediately.
In the world today, many things are triggering fear, where fight or flight aren’t the only or best options. Especially, long-term, ongoing situations leave us fearful. Yet, we still experience an urgency. Battling today, we need to use strategy. We need to work together with others. We need to be informed. We need to make thoughtful choices.
I can spend a few days or longer talking about this fear-induced urgency. But today, I want to focus on one aspect of it. The way this urgency zaps our energy and places us in an exhaustive state. When exhausted, we can’t strategize, plan, cooperate, or be informed. This felt urgency
today can feel like we haven’t the time for things that sustain life, bring us joy, connect t with others, or allow us to lead fuller, healthier lives. Without joy and without doing things that replenish us, we can’t do any of the things we really need to do to resolve whatever is causing us distress.
The fallacy of urgency suggests that we can’t even take a few minutes to get ourselves organized or consider the ramifications of our actions. It tries to make us go full speed ahead without proper preparation.
Consider what happens on an airplane before you actually take off. Every single flight, the crew walks through the safety procedures for the plane, including telling passengers how to fasten their seatbelts. Every time I hear this, I’m surprised; doesn’t everyone know how to fasten a seatbelt? The reality is that even the simplest things are ones that we can be reminded of, ignorer to be more prepared! All in all, the crew’s instructions take very few minutes, but could make all the difference in the world when it comes to a true emergency.
Today, to live without fear, I remind myself to walk myself through safety procedures for life itself. Have I eaten? Have I received adequate sleep? Am I exercising? Am I caring for my body? Have I done something that brings me joy? Have I recently laughed? Have I enabled myself to be around other people and not be isolated? Have I admitted to myself and/ or other people my concerns and my needs?
What have you done today to prepare yourself and resist the fallacy of urgency?