The Incessant Need to Rush

I have been in this constant need to keep going, to keep pushing, to keep chasing, and even when I achieved something, there was either the urge to completely quit or the quiet fear that if I stop for too long, I might be falling behind. 

This is was my nervous system stuck in survival mode.

The way our brain has developed is quite fascinating, and understanding it can gently show you why you respond to life the way you do.

The brain is always collecting information, storing what feels important, especially what it believes will keep you safe and alive. It doesn’t just store what happened in your childhood, it also carries ancient, built-in responses.

The part of your brain called the primitive brain, is designed for survival. Its role is simple, to keep you alive.

This is where your fight, flight, or freeze responses come from in case of any threat.

In this era, a threat can be over a wide spectrum, anywhere from being late to work because of traffic to a confrontation at a supermarket. When the body senses a threat, it activates the survival mode. Your responses range from fight, flight, or freeze.

In a regulated nervous system, this response switches off once the threat is gone.

But the problem with the developed brain is that, it now stores the memory of this threat, how you felt, what the circumstances were, what you saw, everything. Even when the “threat” isn’t happening right now, it is a memory, a moment from the past that once felt unsafe.

When the mind keeps revisiting that memory, replaying it, analysing it, holding onto it, the body responds as if it is happening again. You feel the same fear, the same anxiety, the same urgency. And if this loop continues, the body remains in survival mode even when you are actually safe.

Neuroplasticity has become a very popular topic and it is the brain’s ability to change, adapt, and rewire itself.

But when you are stuck in survival mode, trying to change your thoughts alone can feel frustrating, because the body is still sending signals of unsafety. So even if you repeat affirmations, the brain doesn’t fully receive them, because the body is saying something different.

This is why working with the body becomes so important. When you begin to teach your body what safety feels like through breath, through slowing down, through presence, you are sending new information.

Information that says, “I am safe now.” And the brain listens. It begins to update its understanding of the present moment and slowly starts to switch off the survival response.

If you have been in survival mode for a long time, this is not a one-time shift. It has to become a practice. A gentle, consistent one. A repetition of safety, not through force, but through small moments.

Pausing. Breathing. Allowing space between tasks. Letting your body feel that it doesn’t have to rush anymore.

This is your affirmation for the body. In lived experience. And over time, your body learns, your brain learns, and slowly you move from constant running and chasing to a space where you can finally feel safe to slow down.

If you feel like you are constantly chasing in life, always feeling like you are behind, always trying to prove something… and you are ready to shift out of this pattern…

To slow down.
To take a breath for yourself.
To feel gratitude for who you are, while still holding space for who you are becoming…

I’ve created a self-paced program called The Art of Slowing Down.

Inside, you’ll receive a digital kit that you can gently put together yourself, along with 30 days of guided practices to help you slow down in your everyday life and begin creating a sense of safety within your body.

You can explore it here.