Why Is the World In Such a Hurry?

This is about a block from where I work in downtown Winnipeg. I took this picture because I liked the colour of the sky and I wanted to get some of the Christmas lights in.
This is what I got.
I do like this picture - but it just illustrates the point that we are all in too much of a hurry - these people were probably rushing through a red light knowing Winnipeg drivers.
I myself am guilty of being in a desperate hurry much of the time. No one drives fast enough, no one returns email fast enough, at a restaurant I have to wait too long for my food, that old lady crossing the street is too slow; the list goes on and on.
Every once in a while my mom will say to me "Alison, you need to slow down, you're going to make yourself sick." And it's funny, she's usually right. She always seems to say that just when I'm on the verge of getting sick and I'm tired of running all over the place like a crazy person.

Is there really a point to getting mad because I have to wait for the guy ahead of me to go in and pay for his gas before I can get mine?
Why do I get irritated at a restaurant because my food isn't out 10 minutes after I order it? Usually if we're in a restaurant we're there with friends anyways - so why not just enjoy the extra moments to socialize with them before we're filling our faces?

They play a commercial on the radio here to promote "Safe Streets." The idea is to get people to realize that speeding down residential streets to get somewhere faster is dangerous and pointless. They even give statistics, for instance did you know that during a 20 minute drive you will only save 2 minutes by driving residential streets at 80 kilometers per hour? And that's if you blow all the stop signs.
When I heard that radio campaign it really made me think. How many times have I cut down side streets to "save time" and driven much faster than I should have, just to arrive a minute or two early? Too many to count.

My life has really been a whirlwind lately, and with Christmas coming up and everything going on at work I haven't really taken the time to process everything. As a result there are some little simple pleasures in my life that I have been pushing aside. Calling friends, going for coffee late at night with the husband just to hang out with each other and chat, and basically just taking the time to enjoy my life.

I think I'm going to go call my mom and dad, then I'm going to take a bubble bath and do some reading. I can't remember the last time I did any of those things.