When You've Lost Your Way
It is an ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we have lost our way.
Rollo May wrote this in 1969, during a decade of civil rights upheaval, the Vietnam War, and a therapy culture filling with clients who felt hollow despite constant achievement. As a practicing existential psychologist, May noticed that his patients met inner confusion not by pausing to examine it but by filling their calendars and chasing more activity. He saw this compulsive motion as a way of avoiding the discomfort of not knowing where they actually stood in the present moment. The observation still names a common trap today: mistaking speed for direction and busyness for genuine presence.
Reflection
Rollo May saw constant busyness as a way of avoiding the discomfort of uncertainty. Which part of my schedule today can I approach without rushing?