I recently remembered a song that came out in the 1990s by a country and rock group called Alabama. The song was titled “I’m in a Hurry (and Don’t Know Why).”

Here are the beginning lyrics: “I’m in a hurry to get things done. Oh I rush and rush until life’s no fun. All I really gotta do is live and die, but I’m in a hurry and don’t know why.”

Sound familiar? The words of this song come back to me as I try to rush between meetings and appointments. Maybe you’re this way, too. So, let’s take a closer look at our rushed lives. Questions come to mind such as, why are we in such a hurry? And, do we have to live this way?

Let’s look at an example of a hurried day.

You rush from home to school dropping off the kiddos and fly into work. You open your computer for the day, and you have so many emails you are not sure where to start. Plus, your phone is messaging you from family, friends, Twitter (still can’t bring myself to call it X), Facebook, Instagram, etc. You then realize you forgot your sister’s birthday. So, you message her apologizing and send an e-birthday card and an e-gift card to Amazon (this happened to me last year, but I’m sure you can relate).

Your day continues with appointments, meetings. Finally, you are heading home but now traffic is bad because of an accident. Or you end up behind someone who was in no hurry to get anywhere. You hit the steering wheel with your hand thinking to yourself or yelling aloud “why does this happen to me every time.” You finally arrive home to do some light housework, eat dinner and get the kids ready for bed. Finally, some time to yourself, or so you thought before you opened the mail to see an overdraft notice. When you finally do get to bed, your mind is still going thinking about what you have on your calendar for tomorrow, and all the things you didn’t get done today,

Are you stressed out yet? I know I am just writing it.

If this sounds familiar to you, then we (I include myself here, too) might be suffering from “Hurry Sickness.”

Hurry sickness was a term coined by cardiologist Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman. They described it this way: “A continuous struggle and unremitting attempt to accomplish or achieve more and more things or participate in more and more events in less and less time.”

One article I read stated “our 24/7 state of connectedness means that we increasingly suffer from FOMO — fear of missing out.”

So, we don’t disconnect or slow down. We stress about getting things done or how it might look to others if we take time off or, heaven forbid, we say “no” occasionally.

You remember me mentioning my mother and grandmother before? They come to mind when I think about stress, the kind I put on myself. Like you, I push myself to get things done that could wait. My mom would offer advice when I was upset about something in the future. She would say, “This, too, shall pass.”

You have heard this before too. I often think about when I am facing something I would rather not do. I think to myself, “in 24 hours, this will be over.” I tell myself this about each event I’m not looking forward to. It could be a day, a month or several months down the road. My grandmother used to say “what’s the worst that could happen?” reminding me that I can disconnect, I can let things go.

Maybe I don’t need to do anything at all. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen if I don’t? Most of the time, nothing. Ask yourself this question. It will help center you.

So, if you are in a hurry, remember the Alabama song.

“I’m in a hurry to get things done. Oh, I rush and rush until life’s no fun. All I really gotta do is live and die and I’m in a hurry and don’t why.”

Nothing is so urgent that you can’t take the time to just breathe.

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Richard Stride is the current CEO of Cascade Community Healthcare.