Being Late (And How to Deal With It)

I doubt there is a soul among us who can deny feeling at some point in their life the inextinguishable panic of being late. It is a brutal but inevitable experience that will undoubtedly happen again and again until you truly believe that the universe has a personal vendetta against your punctuality.

It begins in school, when we are blissfully unaware of both time management and consequence, and can be happily going about our mundane business, with an enraged parent as our only alarm clock. As the years go by, however, the system changes slightly: We become aware of our consequences; we are educated as to the importance of time management; we remedy our priorities, until getting to your destination on time becomes essential. Of course, as the universe would have it this is when it gets thrown out of our control and into the hands of the unmerciful, uncompromising, and unforgiving “fate”.

From that moment on it is she who determines when we arrive, despite all our attempts to outwit Her. When we choose the train there will be a problem with the railway or the route (one that is directly proportional to the importance of our appointment); if we chance the bus (and of course it will be a frequent bus assuring us no more than ten minute intervals) we will find ourselves locked in a time capsule where every bus we want glides smugly past in the opposite direction, and the ten minute intervals temporarily expand to the exact point in which we lose faith that this bus actually exists (even if we have used it successfully many times before). If you decide to walk, the earth somehow manages to stretch ever so slightly; not enough to be proven, but enough to add a good few minutes and a furious frustration to your journey. And of course, the one day you decide to take the car (be it yours or someone else’s at your expense) it will be the day everybody else has the same idea (apart from those you see walking on the pavement irritatingly slowly and yet still faster than you).

So why, you may ask, am I voicing (or wording) this abominable problem if there is indeed nothing to be done? Well, the powers that be may have control over what happens to us, but we and we alone can control our reaction. The fact is, if you reach the stage where you are willing to believe the universe is out to get you, then surely it isn’t too far-fetched to think there may be a reason for it. For example, you are alive and well, with a roof over your heads and indeed an appointment that seems so important not to miss (of course if you fail to meet these assumptions then this article may not apply to you), the universe in all its infinite wisdom must be doing something right; and if you are going to be late for something then maybe it is just the way things are meant to be.

Of course I share your scepticism and am aware of how unlikely this theory is, but if you can believe it in your time of agonising helplessness then you can beat fate, you can beat the universe, and you can beat your own frustration. And if you can achieve that, then equipped with this novel confidence no platform alteration, flat tyre, or terrible (yet oddly intriguing) accident can hinder your optimism. Because let’s face it, worrying about it isn’t going to get you there any sooner.