Sustainability

What’s the rush?

We made a post recently on Instagram about not rushing, and most of the responses were, “Wait… Maetiques? The chaos queen? Not rushing???” And for a moment, I laughed and thought, this ain’t it.

Because let’s be real—I do rush. I’m a rusher. I rush through my days, my meals, my to-do list. I rush to push out content. I rush constantly. Who am I to say, “I refuse to rush”?

But here’s the thing—I’m not talking about rushing out the door in the morning with a Diet Coke in hand because coffee takes too long, or scrambling to meet deadlines. I’m talking about something much deeper: sustainability.

We’re all busy. Kids, jobs, deadlines, goals—life is busy. And many of us have a running list of goals: “Hit 10K followers. Buy a house. Make a sale. Land a promotion.” It’s natural to want to keep up. But here’s the trap we fall into when we start comparing ourselves to others:

We feel like we have to rush.

When Doug and I were first dating, my girlfriend got engaged. I vividly remember the moment. I was in my apartment, and I froze. Engaged? I was shell-shocked. In my head, I spiraled: Does this mean we have to get married now? Am I ready for this? Never mind that I’d decided three months into dating Doug that he was the one. That wasn’t the point. The point was that someone else’s milestone had triggered panic in me, even though I wasn’t ready for that step.

And that’s what we do—every single day.

Someone else hits their follower goal. Someone else renovates their dream kitchen. Someone else makes the sale you can’t seem to close. And suddenly, we’re rushing to keep up. We’re scrambling to meet goals we weren’t even thinking about until we saw someone else achieve them. And what makes it harder? We live in a highlight reel world. Perfect interiors, viral reels, curated milestones—all of it screams: Hurry. You’re falling behind.

Hurry! Renovate the house to match the trends!

Hurry! Book 5 trips in a week!

Hurry! Post that reel!

But here’s the truth no one talks about: those highlights? They’re just the peaks. You don’t see the flatlines, the struggles, the behind-the-scenes. And the best highlights—the ones that last—are built on solid foundations. They’re not rushed.

Doug and I eventually got through that wild conversation. (Poor guy probably thought I wanted nothing to do with marriage.) But the reality was, I did want to marry him. I just knew we had to build a solid foundation first. I didn’t want to rush into something as important as marriage without truly knowing each other, without growing together, without creating something unshakeable.

And that’s the lesson I carry with me in everything I do. There’s no timeline for getting it right. Doing it right is always better than doing it quickly. Whether it’s designing a home, building a business, or building a life—take the time to do it meaningfully. If it takes 5 years, let it take 5 years. What’s important is that when you finally get there, you’re standing on something that lasts.

So don’t worry about where someone else is. Don’t rush your process. Don’t let comparison steal the joy of where you are now.

Don’t arrive early—arrive right on time.

What’s the rush?