Time Management and The Race to Complete Life

If people could choose one thing to have more of, I'm sure 'time' would probably be one of the answers, along with things like money, friends, etc. 

Throughout life, we are subject to many time pressures placed upon us by teachers, bosses, parents and even society. From homework deadlines, work deadlines, expectations from parents, and expectations from our society. 

Often we do things because we want to do it. If there's a book that we want to read, we will probably pick it up and finish it in one week. However, if there's a book that we don't want to read but we are told to read it within one week by a teacher, we will probably leave it till the last day to try and skim-read through it. Give us a month, and we will probably only pick it up in the last week. 

It's clear that if we don't want to do something, we will probably put it off until we think we are getting close to the 'deadline' of doing it. 

We often look to our peers, our colleagues, and other people our age to see how we are getting on in life in comparison to theirs; whether we are making enough 'progress' during the time we have been alive for. Society sets us 'deadlines' for things like graduating, getting a job, getting married, buying a house, having children, etc. But the reality is that in life there are no real deadlines. They are merely a construction of pre-existing societal norms. If people worry less about conforming to 'what everyone else is doing', they will essentially be freeing themselves to do more of what they want and leading a satisfied life, rather than one shaped for them by others. 

We now live in a world where it is a lot more acceptable to be different and not feel threatened or judged by it. However, in the back of everyone's minds, I'm sure there is still that fear of persecution for non-conformity that makes it so hard to break free. We must realise that life is a journey we take together and not a competition against one another.