chasing time
weekly story work exercise
If you’re new here, paid subscribers receive Story Work exercises every Sunday night at 8 pm et. Story Work: Field Notes on Self-Discovery and Reclaiming Your Narrative is the name of my new book which is forthcoming from Broadleaf in November 2025. The term describes my signature process of reflecting, reclaiming, and reimagining the stories of our lives. It involves looking at your life experiences as creative material that you have the power to shape. For the next few weeks, our story work theme is Defying Scarcity. All subscribers can read the free preview below.
The true measure of our lives is not conveyed through minutes or months or years but through the quality of how we spend our time moment to moment.
I am writing this series on scarcity just as much for myself as I am for you.
The scarcity mindset is a silent saboteur that undermines our peace of mind daily.
In Daring Greatly, Brené Brown says:
“Scarcity is a “never enough” problem. The word scarce is from the Old Norman French scars meaning “restricted in quantity (c. 1300). Scarcity thrives in a culture where everyone is hyperaware of lack. Everything from safety and love to money and resources feels restricted or lacking. We spend inordinate amounts of time calculating how much we have, want, and don’t have, and how much everyone else has, needs, and wants.”
Last week, I reflected on some of the ways the scarcity mindset has made its mark on my life, and in the exercise I asked you to take stock for yourself. Over the next few weeks, we will explore different ways that scarcity shows up in our creative work and strategies for changing our relationship with it.
chasing time
You’re too old to start something new. You had one shot and you blew it. Your pace is too slow and you can’t keep up. You will never be able to get it all done.
How does the time scarcity mentality show up in your life when it comes to your creative journey? What does it sound like in your thoughts? How does it show up in your conversations and your actions?
One of the many ways it has been a problem for me is when it comes to juggling motherhood and career. It’s been all or nothing—if I was giving enough attention to my kids, then my work would fall behind. If I shifted more attention to work, then I felt like I was neglecting my kids. This brought a lot of tears, guilt, and frustration over the years, not to mention how I neglected my health and other important areas of my life. I started and ended each day with the belief that I would always be chasing time, that there would never be enough.
Having ADHD intensified my contentious relationship with the clock. I went most of my life undiagnosed and unaware of how my brain works differently, and I thought my struggle with time management was a shortcoming, a reflection of my character. Another way that I fell short.
Deadlines sparked dread and anxiety. The words time management triggered inadequacy. And existentially, not knowing how long I would even be on this earth made me obsessive, counting the years, chasing time I would never catch.
I knew I could never get enough done to be satisfied, but I continued to tell myself, “I’ll be happy when…” “I can relax when…” “I’ll take better care of myself when…”
It was as if I owed a debt to time that I could never pay off.
Mindfulness changed this attitude.
reframing time
What relationship do you want to have with time?
I knew that thinking of time as an enemy wasn’t benefiting the quality of my life or bringing me closer to my dreams.
Studying mindfulness taught me how to apply the concept of abundance to the way I perceived time.
Mindfulness is essentially being aware of your thoughts, feelings, body, and surroundings instead of operating on auto-pilot. When you slow down and pay attention to how you spend your time, you can gather information that allows you to make more mindful choices that increase your sense of gratitude for the time that you have.
Embracing time abundance in your creative life is believing that when you are true to your authentic needs (rest, movement, self-care, etc.) and values (priorities that matter to you), then you can create a life where time is on your side. In contrast, time scarcity in your creative life means believing that time, resources, and opportunities are limited no matter what you do.
Mindfulness teaches us to notice our choices and whether or not they align with our values. It taught me that time would expand for me if I treat it like a friend. If I notice it, give thanks for it, engage with it consciously, it will reciprocate and be a friend to me, too.
expanding time
“Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present.”
— Albert Camus
For a writer, there is a time to sleep, a time to cook, a time to eat, bathe and shower. A time to play, exercise, daydream, and goof off. A time to get words on the page and a time to step away. A time to be in community and a time to embrace solitude.
We make time for the things that are important to us, and if we are wise, we make time for the things that are good for us.
So this is something to notice: if your creative work is important to you, and you know that it’s good for you, and you’re not making time for it, there is a disconnect that is likely due to some kind of scarcity thinking.
Perhaps it is the all-or-nothing mindset that if you only have 15 minutes to write then why bother. Or, you know that the novel you want to write may take years if you only work on it for an hour a week, so you never start it. Or, you tell yourself that your writing is not making any money and you need to be more productive with your time.
If you know in your heart that you value creative expression and your callings are a priority to you but you hear yourself constantly saying that you don’t have time or energy to write, then there is a conflict between your values and your actions. This tension is not going to go away. In the words of Lucille Clifton, the truth just keeps on furiously knocking.
So what are some actionable steps for shifting from time scarcity to abundance?
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