Pausing (Even When You Want to Scream)

Today, I was reminded of something so simple, yet so ridiculously hard to practice: the importance of pausing before reacting.

You know those moments — someone cuts you off in traffic, bumps into you on the sidewalk, your train gets canceled, someone shows up late (again). Suddenly, your blood pressure spikes, your jaw clenches, and you're this close to spiraling. Yeah. That was me this morning. I had a train to catch… except it was canceled. And instead of calmly adjusting, I instantly went into full "the universe is against me" mode. I got frustrated. I snapped. I lashed out.

Forgot to pause.

And that's the thing — the pause is so simple, yet so powerful. It's that brief moment where you take a breath before reacting. It's doing nothing when everything in you wants to scream, roll your eyes, or slam your car horn. It's choosing not to spread bad energy, even when it's way easier to let it out.

Because truthfully? Reacting with frustration doesn't solve anything — it just passes the stress on. We've all felt the sting of someone else's bad energy. It's heavy. So why add to it?

That pause — that one deep breath — can change the whole tone of your day. Sometimes, after just a second of stillness, the thing that felt like the end of the world starts to feel… manageable. Small, even.

And look, I'm not saying let people walk all over you. However, I am saying that maybe the person who cut you off is rushing to a friend in need. Perhaps the girl who bumped into you is in the middle of the worst day of her life. We never really know what people are carrying. Reacting with fire adds to the flames. So instead, let's be people who pause, breathe, and let the little things go. We're all human. We all mess up. However, we can also try to be a little softer, both for ourselves and for each other.

Anyway, this blog post is 90% self-reminder and 10% procrastination from the other work I should be doing right now. So that's all for today.

Xo,

Lynsey

Picture: "Pin by Harpreet Singh on Hasrat 2025 VB: Vision Board, Skin, Healthy Lifestyle." Pinterest, 24 June 2025, pin.it/99jQjc1rD.