As a child, I was always afraid of being late. 😨 It seemed to me that if I didn't arrive on time, the world would collapse. 🌍 That someone would be offended, someone would forget, someone would stop waiting. The clock was always above me - like a strict boss. 👔

I wore a watch even at home. 🏡 I took it off only at night, and even then I sometimes set the alarm so that I could double-check that I would definitely make it. ⏰

And then one day I was late. To an important meeting where some big adult matters were to be decided. 💼 I ran twenty minutes late - and nothing happened. The world didn't collapse. No one disappeared. Someone just said: "It's okay." 🤷‍♀️

Since then, I've been checking more and more often: what will happen if I'm late? If I don't show up, if I allow myself an extra ten minutes. The world, it turns out, isn't offended. It will wait. ⏳

I stopped wearing a watch. ⌚️ Sometimes I set an alarm — but only to wake up at dawn, not to a schedule. 🌅 I don't want to live by someone else's hands. My life is not a clock face. It's a little more chaos and a little less fear that someone will turn away. 😌

I'm still in a hurry sometimes. 🏃‍♀️ But now I know that I can take a wrong turn, be late, miss the bus. 🚌 And nothing will break — except my old habit of rushing to where no one is waiting for me.

One day, I stopped looking at the time. 👀 And now it seems to me that I have more of it. ⏳💫