“Rush: to push or impel forward with speed, impetuosity, or violence” (Merriam-Webster’s definition).

Common phrases we often use with the word rush include, “Put a rush on it,” “Beat the rush,” and “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”

Poet, Lyndsay Rush, argues that, despite her last name suggesting speed and fervor, her life goals are to slow down and take in each moment as it comes. In the daily grind of an educator, rushing often seems to be part of the norm. We rush to get our unofficially assigned parking spot in the staff parking lot each morning. We rush to make photocopies, to post assignments to Google Classroom, to read and reply to the never-ending trail of emails. We inhale lunch and maybe squeeze in a bathroom break during our short 25-minute lunch break. Phew. I’m exhausted just thinking about all that we have on our plates and how much rushing we do in a day (read Rush’s poem, “You Have a Lot on Your Plate”). I need a nap… but I can’t because I have more on my to-do list that I need to check off. Who’s with me?

If we’re not careful, it can be a vicious cycle that will wear us down (read Rush’s poem, “An Error Message Just for You”). Instead of counting down the days to the next vacation (and I know we all do that), let’s make each day actually count. Take a page, or rather a poem, from Lyndsay Rush’s new book, A Bit Much. Her collection of poems is lively and relatable.

While they are a memoir of her life, there are several that are inspirational to all who read them. Rush’s poems remind us that it’s okay to go at our own pace, it’s okay to not have it all together all of the time (read her poem, “An Idiom-Proof Life”), and it’s okay to appreciate the small things (read her poem, “She’s a Bit Much”). In these ways, we can make each day count when we really do stop to smell the rose growing from the crack in the concrete.

So I challenge all of us, in the rush of our work days, and in the rush in the holidays, to shift our mindsets. What is one thing that you can practice each day to center your mind and body before tackling that next item on your to-do list? Give yourself a reminder on your phone or on a sticky note on your desk or laptop to notice at least one positive thing each day (read her poems, “Keep it Simple, Susan” and “A Spell for Success”).

Do not be so consumed by the pile of essays to grade (as important as they are) that you never notice the beauty of a sunset (even if it’s from your classroom window if you’re still there working on those essays).

Give yourself the grace to make mistakes, it’s how you learn and grow. And laugh. Laugh with friends, laugh with family, laugh with your students, and most importantly, laugh at yourself. Laughter is good for the soul. Lyndsay Rush’s poems can help with that, too. If you can’t laugh at yourself, she gives you permission to laugh at her and with her through her poems.

Most importantly, as Rush charges us in her poem, “‘Marie! The Baguettes, Hurry Up!’” there are several things that take time and deserve our time, like baking bread.

However, there is one thing that should be rushed, and frequently. She writes, “Of all the things you should never postpone, make sure joy is at the top of that list.”  Find joy, make joy, be joy–a bit much of it–in your work and in your play today.

 If you want to hear Lyndsay Rush tell her story in her own voice, listen to A Bit Much on Audible. You can also follow her on Instagram @maryoliversdrunkcousin.