While The World Speeds Up, I Slow Down

Warning! This is a tiny bit of a ranty post, which is something I don't often do, but I thought... once in a while can't hurt, right? ;)

Ok, is it just me, or does everyone else feel like everything needs to happen a million miles an hour these days? Something has been bothering me for a few weeks now, and I feel like I need to get it off my chest.

As everyone knows by now, I run Atlas Magazine. Part of that means that I have to write and read a lot of emails. So many, that if I don't keep on top of our inbox on a daily basis, before I know it, I'm snowed under with emails to sift through. Don't get me wrong, I'm extremely grateful for the fact that people are interested enough in the magazine to want to email us. It's incredible that what we started as a fun side project while at school has grown so huge! But the one thing that irritates me more than anything? People being impatient with replies.

I totally understand that email means we can be fast, in contact about things frequently, and people want to get on with things. But do you really need to chase after me if you don't hear back about that one little thing within 24 hours? I mean, if its an emergency, then I get it, but people have lives, things to do, projects to work on... if I was to spend me entire day in my Inbox, every day, I'd never get anything but emails done.

Maybe it's the fact that I live in Cornwall, where we lead a slower pace of life. Down here, people don't rush. In fact, they avoid it at all costs. If I'm rushing somewhere, I'm stressing. And one thing I try to avoid as much as I possibly can, is stress.

I don't really know where I'm going with this, but I'm putting this out there in the hope that maybe I'm not alone in my frustration? Is this something other people experience? Do you also get people emailing you daily when you don't reply within 24 hours?