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Chronically Late People Aren't Lazy, They're Just Optimistic

I had only been in South America for a few weeks when I met a local Colombian guy who invited me to a dinner with his family. Dinner at 7:00, he said.

As usual, I was running a few minutes behind and ended up getting there around 7:30. I honestly thought that I was going to be the last one there, feeling a little nervous that I was so late.

Not only was I the first guest there, but no one in the house was ready: people were walking around in towels from a shower, there was no food anywhere, and no one had even opened the wine yet.

Ah, yes, this is my country, I thought.

A place where 30 minutes late is about an hour too early? Yup. I am home.

In South America, time isn’t really a thing. When you say 7:00 it really means nowhere near before 8:30. Meanwhile in the US, 7:00 actually means 6:55. Ugh.

So, if you face the same struggle as I do, you understand what it means to be perpetually 20 minutes late for everything in your life – well, okay, sometimes 30.

And here’s the thing that most people don’t get: we’re not late because we’re careless, or lazy, or don’t give a sh*t. We’re just a special breed, and it seems we’re not doing too badly:

Turns out, we’re more optimistic than most people.

Some psychologists have said that there are two types of late people: ones who are subconsciously drawn to the rush of the finish line, and ones who get a personal ego boost from getting as much done as possible in a short amount of time.

Although both of these descriptions appear to be negative, it has also been stated that tardy people are actually more optimistic. Sure, perhaps sometimes a bit unrealistic, but hey, at least we look at the bright side of things. Debby downers are the worst.

We’re not on a power trip. For real.

A well-known author, Diana DeLonzor, recently said, “Most late people have been late all their lives, and they are late for every type of activity — good or bad.”

It’s not like we pick and choose what we’re late for – showing up on time to fun events, and showing up late to ones that we aren’t too excited about. And we’re definitely not doing it to show some sort of power in the room, or entitlement. It’s just so hard to get places on time!

We appreciate the little things in life.

Chronically late people are known for being the types of people who stop to smell the flowers. We’re the types of people who like to go with the flow.

We can adapt to unforeseen events and, at the end of the day, being like this really makes us happier and healthier.

We know that there are bigger things in the world than to get upset over being 15 minutes late for things. Plus, we do feel really pretty lucky that our friends put up with our tardiness and love us anyways.

For more of Ashley’s scribblings, follow her on Facebook or Instagram.