For most people, the instinct would be to run with the crowd.
There is no time to process what they are running from or towards because our survival instinct takes prime precedence.

Sadly, when it comes to life, we tend to 'follow the crowd' too, joining a rat race, being in a mad rush towards everything - our education, career, money, fame, success, relationships, etc. Our systems make us run all the time as if our tails are on fire and our survival instinct is recast into a constant background panic for security of many kinds. In this world, competition, cunning, deception and anxiety become the norm and our constant panic for social security, financial security, job security is taught to be seen as a driving force for growth. There is little respite from the constant buzzing noise life, even at times we take a fall, we pick ourselves back up with a quick fix in a hurry and keep running; for running has become our way of life.

Running comes at a great price.

We become gradually more unavailable to spend quality time with our loved ones or to make new connections. We become 'busy' with running. Our body deteriorates, mind struggles with constant stress and anxiety worrying about security and our sensitivities are numbed. Everything needs to be loud, explicit and gross to make an impression. We grow ever distant from our roots, our gifts, our wisdom, our true dreams, our autonomy - even from our very humanity at times. But we are still willing to run. Because everyone else is doing it.  And it is scary to think of slowing down or stopping to examine why we are running and what really we are running towards. Running brings solace. Because deep down, we are truly afraid  - of becoming lonely, of change, of uncertainty, of death. And running has taught us to dodge this confrontation until the very end. We settle by holding on to familiarity and comfort which stagnates our authentic growth and transformation in exchange for a false sense of control against the inevitable impermanence of life. No wonder life often feels like such a burden.

But life isn't really such a sinister phenomenon. If we are willing to unlearn our way of fundamentally looking at and approaching life only through the lens of survival, we can truly embrace the full magic of what life truly is. However, such an unlearning requires us to do something that we have invested very little in - slowing down; and being fully present to life.