Does it constantly feel like you’re racing against the clock? Time anxiety — the feeling that time is slipping away — is a term that has been popping up more frequently in the medical and mental health community.

Time anxiety goes beyond the usual stress of a busy schedule. It’s not the direct result of trouble balancing work, personal life, and the endless to-do lists in between, but an ever-present fear that creates an overwhelming sense of dread in those who experience it.

People with time anxiety may experience it in one of three ways: The first is daily time anxiety — feeling overwhelmed managing your day-to-day. The second, future time anxiety, is worrying about and feeling like you have to plan for future events. The third is existential time anxiety — being hyper-aware of the limited time we have and the amount of things we’d like to achieve in that time.

The problem is that the more you focus on it the more it slips away. Efforts to micro-manage or control your time will eventually heighten your anxiety. Psychologists call this negative feedback loop a form of ironic process theory (IPT). IPT was first introduced in 1994 by social psychologist Daniel Wegner, who described it as a series of “counterintentional effects that result from efforts at self-control of mental states.” The more you try to suppress a thought, the higher the likelihood of you thinking it is.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. Obsessing over time will only worsen your relationship with it, so the first step forward is acceptance. All we can control when it comes to time is what we do with it, which is a good segue into the next step: Figuring out what time well spent means to us. The third, and perhaps most important, step is planning tasks that will fit into a real day. Instead of trying to maximize your time and constantly fall behind, give yourself room to breathe.

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