On my weekly newsletter this week: I am…mellow. Surprisingly mellow. Annoyingly mellow! I have 1001 things to see, people to go, places to do. And there I am, sitting in the sun lounger for half the week watching starlings fly across a picture perfect blue sky. Mellowed out. Not ‘getting on with stuff’. I’ve come to understand (partly because of my health) that trying to flow when the energy is ebbing is a waste of time and totally counter productive. Still, sitting still doesn’t come that easy and I fought it for a while before realising that I quite enjoy sitting still and just enjoying the moment.
So instead of trying to rush about to write something new, I decided to recycle an article from 2006 about the pace of life…which seems appropriate for me. And perhaps for you? Let me know – leave a comment on my Facebook page or simply reply to this mail.
– Beach Speed –
Because it’s been a busy week, I’ve been rushing hither and thither at a frantic pace, leaving a trail of unfinished tasks in my wake. By Thursday, my office looked like a bombsite and I couldn’t find a thing! So, I decided to just slow down, finish what I could finish, tidy up, breathe, and stop pretending to be ‘Mr Rush’.
You may have heard of the ‘slow movement’ – a movement which reacts against the fast food, fast living, now now NOW culture we live in. They have a point. Some things can only be enjoyed if you do them slowly. Long, leisurely lunch anyone? It’s one of the reasons we relax so much on holiday – there’s no time pressure.
You can get up when you like, eat when you like, do what you like. On the other hand, take a typical day in the ‘normal’ life for you. Everything is done at high speed because you need to be somewhere, have deadlines to meet, have a million and one things to do. And even social events are crammed in to a busy day.
My best friend and I went for ‘food and a film’ a few weeks ago. She was working til 6, then doing chores until she came to get me. I was working til 8, then frantically showering and changing to be ready in time. The first hour of our evening was spent discussing how tired we were and what a chaotic day it had been.
By the time we had both relaxed and started to enjoy ourselves, it was time to rush off to see the film, no time for digesting our food! Ridiculous. Had we just had the meal and then sat chatting, it would have been a lovely evening. As it was, we both sat through the film day-dreaming of sleep! And this is not an isolated incident – it happens to all of us, all the time.
Ironically, when you do slow down, you are actually able to accomplish more. From Thursday onwards, I decided to leave myself enough time to do what I had to, and leave anything that could wait. (and tidy up as I went along!) As a result, my stress levels shot down, I enjoyed what I was doing, and I got more done than I expected to.
I have deliberately used these two examples to show that ‘going slow’ works for business and pleasure. Try it…slow down the pace of your life just a little. Or go for the full experience and go down to beach speed! Now, about that long, leisurely lunch?
– Something to Play With –
Your mission this week is to play with this idea of ‘living slow’. Take a long, leisurely lunch. Sit and watch the world go by. Ditch half your ‘to do’ list in favour of playing with your friends, family or self! Change down to beach speed, and let me know how you get on! Leave me a comment.
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Love
Donna.x