My car is very unforgiving. If you’re in too high a gear for the speed or gradient, the power goes, completely. You can have your foot flat to the floor and it will be as if 90% of the power to the engine is just not available. It tells me, very clearly that I am in the wrong gear and I need to change down a gear to speed up. The moment I do – BAM! Power again. If I don’t bother, the car limps along without power for much longer than if I just change gear.
My body is kind of similar. If I am trying to go from 0-100 without being in the right gear, my energy tanks. Like this week, I am recovering from this blasted virus. On Friday I spent the day in bed. On Saturday I managed to get up and dressed. Just. I didn’t manage to stay awake for more than 6 hours at a time though. On Sunday I got up, got dressed and actually went out. When I came back, I sat in the chair, unable to do anything more energetic.
On Monday, I decided I was better and could go back to my normal day. On Monday afternoon, I realised I could not. It’s so tempting to want to get back into high gear straightaway after we’ve been ill for a while, but it’s quicker to go up through the gears and harness the power that’s in your body by being in the right gear at the right time. If you don’t, you lose power.
I am very busy and important, :-p and I need to do lots and lots of things in the next week before I go off for my doggy-sitting working hollydaze. But if I try to keep my foot flat on the floor, all that will happen is that I’ll limp along slowly with no power. I have to slow down, build strength, get back to full fitness before I can speed up.
Athletes with injuries know this. Anyone with an illness knows this. It’s so tempting to ‘get back to normal’, to rush back to work, to act as if you’re fine again. But healing takes time, and if you ignore the healing process, you’ll undo or prolong the healing process. The world we live in encourages us to ignore the many cries of the body to rest, recuperate and rejuvenate – we’ve got to get back to work or school the moment we are able, whether we’re really ready or not.
But it’s counterproductive. It’s one of the reasons that illnesses tend to linger, because we’re so impatient to be better. Many years ago, I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, or ME (which was later diagnosed as MS, but who’s quibbling?). Because of my energy problems, I had to learn to listen to my body, because if I didn’t, and I overdid it, I could find myself unable to get out of bed for a week. I had to learn that even if I had to go to work, I could not also have a full social life. Something had to give.
I had to make choices. Conscious choices about where to spend my time and energy so I could recover more quickly and get back to ‘normal’ life. Tempted as I was to floor the accelerator, whenever I did, it set me back. Impatient as I was, I discovered that it was faster to play by my body’s rules. It was a hard lesson that took me about 3 years to learn! When I did, my energy levels improved. When I gave myself the time I needed to recharge, I had more energy and I could do more.
Many of us just keep pushing through in life, when what we actually need to do is change gear, to slow down so we can speed up. Not just regarding our health, but in relationships, career, Big Dreams, fitness – sometimes we need to slow down, take time out, replenish, recharge, check in with what we want and where we’re going so we can really fly! Where do you need to change gear in your life and slow down to speed up?
Leave me a comment and let me know.
Love
Donna.x
Comments
10 responses to “Slowing Down To Speed Up”
You are very welcome Lisa. I remember well how frustrating it was to learn to listen to my body when I had fatigue, I was so desperate to be ‘doing’ that I made myself worse! I still do it now if I get a cold! 😀 Go with your body, it knows the fastest and best path to health and vitality for you – trust that. xxx
Donna, this one really hit home for me as someone working on healing CFS right now. Especially the bit, “But healing takes time, and if you ignore the healing process, you’ll undo or prolong the healing process.” Oh, my! This is what I needed to hear. Thank you!
You’re very welcome Sue! I have to remember this one a lot myself 😀 – enjoy In Praise Of Slow – I must dig out my copy! x
Ahh, Donna, thanks so much for pointing me at this article! I’ve basked in your words, and the comments, and just reserved “In Praise of Slowness” from my library. So grateful for you!
Ah, I love in Praise of Slowness! Lol – I never did understand it, I just realised it worked somehow! Thanks for your comment Leanne. xx
I sooo agree with you Donna – I’ve actually written about this very thing myself. There’s a book called ‘In Praise of Slowness’ which I’ve just bought too. I love the analogy of the car gears, it took me a long time to understand why 3rd gear made the car go faster than 4th gear when I was learning to drive! The old story of the tortoise and the hare told us that slow and steady wins the race, and it’s so true.
Ooh that’s spooky! I love how that works. Sometimes you need to allow space for the things you desire to come in. It’s fabulously weird! x
The tarot card I pulled for June is all about patience and slowing down. It came at the perfect time as I was in a hurry with a lot of things. Now that I’ve slowed down, things seem to be picking up! Isn’t it weird? And you’re so right about the body thing. Sometimes we just need a few days of r&r.
You’re absolutely right Cindie – most of us when something goes wrong with the body can point to the signs leading up to it that we just didn’t pay attention to (me included!). xx
AGREED!! I think the problem is that most of us don’t listen to our bodies until our body is screaming at us. Our body never lies and it is an invaluable thing to learn to listen and honor the messages we hear. Thanks for this post. xo