slow down

Life these days is so fast paced, with so many enticing opportunities and distractions, classes and commitments, that I feel overwhelmed. Living life to the fullest for me means slowing down, living in the present experience and savoring the moment. This is my goal: to recognize my own pace and march to it regardless of the rest of the world.

i drove slower the past two days. oddly enough i wasn’t as stressed out, AND there really is a difference in mpg…

Rush is the word that describes my life. I tend to overschedule, feel pressured to do things faster and feel that almost everything is urgent. Even when I am on leave, I would feel the need to make full use of the time and be very afraid to “waste time”. Sometimes I think that the reason for this sense of urgency and the need to be constantly on the move is that my mum always tell me that I should not waste time and laze around. Stoning and idling is something like a sin. This sense of urgency is really bad as I have difficulties relaxing and sometimes I try to delay going to sleep as I find that sleep is a waste of time. I know that it is irrational but I have difficulty slowing down without feeling guilty. However, I want to change this and I will start doing so from today!

I dropped two classes today. I was just cramming for the tests and not absorbing anything. Sometimes I feel the need to prove that just because I have kids doesn’t mean that I can’t do what would like. However I’ve come to the conclusion that full time job + full time school + 6 yr old + newborn baby = one stressed out mama.

Lightening my class load has already improved my outlook.

Since I made this goal, I’ve noticed that it is frequently on my mind. Most recently, I had so much to do at work. My adrenaline was pumping and I was stressed. I told myself to slow down, complete one task at a time, be “harmonious” and not “crazy”. It was awesome to be in control of my own feelings.

slowly…slowly… like an ent in the lord of the rings. What better way to slow down though? then to take your time doing it? I guess that means I’m really trying to do it. this is a tough one. I have been working on this subconsciously for some time now. But today, i reached a cross road, and am deciding to take the slower way through life. no point in rushing through life, no point at all.

This is in an effort to be “present”. Also, to stop being completely driven by the ol’ clock.

I’m going to try and schedule my day so I’m not rushing from one thing to the next trying to cram everything in. I’ll schedule time off for meals so I can focus on eating slowly and enjoy the food I’m consuming. Slowing down my speech and focusing on what I’m saying and how I’m delivering it, instead of trying to fit as much as I can in a minute. I’m going to take time to enjoy the weather, walk slowly and actually think about what I’m doing while I’m doing it, instead of being a billion miles away thinking of the next 20 things I need to accomplish.

Wish me luck!

This is another goal I am reviewing. There is no way I’m giving up on this, but neither am I ready to mark it as done. Being done with this would require developing more mindfulness in daily life. I would like to eat slower, be prepared so that I never have to rush around before I leave the house and concentrate more on doing one thing at a time. Listen. Speak more slowly.

Those steps need to become a bit more concrete, however.

Alright. I’ve been a super fast speaker for, well, basically forever. And in the past couple of years I’ve begun to realize that my intelligence is overridden by my fast speech patterns and that people don’t take me as seriously as they should. This is a goal I’ve been working on almost subconsiously for the past couple of months, but I really want to focus my attention on it now. If anyone has tips on how to remember to just slow down, I’d be glad to hear them!