In some recent conversations, friends have remarked how busy the Christmas holiday season has felt this year. Although the Pandemic Times were awful, stressful, and difficult, with far fewer social events it was, for some, at least a quieter and slower time.
Lately I’ve also been noticing stories friends have shared about slowness: “slow living” ideas, a slow AF run club online community, a “monk class” where students live an ascetic life for 30 days.
Sam, Christine, and Susan have long been encouraging and celebrating slowness on the FIFI blog. They have described helpful strategies they have used to slow down, including journaling, drawing, practicing yoga, and doing things alone.
I am grateful for these ideas. I also think it is tough for me to “slow down” by adding to my life more activities that promote slowness. Do I need more slower things, or just fewer things?
Doing fewer things is hard for me. I was raised to value efficiency and productivity, and I’ve always wanted plenty of people and fun new challenges in my life. I have amazing ppl in my life who are active, and I want to keep up. Though I’ve had plenty of FOMO, I’ve never really experienced JOMO, the “joy of missing out.”
However, a recent series of calendar mistakes, being sick with a cold that won’t go away, and a fender bender accident I caused when I was rushing and stressed have all been reminders (in the case of my car, an expensive one) that I need to take slowing down more seriously. It’s affecting my life in ways I don’t want.
During the Pandemic Times, Susan wrote about acknowledging the privilege she has to be able to slow down (when others can’t), yet at the same time note, as she writes, “[i]t doesn’t slow anything down at all for me to shamefully, gratefully cling to my privilege and watch the world spiral.” I feel this way too.
As I look to the new calendar year, I see my world is set to wind back up into the constant busy-ness that I crave but can also get overwhelmed by. I intend to be more mindful about doing less, go more slowly, and think about doing so as a privilege rather than a loss.
Your question about the distinction between slowing down and doing fewer things is really working its way through my nervous system. Thank you for the provocation!