Slow down, you move to fast: how to get your groovy back.

During my adult years, I spent decades rushing: rushing to work, rushing to pick up kids, rushing to feed those same kids. “Hurry up, hurry up,” so I can hurry up and eat, sleep and then rush back to work.

Now that I have retired, I have the luxury of more time, and I am trying to slow down. That’s hard to do because I am so conditioned to rushing. I didn’t know how to stop and smell the roses. Roses, what roses?

But I am learning to slow down - I call it the Slow Life movement. You might be familiar with the Slow Food movement that started in the 1980s. Carlo Petrini started the idea of Slow Food, but one of its less-well-known aspects is a slow approach to life. Savour is the word that comes to mind. I am learning to savour food, friendships and the day - truly being in the moment and not thinking about what’s coming next.

Now, I admit on some of those days,  when I am rushing from one thing to another, there can be a buzz that is exhilarating. Unfortunately, that buzz can also quickly become a headache in a jammed-packed day. One of my friends doesn’t plan more than one thing a day. Why cram it all in and feel frazzled when you don’t have to do it? Savour each experience.

Have you ever started driving and somehow felt compelled to rush and drive a little too fast, even when you don’t have to rush? Instead of letting someone cut in, you stay the course, rushing to your destination when you don’t have to hurry. Why? Have you ever started looking anxiously at the time when there was no need to do it? I understand that. I don’t want to waste my life doing nothing, but maybe doing nothing is okay. Maybe what you find while you are doing nothing has value and there are discoveries waiting for you.

When I retired, I introduced myself to a neighbour. I had been rushing by him for over two decades before discovering that he is lovely man, named Albert. Now when I see him, I simply wave to him - because he is usually rushing somewhere. When he retires, we’ll have another conversation.

Do you want to stretch time? If life seems to be whizzing by, do less, and the day will slow to a crawl. The days will seem longer when you have less to do. Then you can take a moment - or two - to chat with a neighbour, and take a moment - or two - to notice that seasons change, and so do we.

Maybe Simon and Garfunkel said it best:

“Slow down, you move too fast, you got to make the morning last, just kicking down the cobblestones, looking for fun and feelin' groovy…

 And another view, from, Psychology Today.

 Ann Dwornik