Do You Speed Up Before You Slow Down?
In a fast-paced society loaded with busy-ness and stress — to speed up and achieve more, it's essential to slow down a little.
Go faster. More is More. Hustle. Hustle even more. Does this sound familiar to you? Since childhood, many of us have been trained to see Life as a competition.
From the academic days, parents and teachers push us to participate more, to our adult working life, where we are encouraged to take up more responsibilities.
Our Life, in general, has become like a race where we are running from achieving one thing to another and trying to excel or be perfect in everything that we do. At home, we have a never-ending list of to-do activities, and during our free time, we are speeding to watch a series of episodes in one night. However, in this process, we are missing out on a lot of things.
Want It All and Want It Now
Remember Naina, from YJHD saying, “Life me jitna bhi try karo, kuch na kuch to chootega he. Isliye jahan hain, wahan ka he mazaa lete hain na”
No matter how much you try to do in Life, you will always miss out on something or the other. Therefore, try to enjoy what you have right here, right now, for this is all you have!
Take a moment, and think about it.
We are living in a fast-changing world and we can all feel the pressure to live our life by doing all the possible activities. All this busy-ness has overloaded our minds.
Getting Caught in the Fast Lane
We have arrived at the point that hustling, and even just talking about hustling, seems to be more important than actually getting things done. With social media being full of people touting the virtues of hustling at all costs, we fail to ever have a feeling of achievement or rest.
Moreover, we rarely have guilt-free lazy days. For instance, if we are sitting idle, there is a nagging fear that there is something which we have forgotten to do or feel guilty if we are being quisby and chilling with friends.
We continue to live as if nothing is wrong with the process. Life doesn’t have to be so crazy! As humans, we are not meant to live in this manner.
How to Slow Down in a World That Values Being Busy
Every now and then, our brain needs rest. We need time to relax, think, and make well-informed decisions. The craziness will come to an end when people accept the alternative: slowing down.
But learning how to slow down in a world that seems to get busier and move faster all the time isn’t always easy. It takes deliberate effort to choose to slow down and avoid the social expectation that "busy is better" or that being busy equals productivity and value.
Perhaps you want to slow down but aren't sure how. You might be thinking, how can you slow down and get out of the fast lane? Following are some ways to slow down in a simple, stress-free manner!
When you're trying to do a million things at once, it's difficult to slow down. Make a conscious effort to do less instead. Concentrate on what's most important, what needs to be done, and let the rest go. Make time between activities and appointments so you can work more slowly through your days.
It's not enough to simply slow down; you must also be aware of what you're doing at the time. That is, if you start overthinking about what has happened in the past or what will happen in the future, you need to bring your attention back to the present moment. Concentrate on the current situation, on your behavior, your surroundings, and the people around you. This takes time to master, but it is necessary.
Don’t always be connected to your digital devices. Shut it off or better yet, learn to leave it behind whenever possible so that you can focus on other things. Being connected all the time means we’re subject to interruptions, we’re constantly stressed about information coming in. It’s hard to slow down when you’re always checking new messages coming in.
Boredom has been shown to stimulate innovation and creativity. It inspires us to find solutions to our problems, to see things in new ways, and to generate creativity out of the ordinary. We have to use our creativity to come up with ways to spend our time when we aren't preoccupied with complicated activities or stimulating media.
When you find yourself speeding up and stressing out, pause and take a deep breath. Feel the air entering your body and the tension leaving your body. By completely concentrating on each breath, you will get yourself back to the present moment and slow down. Try it right now to see what I mean.
Slowness, an Antidote to Hustling
It’s important to understand that doing many things at once doesn’t actually make you any more efficient. Taking the time to slow down and prioritizing work or aspects of your personal life, can lead to greater success.
It may seem surprising, but slowing down could signify the difference between success and failure, or thriving and burnout.
Conclusion
Life moves at such a rapid pace that it seems to fly by before we have a chance to really appreciate and enjoy it. It doesn't have to be this way, though. To enjoy life, you must rebel against a fast-paced lifestyle and slow down. It may seem counterintuitive to Slow Down to Speed Up, but it can lead to increased innovation, energy, and productivity.
Tell us your way of slowing down in this busy world.
*Related reading: How to BuJo? The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Bullet Journaling · Begin Your Quest to Digital Wellness*
Hiral Sangoi
A clinical psychologist hooked to scrolling memes, having talent in tuning overthinking into writing.