4 Reasons to slow down
and the same number of ways to do it.
These days ‘Fast’ is considered as the certification of success. Settling down at an young age, becoming wealthy in 1 year, turning into a pro at 10 years of age in any field chosen, buying a house or a car at young age(even with a debt, we will come to this point later in this opinion), starting earning in high numbers from the moment you step out of the college, earning and earning and earning and dying younger (I am not being sarcastic, I know of some people who consider the old persons as a burden to this planet)everything is considered as success.
Society has set some silly benchmarks of success and labels them as successful those who have crossed these finish lines at an young age. Be it a startup, a job or a skill. In most of the families of my country, people who travel through a pre-defined success path are only considered success. Either you become an engineer or become a doctor. Other professions are useless. These paths were considered sacrosanct by the parents because these are the shortest paths to display the success of the children, when they get a job as soon as they complete their study. Because of this mindless pursuit of success goal post without taking into account the happiness of the person or the expertise he/she develops by working in that job, people are easily prone to stress and depressions. ‘Fast’ is not always ‘safe’. Those who drive know this. There is only one letter in ‘Safe’ which is not seen in ‘Fast’ and that is ‘e’. ‘E’ for ‘Enjoyment’
By this time, you would be knowing that I prefer going slowly rather than going fast. You have a certain period allotted to you by god on this planet and if you reach your destination early, you would sit at the finish line wondering what to do now and at the same time not being in a position to remember how your reached there. So, you should slow down in life for the below reasons:
# To enjoy the ‘now’ moment
If you eat fast, you can surely complete eating within no time. But could you recall how much you enjoyed the taste of the food you just ate. Are you eating just for the sake of finishing it, because you do not want to waste time and do something during that time. If this is the case, then god would have preferred to design a feeding system in humans which is similar to percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG)which is simply a feeding system through a tube directly to your abdomen. But this is not the case because he wants us to enjoy the activity called ‘Eating’. Putting every taste bud to work, touching every crystal of salt, sugar and savoring the recipe to the full scale. Similarly, if you enlarge this case to fit to your life, if you concentrate on reaching the highest point of your career fast without mastering the skills at different stages of your career on the way, you would feel the emptiness of your skill arsenal. When I go to hills near my home, there is a sign board put up by the government to prevent the drivers from driving fast, saying “ Do not race and rally, enjoy the valley”. This the entire concept.
#To be grateful for those who stood by you
Life is short and world is so big. There is no guarantee that you will meet the persons to whom you bid farewell again in your life. Be it the most important person in your life, who changed the entire course of your life and has been the reason for you to be what you are now. But have you got the time to thank them? or were you busy in running towards your goal and ignored those who taught you how to run and those who gave you energy drinks to get the energy for running. Believe me, if you have already reached the finish line, you would have realized by this time that you missed thanking them. But, if you are now in the sprint currently, then don’t forget to connect more to the people around you.
#To be financially stable
A cruising vehicle is always more prone to toppling than a slowly moving vehicle. Stability comes when you move slowly, adapts to the environment as you move and molding yourself to suit the circumstances. This is applicable to your financial life also. With an aim to reach the financial abundance, one can fall into the trap of debts or losses, if you spend beyond your means and if you invests in those channels which promises you exponential returns respectively. Even if you are able to make it, you may miss most of the life’s offerings at every stage of the life. For example, if you go for a costly vehicle or a house even in the stage of not able to afford them, then you may not have that financial space where you can spend for vacations, family gatherings. By the time, you become stable, you would realize that you cannot bring the moments back.
#To attend life’s classes
Life teaches in phases. There is no one single package of learning modules which life offers. It offers some learnings at every stage of your life. Some through pain, some through breakups, some through losses, some through sleepless nights. No human can have the strength to be resilient to bear these challenges at once. So, life is generous and gives one challenges at a time and teaches the valuable lessons of the life one by one. If you go fast in your life, missing all the classes life has to teach you, then it has no option other than giving it you at once. But, you were not ready for this and you do not have the strength also. Hence, live the life, learn the lessons life teaches at every stage, become strong and resilient and no storm can even move your leaf as your roots are so strong.
How to put breaks on your speed?
As you are now convinced that you need to slow down, let us check out the ways to do this:
# Celebrate small achievements
From the last 2–3 decades, the success stories of startups & entrepreneurs who made it to the top so quick in their life have become so viral that anyone stopping for a moment is considered as lagging already. Please do not fall into that trap. Everyone has their own speed of doing things and it is fine as long as you are moving forward. But, stop a second to celebrate small achievements which help you to reach to your bigger goal. I am fully aware that I am nowhere near to being a pro-writer in a community of stalwart writers. But I am very happy that I came to this stage from nothing and celebrate every clap on this article. No matter how many thousands of claps I receive later as I learn, these few claps now remain valuable forever
#Mingle with Nature
Nature has a very Peculiar nature. It does the things in it’s own speed no matter how much hurry you are in. Tides touch the shore at the same frequency, breeze blow at the same speed, day and night take same duration to take their turns, Trees grow at the same rate, irrespective of the speed with which you want the things to happen. If you mingle with nature and submit yourself to it, it will automatically teaches you the ‘slowing down’ process. Take a walk in the morning in the woods, watch the tides touch the shore, listen to the sound of wind and chirping of birds doing nothing and thinking nothing. Use that time to introspect. You are not wasting time, you are preparing yourself for a greater battle.
#Take a saint diet
This is the most overlooked factor one ignores most often. Diet plays an important role in regulating your adrenaline levels which instills aggressiveness and the restlessness that eventually makes you strive for speed. Stress foods like fast food, fat foods, oil foods, fried foods disturbs your body balance. Go for saint diet as I call those food which keep your adrenaline and emotions both in balance. Food that is rich in grains, fiber, proteins help you to slow down.
#Learn, learn and learn
This should be the only one formula of a successful life. No matter how fast you reached the goal post, if you did not learn anything on the way, then your destination of no use to you or others too. Go slow and learn such that your life becomes a inspiring success story
#The Climax
Slow down, Don’t stop, Speed thrills but kills. May not be the person, but his soul and his time. If you cruise to the destination without any memories, experiences, learnings, then the only one chance you get is missed for a lifetime. I will end this article with a beautiful saying,
