Why Is It So Hard To Slow Down?
Posted by terrepruitt on December 6, 2012
Do you move fast? Do you do five things at once? Do you have more than one project going on? Are you doing one thing while your mind is thinking about another? It is hard to slow down, huh? I think part of it is technology. We have cell phones that can do so many things we get instant gratification so we don’t have to wait for anything. We can call someone while we are doing something else. We can look up something on the internet while we are talking to someone all the while doing something else. Multi-tasking is expected. We must be productive and in order to do so we have to do more than one thing. I posted about multi-tasking in September 2009. I actually attempted to stop and only do one thing at a time. It proved to not be possible for me. As an example, when cooking dinner I have to do more than one thing at a time. 
It is not feasible to cook the pasta, then the meat, then make the salad — or any order of that. More than one thing has to be going on at a time. So I realized that multi-tasking is necessary, but there are ways I can be more aware of what I am doing. There are some tasks that I can do without doing something else. Part of this for me is just slowing down. I need to have patience to get through one task before I move onto the next.
I have been thinking about this a lot this week as I have been decorating the house for Christmas. I love to have it look like Christmas every where you look. It doesn’t have to be Griswald-y, but an ornament here, a candle there—just SOMETHING. While I have been doing this I have been using a ladder. In our garage it is a bit tricky. We park both of our cars in the garage so the “edges” tend to get a little cluttered. We also have bicycles hanging from the rafters near where the Christmas boxes are stored. All this week I have been having to tell myself, “Slow down.” Literally. I want to get it done quickly — plus I am excited because I just love all this stuff. So I would bolt up the ladder and realize once I was up there that I couldn’t move freely, I had to think about the fact that I was on a ladder, the fact that I was wearing floppy shoes, that there was a bike an inch from my head, back, butt (depending on where I was on the ladder). I had to think about how I was going to move once I got the box in my hands. I had to think how I was going to climb down the ladder with a box in my hand and a handle bar at my shoulder.
It is not easy for me to do some things slowly and I have been pondering that this week. I think that being more patient is part of it. If I were more patient with getting some of the things done I want to get done then I wouldn’t be rushing through what I have to do. Part of it is also because there is going to be some work done involving the house at the end of this week and I was rushing to get things done before that deadline. Also, I wanted it all done before I my Nia Class on Thursday evening! But still . . . . it is not easy to slow down.
I want to say that I HAVE been JUST brushing my teeth. I have made a conscious effort. But it wasn’t since September 2009, it has been more recent!
Do you find rushing to be the case? Do you rush through things just to get to another thing to rush through?
niachick said
Definitely an issue for both me and my husband! We walk fast, talk fast…everything seems to be moving in hyperspeed. We both have to remind ourselves to sllllloooooowwwww down. Like the song says, “slow down, you move to fast, got to make the morning last, just kicking down the cobble stones, looking for fun and feelin’ groovy. This is a season when things seem to just rush by — in fact this whole year has rushed by IMHO — but this season in particular it’s good to just take the time to give thanks for how blessed we are. Much love to you my friend!
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terrepruitt said
Jill – I have been singing that song all week. And YES, you are correct, this season does rush by and it is almost as if I don’t rush with it I will miss it.
Even though I rush through a lot of things I ALWAYS stop to smell the roses — literally and figuratively. You know me, I am blessed with a nice little yard and I always stop and admire the flowers, squirrels, and the birds. Just now I was looking out my window at the beautiful treetops and a huge crow that is making lots of noise. I rush, but I always stop to be grateful because I know I am blessed.
Thank you so much. HUGS TO YOU!!!!
PS: I started to post about Blue Belt Principle #2. Part of it made me realize that for me it is about slowing down. I might be connecting it in a future post!
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Angelia Sims said
I’m not sure if my movements have caught up with my brain. My mind multi-tasks constantly. My movements are a bit slower. Lol! Love your tree! It’s gorgeous!
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terrepruitt said
Thanks for the props on my tree. It is not big enough for all of our ornaments. I need to get a truck next year to haul the tree!
We live in a world that “requires” us to multi-task. But I have noticed that I CAN multi-task and still be more aware of each task. Life is way to busy to not multi-task.
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