About six months before I left the working full-time world, I was invited to a day-long seminar in presentation. Thinking I had pretty good skills in public speaking, I went anyways because a day away from the desk is sometimes a good thing. I actually learned a lot, and what surprised me the most was that the leaders noticed how much I rush around. Swoosh, into the room, swoosh, up at the whiteboard, swoosh, out to get some markers, etc. etc. etc.
Couldn’t they see I was rushing to get things done? So much to do, so little time…
And then I quit working and I had nothing *but* time. And still I rushed around.
The last two years have been a long, sometimes painful, process of learning how to slow down. Slow walking, slow writing, slow setting up camp – I’m learning to appreciate that taking my time usually makes things better. And sometimes slow is actually beautiful, like these waves captured using a very slow shutter setting.
I’ll probably be working on slowing down till the end of my days, but at least I’ve started.
Just take your time – wave comes. Let the other guys go. Catch another one.
Duke Kahanamoku
Thank you, Fiona, it makes my day to hear that my writing touched your heart. And thank you for reading my post.
There is an Unsubscribe Link at the bottom of the email that notifies you of new posts. Click that and follow the instructions to stop receiving emails.
How can I Unsubscribe from this?
Annie, you have such a wonderful way of articulating the ways we all have to grow (or stagnate) throughout life; thank you so much for reminding us that it is not always easy, but worth embarking on the journey – this post resonated so much with me.
I love the photos you chose to illustrate how time is so relative, precious and ephemeral. You are not alone in your quest — sometime painful but always enriching — to live fully with the time you have “left”. Thank you for sharing your introspection…
My wife and I just read this. We like to read together on Sunday mornings and drink good coffee. So, this AM we are reading this post of yours together with exceptionally good coffee. My wife just said that she is working on enjoying the moment, not just rushing off to the next thing – but capturing each moment (even those mundane ones), and choosing to enjoy. That is a good what you are saying, Winnie, as we never get any of those moments back for another try. Thanks for sharing what you did with those descriptive pictures and enhancing my moments with my wife this morning.