The Elegance of Slow

Slow is so much more elegant than fast. It’s all in the pure luxury of taking the time. Taking the time to enjoy a phone conversation rather than sending only vital information via text. Taking the time to sit out on the terrace with your cup of coffee in the morning, rather than gulping it in your car. Taking the time to talk to your children as they get ready for school, rather than barking orders and being angry when they practice the art of slow. It’s difficult to look serene when you’re harried. It’s difficult to be polite, and really listen to others, when you’re constantly pressed for time. It’s difficult to live in the moment when your mind is racing about all you must accomplish by the end of the day. Yes, slow is much more elegant than fast, and I’m quickly becoming a fan.

I’m not certain where the obsession with fast began, but somewhere along the line our society decided that being busy was a status symbol. After all, if we’re needed at eleven different places at once, we must be important. If we’re busy all of the time then we’re needed. We compete for the “Busiest Award” over cocktail party conversations. The mirage of busy, fools even the most well-lived among us. The problem is that fast is addictive. Fast is cool, fast is hip, fast is sexy. Worst of all, fast is easy. Fast is also misleading. Fast tricks you into thinking you’re getting things done. It tricks you into believing that you have everything under control. Multi-tasking, the sister of fast, whispers in your ear that you can do even more if you only split your attention.

Slow, on the other hand, can seem old fashioned, outdated and dull. It can have others think that you can’t keep up. It can make you feel as if you’re behind the times, and that you just can’t compete. Or so I thought, until I went geocaching with my work team and was taught the term “slower is faster”. We were taught to pay attention to clues and signs on the road, and on our instruction sheets. We were taught to listen to, and to consider, all of the team member’s opinions before dashing off with a half-baked plan. In other words, we were taught the value of slowing down. Slow helps you make fewer mistakes that must be corrected later. Slow helps you think more clearly. Slow enables you to make better decisions. If you just slow down a touch, you look more calm and in control, and you make others feel much more at ease around you. Slow tells you to listen to every word your partner is telling you about their day. Slow allows you to stop working at five o’clock for yoga class, even though there are three more presentations to build. At work, those that have an even rhythm seem more in control than those that appear over worked, flustered and exasperated. Slow is the reason you sit and talk with your child while they’re in the bath, rather than doing the dinner dishes right this moment. Slow helps you remember the life you’re living and the day you’ve had too, rather than arriving home in your car without knowing how you got there. Slow doesn’t make you sweat.

To be fair, there are times we must all be quick. We have deadlines at work, split second decisions are sometimes required in life, and the train is never going to wait if we’re strolling through the terminal, but many times we’ve created situations that force us to rush. Pressing the snooze button one more time, and procrastinating on work projects come to mind for me. I see people spend all sorts of time on Facebook in the morning, and then they’re irritable as they rush out the door to get to work and school on time. The digital age that was intended to give us more time has been allowed to steal our time. It’s also stolen our human interactions, stolen our children’s time with us, and stolen our lives in some cases.

Slow takes effort for most of us, though. After a lifetime of being told to hurry up, to squeeze more in to our day and to require more of others, it’s difficult to deprogram. Luckily, we can relearn what we lost as we grew up. It takes remembering the value of being present. That is the elegance of slow. If you watch children or dogs at play you see it. If you watch girlfriends having a long, leisurely lunch you see it. If you watch two people deep in conversation, and deeply in love you see it. There isn’t anywhere else they’d rather be, or anything else they’d rather be doing. There are resources available to help with that relearning. The Human Performance Institute, for example, teaches that stress is good and very necessary for our growth, but that rest, and being exactly where you are will help put fast back in its place. It’s marketed for those in the corporate world, but it’s essential for anyone wanting to find their true priorities and manage their energy to fulfill those priorities. In Praise of Slow is another resource dedicated to helping understand what the demands of today’s world do to us and to our children, and how to counteract the competitive pressure to be busy, busier, busiest.

As in everything, it’s all about moderation. It’s about knowing when you’ve gone too far and too deep into fast, and how to find your way back. It’s about having the yin of fast and exciting, balanced with the yang of slow and experiencing. It’s about having the luxury to take the time when you want to, and the ability to be present wherever you are. It’s about relearning the elegant art of living a complete life. Yes, you will probably accomplish less when you relearn a bit of slow, but you’ll remember and enjoy and give quality time to more of the things you do keep on your priority list. You want to know the very best part of slowing down though? It’s that it’s absolutely free, and yet adds so much value to your life. So whether you’re strolling, basking, delighting, reveling, meandering, daydreaming, considering, noodling, wandering, savouring, relishing or just plain enjoying, slow down out there, and let me know how it goes.

Suggested reading~

The Power of Full Engagement

In Praise of Slow

The Precious Present

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