350.5. Take Five, check that, Take TEN
I’m not much of a joiner, but I
recently ran across a worldwide movement I have to join, the “For God’s Sake
Slow Down Movement.” No, really, there
is such a thing though as far as I know it doesn’t have an actual name and doesn’t
collect dues. But it does exist.
My whole life has been an exercise
in slowing down, in taking a big breath, in sitting silently, and in refusing
to rush. Whether the issue is speeding
on the highways, racing through supermarket aisles, or complaining about long
lines at the DMV, or the bank, or the lineup of golf carts on the first tee, I
take a deep breath—and wait. I wasn’t
born that way, mind you, I’ve got a normal metabolism, so I had to work to
achieve it until at last it became second nature, a way of life. I am, in the language of the movement, a "rehabilitated speedaholic."
Actually, I have been laboring, falsely it turns out, under the impression that I am simply one of the oddballs bucking the multi-tasking, speed-up lifestyle that has overrun the globe over the last forty years, the lightning-fast years of the computer age. But come to find out, I am right smack in a worldwide cultural revolution that is sweeping the nation. There are people around the world in formal and informal groups that praise “downshifting” and actually use the word “deceleration.” My kind of people.
There’s even a book called In Praise of Slowness (2004) by Carl Honoré that carries this subtitle: How a Worldwide Movement Is Challenging the Cult of Speed. There are chapters on eating, working, parenting, vacationing, and abandoning speed reading for slow reading. Of course everyone is in favor of slow sex—though I’m not sure how many practice it.
The idea behind the movement is to restructure your life to achieve more meaning and fulfillment. They call it “voluntary simplicity.” Take pleasure in the processes of everyday life, from brushing your teeth in the morning to preparing for bed in the evening. Slow down to enjoy it all.
It’s a whole “community of slow” we’re talking about here.
Makes sense to me.
Actually, I have been laboring, falsely it turns out, under the impression that I am simply one of the oddballs bucking the multi-tasking, speed-up lifestyle that has overrun the globe over the last forty years, the lightning-fast years of the computer age. But come to find out, I am right smack in a worldwide cultural revolution that is sweeping the nation. There are people around the world in formal and informal groups that praise “downshifting” and actually use the word “deceleration.” My kind of people.
There’s even a book called In Praise of Slowness (2004) by Carl Honoré that carries this subtitle: How a Worldwide Movement Is Challenging the Cult of Speed. There are chapters on eating, working, parenting, vacationing, and abandoning speed reading for slow reading. Of course everyone is in favor of slow sex—though I’m not sure how many practice it.
The idea behind the movement is to restructure your life to achieve more meaning and fulfillment. They call it “voluntary simplicity.” Take pleasure in the processes of everyday life, from brushing your teeth in the morning to preparing for bed in the evening. Slow down to enjoy it all.
It’s a whole “community of slow” we’re talking about here.
Makes sense to me.
