You are partly a product of your social environment, and your roles and responsibilities shape your behavior to a large extent. But you cannot be entirely passive. You can act upon your world as well. Ultimately, you are responsible for how fast or how slow you live, or how many changes you bring on yourself in a year's time. Know your comfort zone.
People vary in the range of stimulation that is comfortable, healthy and productive of growth.
You need to discover how much stimulation is right for you. Becoming more sensitive to internal cues that tell you your limits in both directions is an important step toward the wide management of your pace of life. Find a good fit between your own needs your comfort zone and the demands of your environment. If you need to live relatively slowly, don't become a corporation executive. If you thrive on a relatively rapid pace, find friends, an intimate partner, and a job that will allow and support such a lifestyle.