In Order to Propel Yourself in Life, You Need to Slow Down
By: Clarina M
Tags: Life Lessons, Self-awareness, Self Improvement, Self

I am a person who does. It’s in my DNA. I’m always doing things. And not small things, mind you. I’m moving. Shifting. Trying on a new adventure, working on multiple projects at the same time. Some people think that a full schedule isn’t healthy, but for some of us, it’s how we thrive.

We were built to do.

And I’ve been trying to reconcile this with the age-old saying: slow down. I know slowing down is vital. It’s important to our mental and physical health, and as someone who deals with chronic illness, it's even more vital.

But I’ve always failed.

I’ve tried screeching to a halt, slowly eliminating all my plans and activities. But I grew restless and not to mention bored very quickly. I love projects. I love the heartbeat of a city that speaks to life being lived. I’m not the girl who goes on vacation and lays on the beach all day. I’d literally lose my mind.

So I gave up on it.

If I could never learn to slow down, then so be it. But recently, I had a revelation. We often associate slowing down with doing less. But sometimes it's about being less.

Being less frazzled

Being less aware of what others are doing

Being less focused on superficial goals

Being less stressed about the irrelevant details

Being less absorbed in your own thoughts

Being less cognizant of the unmarked to-dos

Being less forceful on your body and mind

Being less distracted

Being less selfish

Up till now, the concept of self-growth to propel myself in life has been something I’ve chased with a blindfold. I know I’m headed in the right general direction, but I’m stumbling and falling off the path. I’ve now realized that in order to truly become self-aware, we need to make sure there’s room in our minds to focus on what’s important. And if 95% of your mindset is on outward goals and achievements, you really don’t have the time needed to nurture your inner garden.

I’m not doing less. But I’m being less. I realize it’s a journey, to switch out my anxieties and concerns with the right mindset and awareness, but I’m taking it one step at a time.

And that ties in nicely to the follow-up thought I had.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

To be at peace with yourself you first need to know yourself. I know that this sounds like something you’d find on a poster at a thrift shop, but it doesn’t make it any less true. And let me be honest with you — knowing yourself is more practical than you might imagine.

We all have habits that have been built over time. They are our body’s reaction to certain triggers. And most of the time, say with diet, we try our hardest to fix the outcome without actually trying to understand what is causing it. But if you understand yourself, you’ll become aware of the trigger as it’s happening, and over time you can change them.

This is key to becoming less [insert any of the topics listed above here].

Think of your mind as an inbox. The more self-aware you are the more organized your inbox is and the less unopened mail you have. You know where everything is, you’re up-to-date on the vital pieces of information, and you’re able to make sound decisions. The less mindful you are the more cluttered your inbox is. And that itself is stressful.

That’s why ‘slowing down’ is so important. What it really means is ‘take the time to go through your unopened mail and organize it all’. It doesn’t mean ‘do less activities so you get less mail’. Because in the end, even with less mail, it’s still a disorganized mess.

I think I’ve done everything I could with that analogy — time to let it rest.

But that’s why even if you do fewer activities, you can still find yourself restless. And once you’ve found your center, once you’ve slowed things down internally, it doesn’t matter how many activities you do, you’ll be in control of your life.

I, like most people, want my life to flourish. And I’ve been taking great strides to set that up. But now I realize that in order to truly succeed, I first need to slow down. And for someone who likes to accomplish tasks yesterday, this will be an interesting journey.

But here goes nothing.