Sometimes I just sit down for minutes trying to figure out what I’m thinking about, why I’m thinking about that subconsciously and what is the benefit of trying to listen to that inner voice in my head. Before now, my usual routine was to wake up, pick up my phone and do the previous day’s assignment that I forgot to do and then chat with friends and that’s how the day just keeps rolling until it’s night again and then back to bed.
I knew something was wrong with that routine, it wasn’t the best for me obviously because I felt stuck and stagnant. At first I thought it was me not doing enough but I was wrong. Talking about slow living, that was what I was missing. For almost a year, I couldn’t remember a day I took out time to listen to me, myself and I. It has always been me listening to the noise around me, trying to attend to everyone of them which was not the best thing to do.
I wasn’t much of a reader back then too but I was privileged to have a friend who loves reading books a lot! He can literally talk about books the whole day and as they say, birds of same feather flock together, hehe. Over time, his interest in books started rubbing off on me so I decided to give reading books a chance. At first it was even more difficult than I thought it would be. Reading a book was just my perfect escape from the bustling. The moment I started reading that book, I noticed how I struggled to accept that I can’t do two things at the same time while reading.
That day I dropped the book after some minutes of reading, I had to prepare myself first. I did a few pep talk and it helped, hehe. The next time I took the book to read, I felt so self-aware. I was conscious of everything happening and I could easily narrate how my day went because it was going as slow as I can ever imagine. The fact that I was doing a different activity than usual made me very conscious of what was happening around me even when that wasn’t what my focus was on.
The interesting thing I got to realize about slow living is that it helped me live better. It made me realize that the rush is never worth it. There are some days I still feel tempted to be in a haste to do the things I need to do but I always try to remind myself to live in the moment. What is in front of you? Yes, you are behind schedule, what next? I just try to take my time and make a better plan from a failed plan. And interestingly, it somehow ends up becoming the best plan. But when I try to make a failed plan work at all means, it most times only hurt me more.
These days, I just try to give my brain enough rest that it demands for so it doesn’t have to do so many tasks at once all the time and focus on the important tasks. I go for walks on some days and I take pictures of the things I see and then I walk as slow as I can to feel the coolness of the breeze, especially on my way for my morning classes. No rush, just taking one step at a time and it is therapeutic. At first it didn’t feel like it because I’m already use to being in a haste but over time, I’m getting better at it and I’m loving it.
Thanks for reading through. ❤️