Life has its own momentum, at no time is this more prominent than the January post -festive slowness. It’s as if nothing really wants to get into gear, especially your mind.
October is a time when life starts to move faster, and most of us think about it as the downhill of our year, speeding towards those beautiful long summer days spent with family.
It got me thinking about how I can change my mindset to find more balance in a year. To spread out the anxiety of mid-year ‘have I reached this goal, am I ready for the next half’ over twelve months. Or to divide the slowness of January into smaller chunks and give each month a little taste of it.
If there is one thing I would like to focus on this year it would be to mind a little less about things and a little more about time. We get so caught up in the ‘what’ and forget about the ‘how’.
Yes it is very rewarding to bake the perfect batch of cookies, but is it necessary to get so uptight in the kitchen that your little girl can’t have fun? Or your hubby has to magically disappear even though it is his kitchen too.
There is so much more to experience in the moments than in the product or object. A pretty gingerbread man adds to your accolades as a baker, but the time and ingredients are more important than the perfectly iced cookie.
When we slow down daily, in those little moments when we can take off our shoes, get out of the fancy but uncomfortable outfit and into our pajamas, something subconsciously says: “now I can breath, now I can feel and enjoy”. We are kinder to our children, we have time to be ourselves and put away the strictness we have with ourselves and our family to chase every second of our day to be more productive and more successful.
This reminds me of how we don’t spend enough time stripping away those unnecessary, uncomfortable moments to be a little bit more in touch with who we really are, and with what is really important. It got me thinking about taking stock, doing introspection, looking at what is really important, and really focusing on finding ways to slow down. Not just during the traditional holiday mode at the end of the year, but really taking this mindset into my entire year. Breaking it up month by month, looking at the things that I really value, and giving those things names, words. These words are quick reminders of my moments of realisation, a catch phrase to get into that mindset again.
In the months to come, I will share these words with you, and help you find your own words of value, to strive towards a slower life.
May you find the slow in your day.
