How many of us, from the start of the day feel tired, exhausted and absolutely frustrated with life? How many of us feel you could just use some time for yourself? This is the irony of our modern lives that even though many things have been invented to make our lives easier and give us more time, there is always something to do. There seems to be a constant pressure to get from point A to B to C. This hurry of being somewhere or doing something constantly takes out of the present moment. So forget these stress relief pills and slow down. Slowing down just requires one to stop and enjoy every moment to the full; do the things you love, be around the people you want to be around with and just take a break! I’m not asking you to add more days or hours to life, but simply add more life to days.
Focus on YOU!
William Feather, a famous writer once said, “Plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not because they never found it, but because they didn't stop to enjoy it.” When we get caught up in what we need to do, we lose sight of ourselves; slowing life down gives us an opportunity to increase our self-worth and self-esteem. Increased level of stress and not being able to complete a target makes us feel that we are just not good enough. Did you know that a whopping 85% of office goers suffer from low self-esteem? This is because they all struggle to survive the huge wave of a fast paced life. Self-esteem can lead to many mental and physical problems. Slowing down helps us to focus and take care of ourselves.
Find a BALANCE!
For many of us, there is a massive disconnect between our heart and our mind. Our heart thinks of the emotional part of us when the mind is stuck towards the logical side. According to a Delloite Business Index Survey, around 80% of people in the UK are dissatisfied with their jobs. The heart says passion but the mind says pay-cheque! Some people muster up the courage to change their jobs and do what they like because they could connect to their heart. And only they are fulfilled and satisfied with what they have done in their life. In a hectic, busy life we don’t even know if we genuinely like what we are doing. But how many of you would like to carry that regret to your grave? Slowing down, just by stopping to reflect on yourself, helps you connect more to your heart. It can help you to groom your passions and make you feel more fulfilled as a person because it gives you an opportunity to evaluate your life and reflect on the decisions you have made. In a world with no time machine to correct our past decisions, slowing down is probably the best shot at it!
But WHY?
I am no preacher or philosopher to tell you how to lead your life, I am just another teenager who goes through almost the same things you would go through, and I can assure you that slowing down by giving yourself just five minutes can slowly help you look at life through a different perspective. All I am saying is that you can talk a walk, or just lie on the sofa, talk to someone about a topic you like. Just disconnect from the turbulent and chaotic life! And you can genuinely feel the world around you slow down. You might wonder how slowing down as a person is going to affect anyone. But a better world is made of better people, and if we really want to change the world we must first change ourselves individually. Being happy is a personal thing and it really has nothing to do with anyone else. Slowing down helps you appreciate the little and big things in life fully because you are fully there when they happen instead of planning for the future or reliving the past. If your life is too hectic to prevent you from appreciating a meal or enjoying a conversation with a friend, it simply means that your subconscious mind is constantly analyzing your problems. Slowing down can also help you understand the world around you. However, the main reason that slowing down would make the world a better place is because you personally would feel like the world has become a better place for you! People might say that slowing down isn’t going to make all your life’s problems disappear. Yes, you will have bad days, but you won’t end up having a bad life in a bad world!
