You live so fast.
You rush from task to task, person to person, job to job — zooming around trying to make it all work.
And I don’t blame you.
You want to experience as much as possible, you want to live an action-packed life — an interesting life.
You want to be a good parent, sibling, child, friend — you want to be a good person and make everything work!
But please listen closely, because I’m about to let you in on something big:
When you live fast, you’re slowly chipping away at your soul.
The faster you go, the less you have.
Things start to slip your mind — you lose track of the people you love, and the things you love to do.
One day you’ll wake up and realise you’ve been spread so thin that you can’t even recognise yourself anymore.
So please, I beg you — hurry less and live more.
The Milkmaid and Her Pail
Polly, a milkmaid, was going to the market carrying her milk in a pail on her head.
As she paced through the market, she began thinking about what she would buy once she sold her milk.
She planned to use the money to buy some chickens and sell their eggs.
With her new cash, she’d get some fancy clothes; all the young men would surely come up and speak to her then.
Lost in her daydreams, Polly picked up the pace.
She rushed through the market to get to Farmer Brown before the chickens were gone.
But in her hurry, the pail fell off, and all the milk was spilt!
All her schemes and dreams vanished in a moment.
Poor Polly…
Thanks for reading Change Your Mind, Change Your Life- weekly breakdowns of how you can improve your life by only changing your perspective.
Living fast creates the worst version of yourself
“Stress is caused by being ‘here’ but wanting to be ‘there.’”
— Eckhart Tolle
Like Polly, you’re focused on the next thing, and the next thing — but forget to appreciate and enjoy the present.
When you’re living fast, you forget things and don’t give your loved ones the attention they deserve.
You spend so much time squeezing the lemons that you forget to enjoy the lemonade!
What a tragedy…
Life’s default state is entropy —that is, if you do nothing, your life will spiral out of control.
And when you lose control, you become frantic. A frantic life creates a stressed and anxious person.
You have no time to think, no time to feel, no time to experience the joy and peace of life.
Living a life this way is unhealthy, and leads to thoughts like:
“Where have the years gone?”
Is that what you want?
Do you want to live a whole life, only to realise you’ve never LIVED a single day?
You have to slow down.
Slowing down unlocks the highest version of yourself
“Give yourself permission to slow down. You can speed up by slowing down.”
— Dalai Lama
Living fast is like driving a Formula 1 car at 300km/h through a track — there’s hardly any time to make good decisions. Your chances of crashing skyrocket.
Now compare that to riding a bike through the racetrack at 15km/h. The odds of crashing are now lower. You have time to think through each decision — the room for error is large.
The rushed man is frantic — he falls over his feet — he is reactive. He moves from task to task, person to person, but never stops to process things — never plans.
But the wise man is never rushed — he is slow and methodical, giving himself time to process information and develop a strategy.
To ride 15km/h through life is to live wise.
It’s to:
- Have your events consolidated in a calendar
- Say no to things you don’t have time for
- Schedule time to plan your week
- Schedule time to reflect
- Simply watch the birds
When you slow down, and leisurely ride through life, you enter a state of bliss — a state of control.
When you slow down, you feel the comforting blanket of serenity envelop you. You have the mental capacity to make good decisions and to place your time in the right place.
When you drive fast through life, you’re only focused on the finish line.
But when you slow down, you can experience the views.
You don’t forget your sister’s music recital, or forget to call your dad. You don’t forget to ask about your partner’s work milestone or your friend’s birthday you promised you’d go to.
We only have so much mental capacity, so it’s important to choose what you accept wisely.
Become conscious, control your pace and truly LIVE
“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”
— Laozi (Tao Te Ching)
Living fast happens when you’re unconscious.
Read that again.
Too much rushing, rushing, rushing — doing, doing, doing.
Not enough thinking.
Instead, live consciously.
Slow down and be purposeful.
You want to live in such a way that you reflect on your life and say… “Man, I truly lived and experienced my life.”
Next time your life feels anxious and stressful for no reason — ask yourself if you’re moving too quickly.
Have you scheduled enough time for yourself?
Maybe you’re running from something, and you rush through life to avoid it.
Whatever the answer may be, permit yourself to slow down — because it’s much easier to navigate the track slowly.
Thank you for reading!
I’m Eren and I use stories from experiences in my life to explain self-improvement — and how you can change your life but just changing your thoughts.
PS. If you subscribe to the free weekly newsletter and you’ll get my 8 spell-like reminders to say to yourself to snap out of frustration, anxiety and stress, in the welcome email.
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