To Live a Life Without Rushing!

If there's one thing I've learned about myself, it is that I hate being in a hurry, and I hate having to rush doing whatever it is I might be doing at a given time.

Yes, I recognize that sometimes it is inevitable that we have to rush, but I still hate having to hurry!

It might be tempting to think that preferring a slow moving life is the result of having grown older, but I hated having to rush even when I was a teenager and a young adult. That sped up and hectic version of modern life that some people seem to thrive under has just never been my bag!

My dad always tended to be in a rush. He seemed like he always needed to get something done and he always needed to go somewhere to get it done. My mother didn't necessarily brush, but she always had something she needed to do… even when that something looked like pretty much nothing to the little kid who was watching her!

My primary model for witnessing a life that moved slowly was my auntie in Denmark — my father's older sister — who helped raise me whenever my parents were out doing one of their world travel extravaganzas.

She lived a pretty slow life which was something that she did by choice.

Of course, one of the things I learned as a result of spending time with her and listening to her talk about life was that it seemed an awful lot like if you wanted to live a fairly slow and deliberate life you definitely needed to have money. And there's something that has really been underscored in my adult life and in recent years: a lot of the running people do in their lives is done in service of having enough money to support their lives because otherwise we pretty much have to choose to live with nothing.

It's something I've often considered in my own world. I mean, we have all this "stuff" we keep collecting and piling up, but is all this "having" actually making people happy?

Some years ago I remember watching a TED talk, in which the presenter was talking about a survey that had been done on happiness and contentment where thousands of people were asked what actually was making them feel happy about their lives. Among the thousands of responses that were given to the survey, it turned out that "money" or "stuff" was not something that even figured in the top 10 of things that made people happy.

So if that is truly the case why do we so often run so fast and so hard to get something that doesn't even make us happy?

Of course, I believe it also holds true that a lot of people want to be happy with their lives, but they don't really understand what that means, in the practical sense of the word.

Anyway, I am pretty certain that life without rushing is a major component of what would make me happy in life!

Thanks for coming to visit, and have a great weekend!

How about you? Do you prefer a slow life, or a fast-paced one? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

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Created at 2025.02.01 01:30 PST
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