Slowing Down

Sitting in my inbox is a forwarded email from my friend Shar about Slow Down Culture. It talked about how corporations are slowing down to be more productive and how globalization is doing more harm than good. It ringed true that people nowadays are always up and about hurriedly doing things. If you do take a closer look at what they want to achieve, their goals and objectives turn out to be pretty vague. They are totally clueless or management is not even in agreement. They don't know why they are running crazy, harassed, stressed and near burnout. It seems as if we are in a race against time.

I used to live my life on a faster lane when I started working. Younger and full of energy, my day was jam packed with things that needed to be accomplished pronto and each minute was worth a gold mine. Looking back, I don't know how I survived such a crazy work routine and kept up with the deadlines. It was nerve wracking and it did take a toll on my health and I never knew it did until after many years.

Back in December 2006, I took an executive check up and the doctors found something in my body and instantly, I knew, it was because of the many years before that I was taking in the stress. I think it was more of chronic stress. It's the kind of stress that builds up over time and I've been exposed to it for a long period of time and my body is fooled to think that my growing level of stress is tolerable and acceptable. Chronic stress is stress that lasts a long time or occurs frequently. I did have my wake up call in 2004 when I was hospitalized for 11 days and the doctors couldn't figure out what was causing the numbness in half of my body. Thinking I had a stroke, they ran a series of tests to determine what was causing the tingling sensation on the other half of my body. There were mornings I'd wake up on the hospital bed when one of my hands was too weak to even clasp and my knees was shaky to walk long distances. Those weak spells have long since been gone. Thank goodness!

That experience freaked me out and to this day, the doctors are still guessing what really caused it. It would be another 3 years before I really took my health seriously. It was only early this year that I started to be more health conscious. My fitness regimen is far from perfect but I make it a point to drink 8 glasses of water a day to make sure that I'm fully hydrated. I also don't eat rice during the evening and if I were given a choice to order iced tea or soda, I'd choose water over it. Dessert is still part of my everyday meal but this time I'd have more fruits and I try to control my intake of sweets.

Slowing down is a choice and I'm making this decision to enjoy my life more. All I ever have is today and there are far more important things in life than work. When my friend Robs visited Manila last April, she had dinner with me and Mael, my former boss and really good friend. Both of them were having a laugh trip at how slow I was during meals (I talk faster than I eat) and how I can be oblivious when I need to be in a hurry whether it's catching a train or going to the airport. Mael has the habit of always asking me before if I have finished his monthly reports and I'd always reply "Relax, relax, breathe, breathe" with a grin. Meeting deadlines is not a problem for me and I guess there are just more uptight people than I am. Peace Mael and Robs! :-D

I have resolved to do these changes in my life as part of my slowing down:
1. I enjoy the food that I eat whether it's breakfast, lunch or dinner. I am one with my food.
2. I spend more time with my family and friends.
3. When I meet people along the corridors or wherever I see them, I take time to say hello or ask how they are.
4. I avoid negative people or those who don't genuinely wish me well. They won't do me any good as stressors in my life. I can't please everyone anyway.
5. I only do what I can finish in a day. I have come to terms with the fact that I'm not Supergirl. I used to think I was and I have long folded my cape.
6. I take time to pray and read the Bible everyday. I make sure I have a quiet time daily.

As a close to this blog, I'm pasting verbatim below certain paragraphs from Shar's email to me. Have a wonderful week ahead!

This no-rush attitude doesn't represent doing less or having lower productivity. It means working and doing things with greater quality, productivity, perfection, with attention to detail and less stress. It means reestablishing family values, friends, free and leisure time. Taking the "now", present and concrete, versus the "global", undefined and anonymous. It means taking humans' essential values, the simplicity of living.

It stands for a less coercive work environment, more happy, lighter and more productive where humans enjoy doing what they know best how to do.

Many of us live our lives running behind time, but we only reach it when we die of a heart attack or in a car accident rushing to be on time. Others are so anxious of living the future that they forget to live the present, which is the only time that truly exists. We all have equal time throughout the world. No one has more or less. The difference lies in how each one of us does with our time. We need to live each moment. As John Lennon said, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans".