President's Perspective July 2022

The Power of Slow

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but the world feels a bit, um, intense right now. While most of the agitation stems from broader issues that have been brewing for years and years, the bubbling over on many issues finally seems to be impacting the collective in a way that is less escapable than it has been for some in the past. It feels that we are surrounded by bad news, more change, more disruption, more angst, more hustle constantly. While there have been plenty of people who have been feeling the pressure for centuries, we are at a unique time and place in life where much is colliding for almost everyone.

This isn’t in and of itself a bad thing. Uncomfortableness is what will force change. Spotlighting inequities or broken systems is how things get fixed. Grappling with a change in revenue streams or product supply and demand shifts or talent struggles breeds forced innovation and resiliency (though, not always fun). Dissatisfaction with policies or decisions that spark intentional action can lead to mobilized change.

So while the change in many areas of our lives, communities and companies can be a reckoning for good, they are also mentally exhausting. (If you let out a sigh just now and said, “um, yeah it is…” know that you aren’t alone.)

I won’t pretend to have all the answers right here, right now. I’m in the process of processing and have been for some time. But part of my journey working through all of the “stuff ” (a word used far too lightly for all the happenings in the world) has been to identify my need to savor the slow. Turns out, I crave it.

When we were first quarantined during the very scary beginning of the pandemic, I remember marveling at the calendar in my kitchen. Typically filled with appointments, events, reminders and to-dos, it was suddenly blank. And I loved it.

It felt freeing — both for my brain and my social life. I’ve touched on my love of an empty calendar before and my commitment to keep more white space as I move forward. But, life got busy again and pretty soon dates were piled high with obligations. Some fun, some mundane — but obligations none the less.

In a rare opportunity to browse the adult fiction during an outing with my toddler to the library, I happened upon a book that caught my eye: Slow: Simple Living for a Frantic World.

I immediately checked it out and then realized I haven’t truly READ a book for me since kids were born. A clear example of how busy my life had gotten. I set aside time at night to simply read 10 pages a day. 10 pages. It wasn’t much, but it was 10X more than I had been doing (um, 0).

It turns out, just simply by setting aside time to read — to be slower in my thoughts and multi-tasking and constant need to do, do, do — I felt lighter. I felt a bit more in control, a smidge more relaxed. I started finding other small ways to remove excess from my life. I sifted through untouched junk drawers with more intention, creating a hefty donation pile for my friends at Goodwill. Each removal of stuff felt like a little more room to breathe. I deleted old files.

Cleaned my desktop ever so slightly. Asked myself if I really needed whatever thing I was thinking about adding to my online shopping cart. Sometimes the answer was “yes,” but turns out, often it was “no…”

I’m still stressed. I’m still frantic. I’m still concerned about so many things in the world. But, I’m doing what I can to find a bit more space to breathe, allowing me more white space to think, to feel, to process, to connect. By slowing down, I’m allowing myself to rev-up in the ways that are meaningful to me. And that feels pretty darn good.