Slow Down!

Have you ever noticed that when one thing breaks, it seems like so many other things start breaking, too?

It is almost amusing (although at first annoying!) how I suddenly seem to have many appliances that need repair in our home. We are currently dealing with a misbehaving dishwasher, a faulty refrigerator, spotty WIFI connection, and uneven air conditioning. Granted, repairing appliances are small obstacles compared to the greater challenges facing the world today. 

But my point is that home maintenance aside, in life it’s also usually not just one thing that requires our attention. Rather, there often is an avalanche of matters. What do you have going on in your life that you’d like to resolve? Are you unhappy with your work, disenchanted with your exercise routine, confused with the next step in your life?

Unlike my appliances, we don’t need new parts. Fixing our life situations requires merely a perspective shift rather than a repair overhaul.

That shift starts with slowing down, taking things one by one, focusing, and giving ourselves space to think. That way, we can attack and conquer with power and clarity. If we are rushing to gain closure, precision, or put everything in perfect working order in our lives all at once, we tend to overlook an important detail (oftentimes our own gut feeling), to then find ourselves having to revisit the issue again and again. This brings to mind a comic that was tucked into the Bazooka bubble gum I loved as a child: “Haste makes waste - slow down.”

Plus, when we slow down, we tend to find the best resolution.