The value of slowing down
A hillside winter scene off Cloudland Road in Woodstock, Vermont. (Gareth Henderson Photo)
A newsroom colleague of mine used to have these words taped across the top of his computer monitor: “Slow down”. In my mind, I can still see those big, bold letters, and I understand why they were so important. They were a reminder of something that’s healthy to do, but isn’t always part of an endless cycle of deadlines. You slow down to not only give more thought to what you’re doing, but also to let life’s other components, like family, bless and enrich your experience.
The lovely non-routine of Christmas Day and the following weekend made me think of this concept a bit more, with the holidays being the ultimate time to slow life down a little. No need to speed up the routine on that weekend at all. Everything has its place, but it happens when it happens. It was a great time to re-engage with the outdoors and get some exercise in, as well. My wife and I got the cross-country skis out at night on Christmas Eve, which was wonderful, and we also got a couple of walks in — including tonight, with the returning chill in the air. I think snowshoeing is also on the list for this week, along with a forecast for more snow, which we love to hear.
The last few days reminded me that slowing the daily routine down helps us refocus on the most important things in our lives. That’s certainly one of the lessons of 2020, to open up to newer, fresher ways to look at life and its blessings. We may have found that the things which bless us the most have been right here with us all along. We just need to slow down and pay attention to what really fulfills us and gives us joy in life.
Those slower moments can be some of the best teachers, and they have a way of letting our better attributes into the picture more often, such as love, compassion and humility. They are our guides in the gloom, and they can show us better paths. If we keep allowing those moments into our experiences, we keep growing, and in many instances we learn what we wouldn’t have learned otherwise. Such opportunities show us the grander lessons of life, and learning those with love and humility is what we’re built to do.
— Gareth Henderson
