Slowing down

Southwest Airlines’ Spirit magazine has the best articles. I always take this magazine off the plane with me.

This month, they had an article on Slowing Down ("Not So Fast").  How apropos in today’s times…the author talks about how he and his wife commit to slowing down for 30 days.  Taking the time to cook, walking or biking instead of driving, banning FB and Twitter, which are total time sucks and choosing personal connection over technology.  He then talks about how in his effort to slow down, he then filled up his schedule with “slow” practices which led instead to a “slow frenzy” – just more mellow activities I guess but more of them which of course defeats the purpose.

As I read this article, I of course turned to my own life to see where I could implement more slowness.  But then, I realized I kind of currently live a slow-respecting life.  I have the good fortune of being able to work from home along with G that works from home too.  We are disciplined enough to sit and work diligently to get work done and then we will spend time with D or spend time cooking together.  We definitely always eat dinner as a family together, and now with D being a little bit older, she really enjoys helping me in the kitchen. I let her be as independent as she is willing, dispelling of any fear I may have of her cutting herself with a sharp knife. This is where Daddy doesn’t play so well in the kitchen.  He practically gasps every time she tries to cut something which really irritates D, obviously and of course can be unnerving to an inexperienced knife user.  For me, I don’t see any sense in having her use a dull knife that just doesn’t cut and she has to exert extra energy and sometimes causes sloppiness in execution.  I’m not handing her the butcher knife!  But a small paring knife works just fine.  I can see that my having confidence in my child speaks volumes to her and I want to foster her confidence.  Personally, in my opinion, even if she cuts herself and starts to bleed, it’s not the end of the world.  At least she made the effort on her own terms.

But I digress.  I really love the concept of “slowing down”.  I love that the author talks about not sending texts or reading emails under the kitchen table.  I too believe in that but of course, when I am out to lunch during “work” hours I can’t help but check my emails.  Darn smart phones – you can’t live with them and you can’t live without them.  The ONE thing that I consciously work at every day is to not look at my cell phone AT ALL when I am driving. I have to keep reminding myself that back in the day, nobody had phones or mini computers in their cars.  When they drove, they focused on the task at hand and listened to the radio or just chilled. If I can manage to accomplish this task, then I feel I will have conquered a little bit of the “slow” movement!  Oh and plus D is often in the car with me and I don't want her to learn bad habits like picking up the phone every five minutes...every time we're at a stop light. I do not want her obsessing about her future phone (a very, very far future I might add).