The time has come. Whether it’s the changing of the earthly season or just a season in your life, you are feeling the need to shift to something slower. Maybe you have been busy traveling, caring for a loved one, in a busy season with your children, or maybe the days are simply just getting shorter and cooler and you are feeling the need to take a break. Whatever the reason, I am here for it.
In a modern culture that glorifies jumping from one thing to the next to the next with little time for anything besides a quick bite and a scroll through social media, it is so tempting to want to shrug off that tired feeling you’re experiencing as just a need for a quick caffeinated pick me up or a power nap.
But you know it is more than that. It is a deep soulful sort of tired. The kind that needs more than a quick fix. The kind tat can’t be remedied with another hit of caffeine or a quick scrolling break on your phone. It is an ache for true rest and rejuvenation.
Autumn: The Original Season For Slowing
Autumn ushers in a natural slowing season each year. After the summer in which the sun was already be peaking over the hills as I woke invigorating me to get up, go, and do; the fall season gently urges a slower pace.
The sun heads to bed a little earlier and gets up a little later with every passing day as the daylight hours shorten. The nights get cooler, gently leading us inside to stay warm. It is undeniable that autumn is settling in to stay. It is truly one of my favorite times of the year.
The bold and vibrant colors all around, the crunchy leaves beneath your feet, the warming flavors of apples and squash mixed with cinnamon and spice.
Autumn is a time that demands us to stop what we’re doing, even if just for a minute, and take in the beauty around us.
Yet, if we don’t slow down, how quickly we can miss the abundance around us.
Leaves only hold their golden hues for a few short days or weeks if we’re lucky. It won’t be long until the last bits of warmth gives way to a bone-chilling winter freeze (at least for those of us lucky enough to live in a place with snowy winters)
This is true of life as well. After a season of going and doing; it is life-giving to take a step back, savor, and celebrate the work of your hands. Because was is life if were always hustling to the next thing without enjoying the previous accomplishment?
How To Identify The Need For Slowing
The last few weeks have left me feeling unsettled, discouraged with my daily rhythms and work load. This morning I sat pondering just why it was that I felt so dissatisfied with my how my days were going. Could it be the effect of the difficult season of life I find myself in? Maybe. But I had a sense my feelings toward the difficult season was the symptom of something else, not the other way around.
Recently, I have embarked on an endeavor to start asking myself better questions. Rather than continuing to ask myself why I was less productive or why I wasted time; I instead asked, “What rhythms would encourage creativity and cultivate an environment in which I am more likely to achieve my goals?”
This question was the key. It led my to consider what had changed in my environment since I had last adapted my daily rhythms.
I was trying to stick to my energized rhythms when my body and soul were asking for something different.
It was asking for a slowing season.
Slowing Is Recharging
After a season in which filled to the brim with travel, projects, and activities; the transition to the slower pace was something I found myself craving.
I was trying to hold on to the adrenaline and excitement of the last season while my body was asking for an alternative pace. A pace in which I am able to reap the gifts of what was was sown.
There’s a story about redwood trees injected with a form of adrenaline to keep them alive through the winter. In other words, their leaves didn’t change colors and drop to the ground for a season of dormancy. Instead, they kept on blooming throughout the winter.
Within one year, every single one of the trees had died from the stress. Without a season of dormancy, a season of recharge and slowing; the hardiest of mighty redwood trees was unable to live more than a year.
Meanwhile, I went several years, the majority of my adult life in fact, without allowing myself to embrace the slowing seasons. I would literally spend the entire year moving at one ultrafast pace.
It’s no wonder I was left as burnt out, overwhelmed, shell of myself.
Even though I have been seeking a slower, softer life for a few years now, the desire to keep grinding from one season to the next still has a bit of a grip on me.
Rest Leads to Fruitfulness
Seasons of rest are so powerful not only because they allow us a break from work, but also equally importantly because they make our work better! It is so tempting to believe that continuous work will produce the most output.
This is true of machines but simply is not true of human beings.
Humans thrive on alternating periods of rest and work.
Even Albert Einstein knew of the importance of rest. He was known for long walks and naps to help process his ideas. He believe these periods of rest were what fueled his productivity, creativity, and ingenuity and saw them as an integral part of the work he did.
Sure, there are people out there that have made great impact by working tireless hours for years on end, but at what cost? We tend to just look at outward accomplishments without considered what the rest of people’s lives look like.
Were they in good health? Did they love and care for their family and friends around them?
There are many who have achieved much in their professional lives but unfortunately it came at the cost of their personal lives.
I would argue that those who have “accomplished” the most are those who have made the greatest impact with the gifts that they have been giving while also loving and supporting those people that they have been blessed with in their lives.
That is the kind of success I want. The type that flows like a gentle stream through all aspects of my life providing life and support to the lives that I have been given the opportunity to touch.
Success Is More Than Jobs and Purchases
How often do we find ourselves irritated with a short fuse towards our coworkers or even our own families because we don’t feel we have enough time for them.
Maybe a spouse or roommate needs to talk through something difficult that happened during their day, but we brush it off feeling the urge to respond to one more text message or email.
Or maybe it’s a child who wants to help make dinner which you know will take longer, so you tell them not right now and suggest an activity that will keep them out of your hair.
As someone who found a spouse much later in life than I hoped for and is in a season of deep longing for children, interactions like these make my heart ache.
Now, I realize no person is perfect, including myself, and life is just hard or complicated at times. Please know that I speak not from a place of judgement but to encourage you to be fully present in enjoying the gifts God has given you.
That is what I want to make space for. To enjoy the blessings that I have been given rather than rushing to the next thing on my to-do list.
So if you find yourself weary from a busy season, I encourage you to take a moment or several to slow down and take inventory of what your body and soul are asking for.
Maybe its unplugging from email or text messages. Maybe it’s deleting social media from your phone for a period of time. Maybe it’s a night, day, weekend, or week off. Whatever it is, tune in and embrace it.
More Slow Living Tips You Might Enjoy….
Living Slow When Life Feels Fast
Slow Down: The Greatest Productivity Hack
Live More Fully With Minimalism
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