Discover Prompts, Day 16: Slow
Ben Huberman at Discover, WordPress posts daily prompts throughout April. The prompt for today is Slow.
He invited us to write about an activity, chore, or habit we enjoy lingering on, or music, art, literature we turn to when we don’t need to rush.
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I worked for the same school district for twenty-five years before retirement. The freeway commuters increased year by year. Every driver was impatient, but there was no other option to many people to get to work. For me, I had an option of taking surface streets. It took fifty to sixty minutes each way. If the freeway were free, it would take about forty minutes. During the rush hours, it could take an hour and fifteen minutes, but it was still unpredictable. Eventually, I only took surface streets to work.
There was an internal clock that woke me at six o’clock before the alarm went off. There was no time to linger in bed. The morning routine was repeated methodically. Every five minutes of delay to get out of the door would cause extra ten minutes late to work. There was no time to have breakfast at home so I would eat after I got to the classroom or office when I worked in the school district office.
After retirement, the internal clock still woke me at six o’clock. It took a good year for me not to worry about getting on the road. It has been almost ten years now. I enjoy my slower pace of life with no apparent deadline and no rush in getting things done. If I cannot get it done today, there is always tomorrow. Sometimes, it is all right if I do not complete the job.
The best way for me to learn to slow is doing watercolor painting, drawing, and ceramic painting. Here are some samples.
Discover Prompts, Day 16: Slow