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HeartWood
A blog about cultivating
creativity, connection and contentment
wherever you are

Slow-Mo: Not a No-No

5/11/2016

12 Comments

 
​This is perhaps not the best thing to admit in print, but lately I've found myself—dare I say it?—slo-o-o-o-o-o-w-w-w-w-ing down. And even though I've always been something of a go-go-go-getter, I think this new pace is a good thing.
​

PictureOne of the more leisurely desk lunches of my newspaper career
For most of my working life, I toiled in a profession—journalism—where speed was not only valued, but required. At my newspaper job, editors handed out daily assignments in mid-morning, and stories were due by mid- to late-afternoon. The short span in between was a mad scramble of gathering and absorbing background information, lining up sources, conducting interviews and writing fast. All of this fueled by caffeine, adrenaline and—if there was time—a lunch hastily gobbled at my desk.
 
It was stressful, but thrilling—something like riding a motorcycle through a series of hairpin turns. Both undertakings require skill and extreme focus, and at the end, both result in the sublime satisfaction of pulling off the feat. Still, there are times when you just want to sit back in the saddle, put your feet up on the highway pegs and savor the ride.

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Just as I used to enjoy a leisurely cruise down country roads on my motorcycle, I found myself yearning for more slow-moving days in my whole life. Yet when I finally was able to step away from my fast-paced career and turn my attention to book-writing, collage-making, picture-taking and other gentler pursuits, I found it surprisingly hard to let myself slow down. Conditioned to keep an eye on the clock, I tried to impose time limits and deadlines on myself. Some days I still whipped through pages with newsroom-paced efficiency, but on days when I labored for hours on a single page—or paragraph, or sentence, or phrase—I beat myself up for being such a slug.
 
Finally, I realized my whip-cracking and artificial deadlines were doing me—and my creative work—no good. Writing and revising words, collecting and assembling images, composing and shooting photographs are all endeavors that sometimes just take as long as they need to take. Hurrying up may make me feel more productive, but it rarely makes the end result better. 

​Or so I kept telling myself for quite some time before I fully accepted it as truth. Only now, four years after swerving out of the fast lane, am I starting to settle into a more measured pace. Sometimes I still have to check the impulse to scold myself when I dawdle over a chore I used to speed through in seconds. But more often now, I allow myself to stand at the window and stare at the trees for as long as I want, to sink onto the couch and read a magazine after completing a task instead of racing on to the next thing on my list, to take a walk and stop to examine a wildflower or chat with a neighbor.
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As so often happens, now that I'm thinking about this subject, I'm stumbling across related articles everywhere. In an interview in The Writer's Chronicle, author William Least Heat-Moon had this to say about speed in creative undertakings:
         
In large part, excessive speed is likely an aspect of the current instant-gratification syndrome, and unwillingness to delay reward; but speed can also be a way of cutting down on the arduousness of the creative process. I don't believe that excellent writing comes easily to anyone. To draw out one's best means first demanding the best of one's abilities and then answering that demand for the time it requires.
​
PictureWhat's the rush?
​And in her blog, The Tangled Nest, author Lyanda Lynn Haupt muses on being more tortoise than hare. Rather than paraphrase her beautiful language, I encourage you to read the original.
 
However, I will share Haupt's bottom line:
 

The Pace of Creation is a mystery. It is different for all of us. And that's just fine.

 
Yes, it is. What's more, even the process of discovering one's true and rightful pace can be a lengthy process. So take your time. Or hurry up. Whichever suits you. But do it in your own time.

12 Comments
Tracy link
5/11/2016 07:57:06 am

Slow down to savor life has been my goal as well. It's surprisingly difficult to accomplish.

Reply
Nan
5/11/2016 08:06:06 am

Why is that?? Are we just so used to filling up every minute we can't stop?

Reply
J.Q. Rose link
5/11/2016 08:46:11 am

Good for you! I remember after working at a speed of light pace in the flower shop how difficult it was to slow down and be alone. Now I laugh sometimes when I realize the snail's pace I use to just unload the dishwasher. No rush. Although there isn't much creativity involved in the task, life is better when you can savor the moments of the day or the writing experience ir the bird calls in the back yard. So go ahead and put your feet up on the pegs and enjoy the ride!

Reply
Nan
5/11/2016 08:49:49 am

So true -- and so beautifully expressed, JQ! Everyday tasks is where I notice the slow-down most of all. It's lovely. And who knows, the creative part of your brain imay be active even when you're unloading the dishwasher and not aware of it.

Reply
Lyanda Lynn Haupt link
5/11/2016 09:00:49 am

It was nice to see a link to my post on your beautiful blog! Thank you. And It was the perfect day for me to read your words (and to be reminded of mine)--I was just thinking, "I've had my editor's notes for weeks and weeks, why is my revision not done???" Ah, yes. I'll pick up my pen and keep wandering down the path today--but who knows? Even we tortoises might take it up to a jog now and then! If the spirit moves us...

Reply
Nan
5/20/2016 06:54:28 am

And thank YOU, Lyanda, for writing such a beautiful blog to which to link.

Reply
Tonya Howe
5/11/2016 09:16:44 am

I think it may be a zen philosophy to slow down and live within each moment of even the most menial of tasks. Also, thanks,Nan, for the snapshot of a fast-paced jounalists life of which I've never thought to imagine.

Reply
Nan
5/20/2016 06:55:05 am

It was a different life, for sure, Tonya.

Reply
rlh
5/11/2016 09:22:27 am

I highly recommend YIN yoga as a facilitator of slowing down. You get into a stretchy pose and STAY there, learning to "sit with the discomfort." It's like meditation with benefits for your connective tissue. It's a doing-nothing that somehow changes everything.

Reply
Nan
5/20/2016 06:56:04 am

I've never taken a YIN class, but I have been trying to spend more time in poses instead of rushing on to the next thing. It does change the whole feeling of the practice.

Reply
Katherine Myers
5/18/2016 10:15:36 am

I have such trouble slowing down and just appreciating the moment. The best time for me to do that is when I'm weeding. My main mental block to just relaxing is the drive to accomplish something--and that something has to be measurable and not an every day task...pretty hard on me sometimes, and I know it's hard on Jack since he doesn't have a problem just 'being'!!

Reply
Nan
5/20/2016 06:59:49 am

I'd be interested in hearing how you work out the combination of a "doer" and a "be-er."

Reply



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    Nan Sanders Pokerwinski, a former journalist, writes memoir and personal essays, makes collages and likes to play outside. She lives in West Michigan with her husband, Ray.

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