In case you haven’t noticed, I’m obsessed with time. 4,000 Weeks by Oliver Burkeman has become religious text for me. I still a haven’t finished it… but I’m working through it.
Working with beautiful momma Ashley in my studio had me thinking about Burkeman’s chapters on things taking however long they take. We have no choice.
We’re always trying to speed things up, like the promise-land of MORE is on the other side. If you can put a pod into a machine and have faster coffee, then you can do more very important things. If you can get an hour-long workout in 20 minutes, you can go do more very important things.
For a long time I was a junkie for this stuff. If there was a gizmo or a system that promised faster, I was there. The problem eventually was that more, was just more. More things to do, more maintenance, more rat race. Nothing was better.
Now I’m into s l o w . First I replaced pod coffee with french press. It takes 4 minutes. There’s no way to speed that up. It just takes the time it takes. Then I bought an espresso machine and Vi usually makes my coffee. . . so that’s an especially impractical system. I get my coffee whenever I get it. Perfect.
If I can drive a mile or walk it, I’ll probably walk. I keep getting more plants that need to be watered in ever-expanding circuit of my house. Eating in my car, never. I’m either sitting for a meal or I’ll just be hungry until I can. I read books because they’re quiet and reading takes as long as it takes. We speed up our podcasts and audio books, but you can’t speed up text on the page. (But I’m still a junkie for automation. The litter robot isn’t faster, it’s done-for-me. It is better. oooh, yeah.)
When you replace fast with s l o w , some things have to fall off your plate. When they do, the sky doesn’t crash down. The people you love still love you and now you’re intentionally spending your very precious time doing the things that are important to you and that you love doing. Stress levels drop. Your shoulders detach from your ears. You can say YES when a friend suddenly has an hour to meet for coffee in 10 minutes. Waiting in line or traffic is just a way to pass time, rather than an annoyance. You people-watch or notice the flowers / the birds / the light coming through the window. You see how beautiful it all is.
What do you want to do today? You have the time.
You need these Two Friends