Slow down and everything you are chasing will come around and catch you.
~John De Paola
~John De Paola
I have to admit: Recently, I’ve had the treadmill syndrome. You know that feeling of running fast, being on the go, doing tons of things – yet, still feeling stagnant, in the same place and not going anywhere fast. Yeah, I’ve been feeling that.
There are tons of things I want to do. Tons of things I want to explore. Pieces of my biz that I’m eager to build up. And, I’m making headway on some of those things, but progress feels slow and there are a lot of things that remain that I haven’t been able to do or work on.
In times like these I think the natural inclination is to go in the direction of doing more. When you feel like you’re not getting enough done, the immediate, obvious thought is to what? To do more. To up the anty. To get ‘er done’er. While there are certainly times that it makes sense to follow this route, there are also times when it makes sense to take a new direction. So, sorry obvious. I’m rooting for the unobvious response. I’m rooting for slowing down and giving myself the space to think and create.
I’m jumping off the treadmill. I’ll still be jogging, I’ll still be moving. But, the process will be different. Instead of keeping my focus on how many miles I’ve ran and if my heart rate is high enough, I’ll be enjoying a slow jog outside for awhile. Metaphorically speaking, it’ll be nice to jog along to check out new paths, new streets, new things in the neighborhood, and to not be consumed by all those numbers and grids on the treadmill dashboard. (Ahhh…just writing that sentence gave a feeling of relief.)
It’s amazing how sometimes when we slow down and give ourselves the space we need to be creative and just flow in the moment, magic happens. We become renewed and re-energized. We gain clarity on old ideas that we didn’t quite know how to jump-start and even better – new, fresh ideas emerge. That’s the power of the unobvious.
Do you ever feel like you have the treadmill syndrome? How do you respond and what do you do to move past it?
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Normally, we get this kind of wake-up call when illness or tragedy strikes us or someone we love. How nice to hear that this is something we can do for ourselves without crisis intervention. My preferred style is to meditate in the early morning,and using that feeling of calm afterwards to go over the day’s priorities and make reasonable choices. When the pressure is off the ideas and energy flows and flows…