Slow Down; Feel the Rays of Spring
Finding the flow between working and living
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This week, I’ve felt the need to slow down… I worry that if I don’t keep up, I’ll somehow fall behind in this arbitrary race; perhaps I won’t get to where I’m ultimately meant to go.
I’m afraid that if I don’t turn my current experience living abroad into something, I’ve somehow failed. I’m working to forgo that mindset.
It’s okay to be afraid. It means we care — but there’s nothing to fear. I accept whatever I’m feeling, but those feelings of inadequacy aren’t me.
In the more difficult moments, the weight becomes too much. Then the next day, after a good night’s sleep and a change of perspective, I’m ready to get at it again.
That’s made me realize that I’ll never stop striving to illuminate what I feel in my heart and soul — I enjoy it too much.
When I experience a moment that epitomizes the change from winter to spring — a morning bike ride through my neighborhood in southern Osaka or the joy of spending a Sunday in the park — my mind attempts to put that feeling into words so that it may be shared.
When the world teaches me a lesson, I feel the need to solidify it in print.
Even if I wanted to stop, I don’t think I could turn this off.
But if we’re overwhelmed because we feel we have to just keep up with our own standards — if we have to acquiesce to the perception we believe others have of us — whatever weight we’ve put on ourselves is unsustainable.
Meaningful work makes me feel like I’m progressing. But I don’t want to try so hard to keep up at the expense of a light heart.
Much of the wisdom I glean from podcasts, books and my favorite thought leaders tell me to just keep going.
Do the work when nobody’s watching so that one day in a year, in five, in twenty, when your time comes — you’ll have an undeniable stack of evidence that says, this is who I am.
While this inspiration ignites the fire in my soul, I have to believe that we’re all just human beings figuring it out as we go, right?
Even the people we admire.
Who really knows that the most important thing to do in our young lives is to keep our head down with our foot on the grindstone?
What if to get to where we’re meant to go, we need the time to pull back, look up, and appreciate the season we’re in with greater ease?
Perhaps if we don’t, we’ll miss it.
We all need moments of surrender.
We’re not here to grind, we’re here to flow, peacefully and endlessly in harmony like the coming and going of the ocean.
There're times to push and times to yield to the stress we feel.
Sometimes the waves fall upon the sand with tremendous strength, and at other times they do nothing but coast upon the shore so the sky may reflect upon their surface.
We need not worry that things will happen as they’re meant to. What’s brought us here, nothing more but the way our spirit shines, will take us to where we’re meant to go.
Enjoy this.
I just want to lay in the sun and feel the rays of spring.
With much, much love.
This story is part of my weekly newsletter, Citoyens du Monde, sent out every Friday morn. Check it out to take part in the journey. 🚀
