Why you should slow down at-least once a day?

Why should you slow down at least once a day?

For weeks on end I was running from one class to another, walking briskly from one interview to another, travelling from one city to another. I didn’t realize when spring had left Charlottesville and when fall had taken over. It was only yesterday when I was walking back from my innovation and design thinking class that I noticed the leaves had changed color and were vanishing faster than you could say “autumn”.

A lot of us often look towards the next big thing in life. The next big exam, the next big application deadline to college, the next big job, the next big promotion, the next big raise, the next big date, the next big graduate application, the next big internship interview, the next big first job after your MBA, the next big house, the next big promotion, the next big raise, the next big something else. There is always a next big something! And the search for the next big something often results in a sprint and a lot of speed. And the trouble with speed is that you often don’t remember those moments because they go by so fast.

I rarely remember the cases I spend hours on, because I read them so fast. Same with the interviews, phone calls, or emails. I rarely remember the meals I cooked or eat, because I cooked them and ate them so quick.

It’s only the times I actually slowed down that are etched in my mind’s eye. The meal I deliberately cooked after carefully selecting the ingredients, reading a recipe, talking to my mother/grandmother on the phone to ask for tips, listening to some fantastic music, and taking my time cooking it. That’s the one I remember.

The spontaneous long drive to skyline to see the change in fall color with friend’s one busy weekend will still be the best time that I had at Darden. Only because we kept no deadlines, no rush to get back in time for another event on the calendar. We decided we will just slow down and have a good time before a mad week began.

Finally after weeks I slowed down to watch the leaves fall with the wind and stopped in my tracks to realize how spectacularly beautiful Darden looks at this time of the year. I sat there to close my eyes, take a deep breath, listen to what the rustling of the leaves sounded like, and really capture what this moment felt like.

At Darden, and in life, you should definitely slow down once a day to build up these fantastic memories because when you are reading that next 100 page long case for class the next day, you can just close your eyes for a second and transport back to that magical place. Even if it’s for a ‘slow-quick’ moment.

Check out my previous post on autumn/fall at Darden – https://archanadoodles.wordpress.com/2013/11/27/it-was-falling-and-its-all-fallen/