Permission to Drift

We live in a world obsessed with speed. I typed the word “speed” into my internet browser and it delivered 94,000,000 results in .09 seconds.  Interestingly, we are no longer amazed by this. We expect it, and anything less simply won’t do.

Car makers sell us on how fast their cars will go, improved cleaning products tout that they will clean in “half the time”, and technology is evolving so quickly that a product is practically obsolete by the time we’ve learned to use it. We build high speed trains, add high speed lanes to the expressway, purchase high-speed internet, and are annoyed when our “fast food” isn’t being handed out the window by the time we drive around the building. With all this speed, you’d think we would have a surplus of time each day to do the things we actually enjoy, but that doesn’t seem to be the case at all. 

Almost everyone bemoans the fact that they “don’t have enough time” to do what has to be done, much less what they want to do. Each day speeds into the next in a blur of deadlines, emails, cell calls, and appointments. At the end of the day, if we ever get a moment to slow down without immediately falling into the sleep of pure exhaustion, we may find ourselves wondering if this is how it is destined to be… life as the “blur” that occurs between two great, silent pauses…

While technology may have evolved at the speed of light, the human body has not. We are simply not built to withstand life at the extreme pace our current culture demands without beginning to break down; either emotionally, physically or both. In order to survive at the most basic level, we need rest; in order to thrive and grow, we need things in our life which bring us peace, joy, and satisfaction. 

I recently returned from a week of much needed peace. No cell calls, no email, no internet. I had no appointments, no commitments and no plans. I simply sat with the sun on my shoulders and a book in my lap. Sometimes I took a walk. It took a day or two to clear the noise out of my head, to find escape from the grip of busyness that holds me in its tyranny far too much of the time. Countless times during those first few days, the Voice Of Busyness told me to check my email, watch the news, send a text, surf the web, or just go do something. I ignored it, but it was difficult. Eventually though, the annoying Voice Of Busyness quieted down and I was able to hear my own thoughts again. Not the noisy, busy, work thoughts I normally have. Not the thoughts about what I needed to do next, but thoughts about the kind of person that I want to be and the things that are important to me.

Author James Gleick once wrote:

“Recognize that neither technology nor efficiency can acquire more time for you, because time is not a thing you have lost. It is not a thing you ever had. It is what you live in. You can drift or you can swim, but it will carry you along either way.”

I am under no illusions as to how far down the river my journey has taken me. The mirror and my aching knees remind me every day. But I know this much is true: I am a better swimmer after I have allowed myself some time to drift. 

When is the last time you gave yourself permission to stop struggling and simply float for awhile?