Handcraftedlifeblog

Hello.

I wanted to be the type of writer who rises early, before dawn, begins the day by emptying my brain contents onto the blank page and then going on to do what must be done. I truly admire those writers, I am not one of them. Instead I wake early, often not intentionally, (although a beautiful sunrise is always welcomed) and just slow down when I am meant to speed up. Often it makes me late for work, and more often than not this habit of slowing down when I am meant to speed up makes me late for a lot of things. So I find myself writing late in the evening, it is 2 minutes until 10:30PM Sunday night as I am typing this, I have to be at work before 7:30AM tomorrow. Working 7 days a week has eliminated the “Monday Blues” from my Sundays. So, that’s a thing.

Why do we feel rushed? Where is the pressure coming from? I find myself speeding on my drive home from work (Sorry, Mom), even when I have nowhere that I have to be. Its astounding to me that our current culture and society can be in such a hurry all the time, only to remain so disconnected. From themselves. From others. From the Sacred. For most of us, our village is now connected by the signal strength of wi-fi or the nearest network tower rather than by fences, communal fires, or shared tasks. We used to carry each other’s burdens to make it lighter for everyone involved. A shared burden is not a burden, but a connection point. The difficult thing is still difficult, but there is breathing room when others help you hold space. I digress.

I have been thinking about purpose, and how when you have a dream or a vision, typically, you strive to make that happen, to realize it. Depending on your background or beliefs, you may believe that your purpose is to share with others (spoiler alert: it is. Just not always in the way you think). We are always spending time working towards something, even if that is just getting through the next minute, hour, day. Why then is there a seemingly inordinate amount of pressure put on finding (and fulfilling!) one’s purpose? OR hurrying to realize long buried dreams/goals etc before one is too old to actually enjoy or gain self-benefit from them. Anyone else feel that? No? Just me? What if we just stopped? What if we just were here, right now for the thing in front of us? I am not saying give up on the 3-5-10 year plans, or don’t plan for the future…because that would be very dumb. I am saying there is something to allowing one’s self to exhale; to just being present at multiple points in a single day that really seems to take the edge off the whole constant heart racing- nail biting- speeding while waiting for the sky to fall on you-panic.

They say mindfulness is a trigger-stopper for anxious, racing thoughts. Pressure and panic are intricately linked. Isolation is fuel for a whole dumpster fire of bad.

Let’s start meeting face to face again, phone’s off. Let’s start seeing people again, as they are, and making the choice to be present. Connect with God, Nature etc. Maybe that is our primary purpose? Start spreading kindness and moving slow as an act of resistance. After all, the best things take time.

-Bethany