Sometimes it’s good to slowdown

There’s no advantage to hurrying through life. ~ Shikamaru Nara

Originally posted February,2019

I’ve been going pretty hard since the end of March.  At that point I was heading west to California and applying for jobs.  Once I get to California I had a number of interviews and so I was driving around the state doing first and second interviews, my schedule at the whims of people who had jobs available that I wanted.

Once I landed a job at Skyline College, I had to find an apartment and once that was settled move all of my possessions up from Southern California.  At that point, I was living off of my credit cards and the last of my savings, so I had to use the cheapest option to move.  That included me doing four round trips in a van between the Mojave Desert and essentially San Francisco, about a 300 mile round trip.  Between my official hire and start dates I had about three weeks.  Just enough time to get all of the necessities done, cable, internet, dry cleaning and getting my apartment set up finding my way around my new home.

Then the job started, a couple of weeks of overlapping with my predecessor made the start far mellower than normal but it was still getting back to work after a year off.  So back into the routines of getting up early every morning, establishing a workout schedule, making lunches etc…

Then, as of July first the real fun started, my new position was all mine and I got to dig into it.  Of course, as with every new position you start in a hole, you are climbing a huge learning curve and the first part of the semester is the busiest time of year.  So the real hectic schedule began, which bled into the first week of classes and twelve hour days.  And  here we are, in between I’ve been checking off places to see and places to hike in the area.  So I’ve been on the go now for almost six months and it’s Labor Day Weekend.  For many years, this weekend is normally the time I’m driving home from Burning Man.  But when I’m not, I really like to take it easy on the busy holiday weekends.  It’s the worst time to be on the road and every place is crowded, it may be a long weekend, but it can leave you more tired than a normal weekend.

So instead, I did some cooking as I talked about in my post last night, did a little shopping, bought some new work clothes, paid some bills, and even achieved a minor miracle by mounting a rear wiper blade on my car and to celebrate washed it.  Finally I took a hike down to Mori Point early this morning to climb a hill and sit and stare at the ocean for a time.

A slower pace of life can make you happy

The lesson to draw out of all of this comes directly out of tonight’s quote.  There’s no need to hurry through life.  Stopping and smelling the roses may be a cliche, but it’s an accurate one.  We all need to be more present in our lives, to take it easy, to enjoy the moments we have, being mindful of every day, minute and moment makes our lives more meaningful, rich and time slows down as we do.  It also has a wonderful side effect of making you happier.  So slow down, take your time, be present and have a happy day my friends.           ~ Rev Kane