Mindful Monday
You Do Not Have to Match the Pace Around You
September has a way of making everything feel urgent.
Schools are reopening. Calendars are filling. Practices, meetings, deadlines, activities, appointments, and responsibilities all seem to restart at once. Everyone appears to be moving quickly, which can quietly create the feeling that we should be moving just as quickly.
We start measuring our pace against everyone else's.
They already finished it.
They already responded.
They already have a plan.
They seem to be handling all of this better than I am.
The problem is that someone else's pace tells us almost nothing about what our own pace should be.
Fast is not always efficient. Busy is not always productive. Immediate is not always thoughtful.
Sometimes the best work happens when we give ourselves enough time to think before responding, enough space to consider another perspective, or enough permission to decide that everything on the list does not have to happen today.
There is also a difference between moving slowly and moving intentionally.
Intentional people still make progress. They simply resist allowing the speed around them to determine every decision they make.
This week, notice where you are feeling pressure to hurry simply because everyone else seems to be hurrying.
Ask yourself:
Does this actually need to happen right now?
Am I rushing because the situation requires it, or because I am absorbing someone else's urgency?
Would a little more time make this decision, conversation, or piece of work better?
There will always be people moving faster.
There will always be another email, another task, another deadline, another person who seems three steps ahead.
You do not have to catch their pace.
Find yours.
Protect it.
Then keep moving forward in a way that allows you to arrive not only finished, but thoughtful, present, and still yourself.
Your pace does not have to match the pace around you to be the right pace.
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