“Slow down everyone you’re moving too fast.” -Jack Johnson
slow down james… please, slow down.
The past months have been a fast roller coaster ride. Tiring is not enough a description of how my travel and life in general went through.
Complaining? Nope, certainly not. But there is something that tells me to STOP. Yep, ALL CAPS- “JOURNEYINGJAMES PLEASE STOP or just SLOW DOWN.”
In this fast-paced world where almost everyone wants to get this or that as quick as the twinkling of the eyes, its hard to SLOW DOWN much harder to STOP.
It’s hard especially for travelers to stop because “travel” goes along great with words like
“GO”
“EXPLORE”
“TREK”
“WALK”
“TRAVERSE”
“MOVE”
“DISCOVER”
“ROAM”
“LEAVE”
“ROVE”
“FLY.”
All these words are full of actions, full of movements and activity. But when I get deeper into it, “TRAVEL” also needs to be paired with words like
“sit down”
“listen”
“reflect”
“relax”
“breathe”
“stay”
“brake”
“watch”
“take it easy”
“hang loose” or even
“backtrack.”
And it dawned upon me that I’m using the ALL CAPS words more than the words that are in small caps. Furthermore, I realize that instead of prioritizing “slowing down” I chose “going faster” and “accomplishing more.” I organized too much tours that sometimes I get to spread myself too thinly and instead of enjoying the trip my body would be tired and it becomes a drag. I said “YES” to almost all invitations to travel and I find it hard to write about all the trips that went through. It’s too much for me. Almost close to the feeling I experience when I was dragging myself to work at 7:00am three years ago.
“I realize that instead of prioritizing “slowing down” I chose “going faster” and “accomplishing more.” -James
I also saw some changes in my travels. I began taking more airplane rides than bus and boat rides. Instead of walking a mile, I would take a jeepney or tricycle. I’m getting comfortable with convenience that I forget that its better to sweat it all out.
getting back to the basics…
This reflection was brought by a simple fetching of a water pump in a town called Cantilan in Surigao del Sur.
You see, it made me appreciate water more and use it diligently because I used more effort getting it from the well than when I just turn on the faucet at home. And its more enjoyable and fulfilling to use water from the well than from the faucet. Yep, you can call me absurd but that’s the way it is.
I like my coffee better when I bought the beans from the source, roast and grind it myself and finally brew it; compare that to just adding hot water from the water dispenser on Nescafe 3-in-1.
Diba mas masarap ang lutong bahay kaysa sa 711?
And who would choose Tinolang Manok na 45days over a native free-range chicken tinola? Told yah, it’s just the way it is. Slow is better than quick. We have this kasabihan in Tagalog, “Ang lumakad ng mabilis matinik ay malalim.” (Those who walk too fast get deeper wound.)
Diba mas masarap ang lutong bahay kaysa sa 711?
Actually, there is nothing wrong with slowing down. In driving, you slow down on steep curves. In running, you need to slow down when you have to drink water. In making love, you can’t be all intense, you have to slow down. Remember the saying “slowly but surely?” We are not programmed to work 24/7 unless we are 711.
Please don’t let me connect this reflection with having a relationship. But that’s way it should be too. 😉
___ ___ ___
The story behind the song above is about Bruce Lee. Jack Johnson was writing about a paper after their film professor told a story when they were filming Bruce Lee.
This is a story about Bruce Lee when he was first acting his karate moves, all his karate moves where too quick for the camera and so the director have to tell him to slow down a little bit because there are only 24 frames every second and it wasn’t enough to catch all of his moves a lot of his stuff felt like they were doing especial effects and they didn’t want him to look like that, they wanted to let Bruce to shine for what he has.” It should have been “Slow down Bruce you’re moving to fast.” –Jack Johnson, Inaudible Melodies
You can read more of my reflections by visiting this link- JourneyingJames Reflections
Yup.. ang buhay talaga ngayon,palaging nagmamadali. Lahat ng bagay kailangan “instant” pati lahat ng pagkain at sangkap sa pagluluto, music, laruan, transpo etc.. (lahat halos ng photos, upload upload na lang,bihira na ang nagpapadevelop) Mas mabilis ay mas mainam. Madami talaga tayo gusto gawin,sa maikling panahon kasi nga mabilis ang oras. Pero minsan mas masaya parin gawin yung mga bagay na simula sa basic at kailangan maghintay. Kasi doon marami tayong natututunan at may oras pang mag bulay bulay .. magponder at reflect kumbaga.. tsaka dun mo makikita yung essence ng isang bagay. Sometimes the journey is better than your destination sabi nga nila.
simplicity is beauty
Great writeup! 🙂 Its always best to slow down and cherish every moment, there’s nothing to hurry. Too many schedules is really dragging and hey health is way important.
It’s called… Getting old, panyero. Bahahaha!
whew! but that’s so true panyera. all of us get old anyway. haha
Yeah, we all need to slow down once in a while and appreciate things in deeper perspective. And definitely….agree ako kay Gaye.hehehe.
nagtulong pa kayo ni gaye.
I like the “getting back to the basics…” =). The way how things are being done before is incomparably slow compared to our modern ways but the first is more valuable to think.
🙂 someday soon people would go back to the basics and it will be very hard for most of people who have been acquainted with instants and comfort
alam mo James, ganun talaga, ang sikreto ng buhay tulad ngayon, nainspire ako na follow my heart my beat my own beat..my rhythm…hindi lahat nakukuha sa mabilisan. Kya hindi natin naapreciate ang mga nasa paligid natin..slowly and surely nga naman ang sikreto. Hindi naman lahat ng oras at pagkakataon para sa atin, we have a mechanism we have a rhythm..when you are a traveler you bring more than you take in its like reuse reduce and recycle those ideas, those plans, those that we don’t need, yes we have ego but we have our own ideas when we do things, reading and internalizing things are getting us some words thrown infront of us, when we know that we have become responsible and simply appreciate the small things the little things. nagawa ko na mga travels na gusto ko pero I want more, I want to discover more of who I am and what I can do..while the world is telling us…there’s no time we have t hurry up..we have to move, we have to simply LET LIFE FLOW.
just let life flow. dont fight it diba ms.nao?