Slow and steady wins the race after all.
All this talk about how fast college and senior year goes by might send some of you in a frenzy to meet all your goals, complete your bucket lists, and boost your gpa all while looking into the future and planning what you need to be doing post grad. Whoa there. Take a breath. I was like you my at different points my senior year. I felt like I was running a marathon at times and I couldn’t stop to catch my breath, or I’d fall behind. But that frenzy is a haze of panic. It’s almost like you’re running through a dark tunnel that seems to have a light at the end of it, you don’t know where you are or what’s around you, you just know that you have to keep on running to get through. But taking some time to yourself will give you a lot of perspective on where you are and where you’re going.
I have a mentor who’s in his 30s attending law school currently. When I was telling him all the things on my plate, he told me that it’s ok to slow down. He gave a very vivid metaphor to help contextualize his advice. Being nearly 10 years older than many of his classmates he has formed a better understanding of his career goals and purpose which is what drives him and grounds him through school. But when he sees his younger peers, he said it’s like everyone is sprinting as fast as they can away from something. No one knows what’s chasing them or what they’re running away from; they just know that they have to at least outrun the person next to them. This was very striking to me. My mentor told me that I have time. Find what my purpose is and that will drive my actions with so much more strength than just trying to be the best for no particular reason than to claim that title.
Time is such a strange concept to me when I think about it abstractly. Of course, practically, it’s the system that we can use to quantify how our life continues and moves forward. And it’s very systematic; there are 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour and 24 hours in a day, etc. But then weeks and months can disappear and become a distant memory in what feels like days. Time flies when you’re having fun and the 5 more minutes left in class feels like an eternity. I think as humans we’re always trying to beat time. We try to get ahead on our work to have an easier weekend. We try and take preventive measures to protect our health and beauty against the war of time. When a deadline is approaching, we think just one more day would’ve been so helpful. We try to maximize our youth before time catches up to us and it’s time to start a family. I say all this because it’s becoming clear to me how much of our life is spent thinking and living for the future. We wish away our lives by always wishing for spring break or weekends and vacations. We take for granted our present when students are only living for their future career. There’s no option to slow down when there’s always something to get done for the sake of our future.
Learning to care for the small details as well as the overall picture is an invaluable skill. I truly believe that every new day is a gift. No one is guaranteed a tomorrow. I don’t say that to ignite your impulsive streak, but so that you can really care for each day. Slowing down and focusing on a day’s work instead of the months and years ahead can help your mental state and your accomplishments. And it’s ok to slow down despite how rushed you are feeling. Being prepared and informed prior to entering a situation is much more effective then jumping in and trying to finish it as fast as you can. Setting your own pace doesn’t mean you’re behind; it means you know what methods allow you to maximize your skills and experiences.
“A mind that is racing over worries about the future or recycling resentments from the past is ill equipped to handle the challenges of the moment.” - Eknath Easwaran, Take Your Time: The Wisdom of Slowing Down