I wonder how many people are aware of the speed at which they are living or the serious health implications? Have they ever asked themselves why they are in such hurry to reach their final destination, the finish line also known as death? Wouldn’t the journey be far more enjoyable if we took our time and savoured each moment like we might do with a delicious meal? You don’t shovel it down, you enjoy each and every mouthful while appreciating all the different flavours.
So what’s the rush, what’s our obsession for speed and why are we frantically trying to cram so much into our lives? The irony of moving too quickly means we end up missing out on so much. Shouldn’t our intentions or purpose be to slow down and live better and longer?
For many, it begins at night when we set our alarms to allow ample time in the morning to get up, get ready and go. Unintended or not, we quite often hit the snooze button, something that could very well be called a stress button. I’d remove it altogether. Anyway, now you are running late, playing catch up on everything: shit, shower, shave, dress, eating as you juggle a piece of toast while stumbling out the door, hurriedly striding to the bus stop. Or we drive erratically, weaving in and out of traffic trying to make up time and getting angrier at every minor delay.
At this point I must ask, do we really love our jobs so much that can’t wait to get there? Is the thought of being late worth risking your life for? As I said before, removing the ‘stress button’ altogether would alleviate many problems. And, if getting to work isn’t stressful enough, we continue running around all day trying to be productive, although I think most of it is often counter-productive if you take blood pressure into consideration. We must hurry up and do this or that before the competition acts; every phone call is perceived as urgent; we quickly write and reply to emails making grammatical errors, spelling mistakes and still click send. Finally, the metaphorical bell sounds and we are off again, rushing to get home. I haven’t even mentioned the umpteen extra-curricular activities on our family’s schedule. No wonder we are stressed at the end of the day. I’m exhausted just writing about it.
This would be a good time to take some deep breaths.
Have you ever had a stress test? It’s basically a more expensive blood pressure test and administered more frequently as you get older. But why should we have to pay for advice most of us already know: calm down, drink less alcohol, get more exercise and lose a few kilos. What’s interesting is, that knowing we should slow down, we rarely do until an incident forces us to do so: heart attack, stroke or the many other pressure-related illnesses associated with stress and the pace of our lives.
Why not try the following but be sure to let your boss know in advance or the day before you are going to do it. Make any excuse, just tell him you’ll be a couple of hours late. Chose a day where you can avoid other responsibilities like dropping kids off to school, if that’s what you would normally do. Delay the start of your day by 2 hours, meaning if you normally start your day at 6am, start at 8am instead. Don’t listen to the news, go through your normal routine in a more leisurely way and then head to work, leaving your mobile phone switched off. Try being more observant of your surroundings, pay attention to what’s happening and be aware of your mindset. At work, whenever your stress levels rise, stop what you’re doing and take several really deep breaths. Why not give it a go even if it’s just for fun and see how you feel. The problem here is that many of us are afraid to discuss with our employers the question of changing our working hours, or easing up on the pace for fear of being let go or replaced by someone who can do the job faster or who won’t complain. No job means no money and no money means more stress.
Shouldn’t we be living at a pace that takes our health into consideration? I can’t imagine prolonged stress, frustration, anxiety and fear, being very good for us. Becoming emotionally intelligent could help us cope better before our emotions become toxic killers.
Although some people might enjoy the adrenalin rush they get from the pace of their lives and their jobs, too much be toxic.
An article at www.healthline.com explains the main reason why our bodies, specifically the adrenal glands, produce adrenalin or what is known as the ‘fight-or-flight hormone’ in response to an immediate stressful, exciting, dangerous, or threatening situation. Adrenalin helps your body react more quickly, by increasing the heart rate and blood pressure, expanding the air passages of the lungs, enlarging the pupil in the eye, redistributing blood to the muscles and altering the body's metabolism, so as to maximise blood glucose levels primarily for the brain. (www.yourhormones.info). However, the side effects of a surge of adrenalin include: anxiety, nervousness, headaches, palpitations, sweating, nausea and vomiting, pale skin, shortness of breath, dizziness, weakness, or tremors. Who wants to live with these? Personally, I hate the feeling of the release of adrenalin; it overwhelms me.
However others love it, including my ex-narcissistic partner or the adrenalin junkies who say that being on the edge or facing potential danger, make them feel alive. I can’t believe that the continual stress they put on their bodies, will not have some kind of serious effects in the long run, but it’s their choice and their lives to live. I guess we are all very different in the way our bodies and minds react to different experiences.
I don’t think we were ever expected to live our lives according to strict, crammed and prescribed calendars and timetables, however, ‘time is money’ apparently, an expression that probably originated with some leader cracking the whip trying to get his staff to work faster. Does working faster increase productivity, or is there a downside to speed? For example, if products are rushed through an approval process in the building game, faulty or inferior materials can slip through safety checks or protocols which could result in injury and death. Where does the term, ‘time is money’ sit then? Probably in a long and expensive liability suit.
From personal experience I find that doing something too quickly or forcing completion, inevitably means mistakes and the quality of my work suffers. Have you ever noticed yourself rushing to finish something, having to redo it and asked yourself why? Is it the instant gratification or reward we seek? Have accolades – a trait of the ego – hijacked the project. Take an author writing his or her second book, in many cases it’s never as good as the first which was carefully and meticulously written allowing time to correct mistakes, re-write, re-read and re-edit time and time again. The second, however, is usually written to a publisher’s deadline.
Operating at speed is a major consideration in the modern world so much so that it threatens all of us. Will we be forced eventually to slow down? Human jobs are already on the decline, being replaced by faster and more accurate machines threatening job security. The irony is, that man-made machines are making mankind obsolete. Computers don’t require food, water and oxygen to perform and can work for long periods of time at optimum levels, without needing a break. When they do finally wear out, they are quickly and efficiently replaced by another machine to continue the project – there are no emotions involved. This fear of being replaced by machines is a reality not too hard to imagine, given the countless sci-fi films made around this concept such as Matrix Revolutions or Terminator 3, Rise of the Machines. Human-less realities already exist, for example: AI (artificial intelligence), machine learning and data-mining – fast becoming normal – algorithms creating algorithms in time frames far beyond human comprehension and sustainability. Computers can make spit-second decisions working out the percentages for optimal outcome without distractions. Despite the fact that the speed in which our brains work, is many times faster than that of the most powerful computers, we make far more mistakes. Computers, unlike us, don’t have to deal with the five senses, emotions or the consequences of their actions.
It's a shame that humans don’t take an example from nature where all living things have their own built-in time frame for achieving their potential. It’s true that sometimes humans interfere by genetically modifying certain species of plants to speed up the growth process but most people are aware of the major concerns with genetically engineered food.
Thinking we can live and work at a faster and faster pace is not part of the equation of human evolution. Without sounding like an alarmist, I fear unless we change our thinking and way of doing things, the future may not be as bright as we hoped and may not even involve us at all.
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