The rise of anxiety & The cost of living a hurried life  I wanted to begin this blog post with acknowledging that I don't live this “slow life” perfectly and to acknowledge that it requires a vast amount of  intentionality, attentiveness, consistency, and self discipline to work towards living a slow and gentle life. It's similar in the way for us Christians as we should be working towards imitating Jesus but accepting that we won't ever be as perfect as Jesus is. Wholeness still exists when we are working towards something. We need to start by deconstructing this idea that we aren't able to truly “live life” until we acquire something. This blog post is intended to be encouragement to start paying attention to what's right in front of you, to stop living based on achievement and productivity, and to understand the more love, grace, compassion, and joy we experience when we live a more intentional and gentle life. Sometimes as humans we make things more complicated and attempt to problem solve with surface level solutions. I wanted to challenge our perspective of anxiety and how it has been more prevalent due to the way we live our lives rather than on the problems around us.  Slow living involves living a more simple, grounded, present life. It’s less about filling up our schedules and more about reflecting on how we are showing up in our lives currently. Living in a culture that values fast paced living impacts us in detrimental ways. Slow living invites simplicity and simplicity makes room for more intentionality, grace, and gentleness.  Anxiety includes features of excessive fear and constant anticipation of future threat which has become quite prevalent in today's culture as we live hurried lives that are praised based on how productive we are.  So how is this impacting our lives today?  Living a hurried life prohibits us from being able to be present. It reduces our ability to care and pay attention to those around us. We lose control over our lives because we aren't slowing down enough to actually ask ourselves: what do I want? What do I value? What brings me joy? What makes me feel at peace? When we live a hurried life we become a product of our environment. Over time, we begin to lose a sense of ourselves and our identity will be found in things around us rather than who we truly are.   The symptoms include feelings of restlessness, difficulty concentrating, being on edge and leads to being in a state of overstimulation and irritability so next time you're feeling this way, instead of blaming the other person, or work, or family for your feelings, reflect on how you're living your life.  Living a slower life allows for us to cultivate more authentic and safe environments for those around us. We will be quicker to listen, and faster to understand and empathize.  If we are constantly in a rush and focusing on the next thing it impacts our ability to truly show up for those around us. It increases our curiosity and allows us to down enough to listen and understand those around us. As we become gentler we become more compassionate. It provides this space that empowers us to value what's right in front of us, to remain present, and live a deeply fulfilling life. The value of living a slower life Intentionality with time One of the biggest things I've learned as I've gotten older has been the intentionality of time. What am I doing with my time? Where am I spending my time? And most importantly, who am I spending my time with? Your time is valuable. I am continuously working on this, but for so long I attempted to fit everyone in my schedule. I want to remind you that just because you have been friends with someone for a long time does not mean they deserve your time now. As you begin to recognize the value of your time, you will be more empowered to set boundaries and protect your peace. As we honor our own time, we will also better honor the time of others. Increased self discipline  When we slow down enough, we gain more control over our lives by choosing to focus on what's of value to us individually. We can begin to recognize what controls us. We can utilize our tools to our advantage. We control our phone usage rather than our phones controlling us. Slowing down enables us to realize the things we once were investing our time into are fleeting and based on emotions rather than of value. If we slow down enough, it makes space to think before we act and do things based on free will rather than reactivity.  Integrating more gratitude  When we slow down, we make more room for the smaller joys around us. Slow living invites us to focus on the things we have rather than the things we need to achieve. Our brains are wired to seek the negative in our experiences, so when we slow down enough, we will begin to train our minds to focus on the good.  Love better and fruitful relationships  To slow down enough to start loving those who are right in front of us. Love is prioritizing the wellness of the other person. If we are constantly living in this state of being rushed and feeling hurried then it takes away from our ability to think about others. Your responses won't be based on thorough and intentional thought, care, and love but to alleviate stress you will do it from a place of obligation rather than genuineness. When we are constantly feeling hurried, we will be in a state of hypervigilance and living in angst takes away our ability to be gentle with those around us.  Slow living empowers us to live in a way that prioritizes what matters rather than living rushed trying to keep up with those around you. It's truly hard to cultivate authentic relationships when we are constantly seeking validation based on productivity. Let's deconstruct creating a culture that values productivity over our well being and heart.  It isn't about what we do, it's about how we show up for others. Loving people starts by just noticing them and if we are in a state of hypervigilance then it will be difficult to focus on the people in our lives. Decreased impulsivity and increase in emotional intelligence  We become gentler with those around us as we slow down enough to become aware of the emotions of others. As we become aware of the emotions of others, we increase empathy, improve communication and love deeper. Slowing down allows us to be attuned to others emotions rather than being guided by your own reactivity.  It isn't about what we do, it's about how we show up. Our value should be based on the ways we love others, not based on productivity.  More God moments  When we slow down and allow ourselves to feel our emotions then we have increased opportunities to dwell in the Presence of the Holy Spirit. Slowing down allows us to see God's work in our life. How can we see the small things God is doing if we are constantly striving for the next thing?  Living a slower life enables us to live in grace. It empowers us to make decisions based on values and our purpose rather than impulsivity and fleeting emotions. Let's slow down enough to start noticing more sunsets but to also notice the way the sun reflects on everything around it. To know the light is always there. We just have to slow down enough to notice it.

Pursuing a life of gentleness and simplicity requires being intentional and slowing down enough to recognize what contributes to my life and what takes away. It involves being able to recognize that although we may be efficient and productive - we are becoming further from true presence, compassion and gentleness.  Sometimes I find myself struggling to fit everyone and everything into my daily schedule. Spending time with friends, going to the gym, focusing on my career, future goals, research, work trainings, family time, rest and play. How can I be truly present and mindful when I am in such a hurry? I began to realize I found more value in simplicity. I found more purpose and more fulfillment from focusing on my faith, books, hobbies and my career but I still felt this pressure to keep up with the world, constantly finding validation based on achievements and felt constantly disappointed by those around me. As humans, with increased access to social media and opportunities, we forget that we have limitations. When we are constantly overloaded with information we become overstimulated, impatient, feeling pressure trying to keep up with everyone around us and ourselves. We end up living life in a hurry because we find value in efficiency and productivity. The problem with living this way is we tend to project that onto others. We become impatient, eager, and put pressure on others because that's what we do to ourselves. We also become dependent on external validation when we pursue productivity and efficiency.  Being raised in an environment and understanding societal values centered around productivity and efficiency contributes to your overall perspective of the world. “Nothing I do is enough, I’m always focused on the next thing, I have to achieve this, I have to get this done.” Over time this develops into anxiety. These symptoms include:  Fatigue Excessive worry  Finding worth based on what I do rather than who I am  Struggle with authenticity  Constantly focused on the future instead of being present  Lack of gratitude Instead of feeling anxious about our limitations, it's a beautiful thing to accept that we cant do everything and be that person for everyone. Acceptance of limitation, forces us to make a decision based on free will. What do you want to do? What is the life you truly desire to live? (a lot of us can't answer that question). We become empowered to make the choice of the life you want to live. Acknowledging this comes with accepting that sometimes doing what is most purposeful means increased isolation, but rewarding in the long term. Sometimes, what seems fun is deceiving. Life requires sacrifice and it's freeing to know that as long as we slow down enough, engage in reflection and presence, we can empower ourselves to stop feeling so much pressure from the rest of the world.  Some questions I began to ask myself: Which decision is an investment in my future? What is more fruitful (grace, love, hope, compassion)? Which action actually matters? How would I feel after making that decision? Where/when do I feel most fulfilled? We just have to slow down enough to truly ask ourselves: what is it that I am pursuing right now? To live in our purpose is to limit distractions and the noise from what the world perceives as valuable.  Things I ensure I take time for: walks, cooking, surfing, reading time to reflect and journal.  It isn't busyness that's the problem - it's the lack of purpose and intention. Are you just doing what you love and what fills your soul - or are you busy just trying to keep up with the rest of the world?  Pursuing a life of gentleness and simplicity involves sacrifices. Fridays turned into nights of research and going to the gym. It turned into intentional quiet mornings reading my bible and journaling. It turned into valuing a slow living lifestyle. It turned into remembering people's names and their story instead of business talk, being present with others instead of attempting to provide or gain something from them. In this process you start to value people for who they are - not what they do. Pursuing a life of gentleness and simplicity you will begin to value: Compassion over efficiency  Value of creativity over consumption  Value of presence over efficiency  Value consistency instead of immediate gratification  You begin to value what truly brings you joy over the approval of others.  A reminder that you serve others by not doing what the rest of them are doing. You serve others by exhibiting self discipline, doing what may feel uncomfortable, and focusing on what really matters. You care for others by being gentle - not by being rushed. Gentleness cannot exist when you are in a hurry.