In our hectic, sometimes confusing and mixed up world, priorities are the only thing keeping us focused on what matters most to us. For many of us, prioritizing is our business. It’s our skill set that we teach or coach or instill in others. We discuss feeling ‘over’ or ‘under’-whelmed with all that the world is tossing at us.
Sometimes, it feels like life is being shoved at us from a drive-through window. Don’t you want to just…. slow…. down? I do. I have.
Just today, I thought of a metaphor for life itself in regards to prioritizing. I was driving through a place with a line wrapped snuggly around the building with pushy, aggressive people, in their cars, waiting impatiently to get their coffee pushed at them out the drive-through window. The irony of being impatient while waiting for coffee from a window was not lost on me.
Not everyone around the world or in every country has drive-through windows attached to our FAST food places, but we do here, in droves (pun intended).
I wondered, “Where are our priorities?”
I thought of the millions of people around the world who could take that same $2.00 and buy their child a full meal. And the millions of others who would benefit from less rush, more appreciation.
Life is like that silly system that we’ve become accustomed to. We want everything instantly. We expect everything to be easy, convenient, effortless. Only when you have lost everything will you know what it is to let go of everything that doesn’t really matter.
To prioritize people above “instant gratification” (Veruca Salt style, for Willie Wonka fans
I don’t know about all of you, but I don’t want life pushed at me from a window. We have the same universal 24 hours in our day. When we have a clear, profound priority to celebrate life, we don’t need everything in a NY minute. We don’t want life to resemble fast food.
I realize that what I’m talking about is extremely culture-value-related. I also appreciate that not every culture has the same values or worldview as I do. I’m becoming more and more interested in the slow movement that is encouraging the world to prioritize slowing down in order to appreciate more, to accomplish more, to realize more that life is in fact, to be savored rather than shoved at us.
ted.com/talks/carl_ honore_praises_slowness
Carl Honore said, “In our fast-moving modern world, it always seems that the time-train is pulling out of the station just as we reach the platform. No matter how fast we go, no matter how cleverly we schedule, there are never enough hours in the day.”
Positively slowing down has created a more profound contentment in my world.
Slowing down is a clear priority for me.
Peace!
About the author: Karen Henry-Daly is a transitions life coach, writer and speaker. She specializes in working with people who want to create positive changes and savor who they want to be. Her full bio can be found at: wings13326.wix.com/wings13326#!about-karen-e-m-henry-ma/c11k