Life In The Slower Lane

I was asked yesterday if I missed it. It being my corporate job. The question was coming from someone who was not just a former colleague, but also a friend. My reply was easy. The expense account, yes. IT support, often. But besides the friendships like the one we had, the ones you only get if you are really lucky. The kind that get you through all the corporate craziness and help you to put perspective on things. Besides that, no. I don’t miss any of it.

Honestly.

Her next words were more a suggestion that life must be slower.

I paused for a minute, at first a little rattled. I have lived in a world for a long time where slow was a bad thing. Slow meant you weren’t getting anything done. Slow was not exciting. Faster had to be better. And yes, as recently as a few years ago I would have wondered the same thing. So caught up in the fast lane of what my life was, slowness scared me.

My response? Yes, my life is slower in that I can work on my pace, not one set forth from above. But I get more accomplished in a few hours than I was sometimes able to in an entire day. I am without the distractions of someone else calling a meeting just to have a meeting or being asked to put out a fire someone else created.

While the pace may be slower, my days are more full. I am navigating how to get in all that I want to. A blog. Pages in my novel. Networking. Ideas for other projects. Sketching out a coaching program.

I am still on the highway but instead of in that fast lane over to the left, I am in a slower lane. Still moving forward I am more apt to notice the dogwood tree in full bloom on the side of the road or take a detour off to see what other possibly better route might be available. Because I am not in such a rush to get somewhere I have time to savor and enjoy the ride.

I can see the fast lane from where I am but I am no longer so curious about it. I am not convinced anyone there is any happier or any further along their journey than me. The slower lane is less crowded but it still moves forward.