Several weeks ago, I drove up the north shore of Lake Superior and stayed in a small cabin in the woods. We cooked hearty meals, hiked through the wilderness, listened to the river rushing below the cabin, explored the forest, and relaxed into a slower pace of life.
Slowing down was refreshing and I enjoyed the escape from the fast pace of regular day to day life. But something was pulling at me from the start of the trip. And that was the voice telling me to stop being lazy.
I would be willing to bet you have experienced it before too. You are planning on slowing down, resting, and doing something that rejuvenates you. But your mind tries to make you feel guilty about it.
- Who are you to take time to slow down and relax.
- You have too much to be doing.
- Stop being lazy.
The ultimate message? Stop being lazy, you lazy bones. Hop to it and get stuff done.
To be truthful, this voice can get really loud for me sometimes. It tries to convince me that I am not worth the rest, the relaxation, the growth that comes from slowing down. And if I listen to it too much, without questioning it, I start to believe that what it says is true.
Over the course of the days in the wilderness, I started to relax and embrace the slower nature of living. I learned to inhabit the moment I was currently in (imagine that!), instead of trying to be somewhere I wasn’t. I learned that it did me no good to desire to be somewhere else or to want to be doing something different. It wasn’t serving me to live that way.
Despite what we may initially think, there is a big difference between slowing down and being lazy. Slowing down means giving yourself space, time, and love to refresh, uncover, and energize. It means turning to love instead of fear. It means tuning into yourself instead of tuning out.
Slowing down is zoning in, not zoning out.
Being lazy, on the other hand, is a way to relax without actually feeling refreshed or awakened. When we are lazy, it generally doesn’t feel as good as we had hoped for. We start to feel stuck, immobile like we can’t muster up the energy to get up and do something. Being lazy generally allows us to zone out instead of tuning in to ourselves. It is a way to avoid living your life completely and to the fullest. It is a way of blocking yourself from feeling fully alive.
When we slow down and give ourselves space, we are being anything but lazy. We are acting in a way that can only encourage more self-love because once you realize how good it feels to be alive, you don’t want to act in any way that will take that away from you. Laziness included. Whenever you are acting on your own behalf, listening to your body, and giving yourself space and love to refresh, you ARE NOT being lazy.
Slowing down requires you to connect.
To embrace the stillness and use it as a form of healing. And in my opinion, it usually encourages you to connect with something bigger. For me, that usually comes in the form of connecting to the wilderness and the part of me that remains wild and untouched.
Stepping into nature, no matter if it is a forest, mountain, or oceanside, energizes me like nothing I have ever found.
- It connects me on a deeper level to my thoughts and emotions.
- Fresh ideas appear.
- Wholeness is clearly visible.
- I feel lighter and more alive.
Slowing down and connecting with nature, allows me to connect with myself + that’s anything but lazy.
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