Who's to say that stillness has less merit than busyness?

Festina lente

Who's to say that stillness has less merit than busyness?

When you’re still you notice, you process, you digest - how is this less impressive than those go-go days when you don't have time to appreciate or learn, but instead everything is a blur and you make mistakes or even hurt yourself?

Sometimes we do so much, we try so hard, that nothing gets done. Sometimes we race against a self-imposed deadline that does nothing more than sabotage us.

A ticking clock means a creativity drop.

In Spanish we say “vísteme despacio, que tengo prisa” — which translates literally to “dress me slowly, because I'm in a hurry.” I’m sure you’ve noticed that when you’re in a hurry you’re practically guaranteed to make mistakes, and those mistakes will slow you down a lot more than if you did things more slowly and carefully in the first place.

The latin phrase Festina lente — make haste slowly — urges us to live with a sacred balance of urgency and diligence. Creativity, work, and just overall enjoyment of anything is maximized when you’re so fully engaged that ideally there is no sense of time passing. You can’t live like that in every moment of course, but it’s a worthy goal.

Go ahead and hustle if you think you must. But for me, I’m going to take my time and let others rush. I used to feel guilty if I couldn’t say I was busy, but I think I’m cured now.

Yes, taking your time is a luxury, but that’s the point. Luxuriate in slowness.