It's Time to Slow Down.

"As human beings, we're very materialistic and have all this stuff-furs and cars and diamond and money."

-Smokey Robinson

I think that we are obsessive about materialistic pleasures and get carried away in our rapid, daily routine that we forget to enjoy life’s simplicities. The chill of the midnight breeze, the drip of water against the windowpane, a laugh with a close friend… Sometimes, I think that we’ve even forgotten where all the clichés have come from.

At least, I know that I had until I forgot to charge my iPod for a long road trip to Nampa a few years ago. It’s a traditional sort of trip – an annual trip my family takes. It’s a peaceful kind of trip that allows for time to mull. At least, it would have been had I not taken this little device with me every time we went, for my earphones would slip into my ears and I would be engrossed in a lonely, secluded world. A world of fast, rhythmic noise. The conversations between my parents would be blocked out, my brothers would be blocked out, and so would the constant whir of the cars driving past. Everything would be rapid, quick, throbbing, and pulsing.  Pink's voice would invade my thoughts – my mind. Her meaningless words reverberating within my head.

It was different this time around– Pink was not there, and neither was The Script. I was annoyed with myself at first, and moped in the car for a bit as time crawled past like a tired snail. So I sat idly and stared out the window, watching the trees go by.

And then I began to observe. I watched different worlds spin around me as we drove and drove. I liked the feeling that rushed through me – a peace, a calm, a quiet thrill – all combined together. I was able to let my mind wander off into the distance and muse. To reflect. To identify myself with the greater scheme of things.

I was really part of my family that day – it was perhaps, the first time I laughed and joked with them for quite a while. It was also perhaps, the first time I watched the sky in its glory – transforming from a tumult of a passionate orange and vermillion to a gentle blue…

Yes, I watched a sunset. I started watching sunsets after that day too. In Boise on top of the roof, at home through my window, in the car on the way back from Idaho.

I believe that the beautiful things in life show up when you slow down – life isn’t a marathon, after all. There’s all the time in the world.