The Tortoise and the Hare

https://read.gov/aesop/025.html

Hello, Dear Ones,

I share the story I’m sure we’re all familiar with above, because for as long as I can remember, I’ve been the hare by default. I’ve always been in a hurry to know and do things. If you know me well, you know that “fast like a cheetah” is one of the things I say most randomly and often. It’s the pace I‘ve tried to keep my entire life.

The problem with that is, cheetahs, like the hare, get tired and need to rest. They can only go so fast for so long.

I think it’s because I’ve been surrounded by bunnies the past couple of weeks because of the Easter holiday, I’ve had bunnies on the brain. I've been thinking about my tendency to sprint through things, get done, and then move on to the next thing. The pace is not sustainable, and inevitably I end up getting exhausted and need to rest and recover every time.

My current goal is to adopt the tortoise's pace. Slow and steady wins the race. The tortoise doesn’t need to stop and nap because he’s taking one mindful step at a time.

I didn’t even realize this was my natural pace until a few years ago. I was hiking with my husband and as we began I set our pace at a quick clip, heading right up the hill and then needed to stop when we got to the top. He lovingly pointed out that if I went a bit slower, I wouldn’t have necessarily needed to stop at the top. Because I just wanted to get through the hard part quickly, I went fast and had to stop.

He told me then that he’d noticed this as a pattern when we went hiking. It was good to know, and it helped me become more aware of it and shift my pace as I went hiking.

I also started noticing this pattern in other areas of my work projects, routines, and my schedule. I’d often try to move through something quickly, especially if it wasn’t something I particularly wanted to do.

Over the past few years, I’ve tried to slow down and notice when I’m sprinting through something. My default mode is still to sprint. It takes time and mindful intention to slow down, be patient, and not put so much pressure on myself to get things done quickly.

This past week, I scheduled appointments in a way I initially thought was reasonable, but when I was in the midst of attending all the things I put on my calendar, I noticed that I wasn’t able to be as present with the people I was with because I was concerned about getting to the next appointment on time.

I’m grateful that I noticed this while I was still experiencing it, and now I can take steps to slow my calendar down a bit and make sure I give myself a buffer of time between each appointment, so I’m not running around trying to keep the hare's pace. I know that when I’m interacting with people, I can feel the energetic difference when I’m able to be present vs the times I’m not, and I firmly believe that others can tell the difference as well.

Can you think of a time in your life when you or someone that you were interacting with was rushed? How did that feel for you?

Lastly, dear one, I invite you to reflect, how’s your schedule shaping up this spring? Is there room for more of a tortoise pace as you’re planning your days in the summer months ahead?

I notice as the weather starts to get nicer, and the pace of nature seems to change, the requests for time come more frequently. I know I don’t want to give away all my time for this spring and summer. I want to save some time to slow down and savor my time at the tortoise's pace.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed with your schedule and not sure where to start, reach out here and let's talk about it.

I’m so grateful for each of you, and the gift of being here with you on this life journey.

With love, kindness, and an abundance of gratitude,

Jessica

Before I share a fun thing, I have an ask for each of you. I’m looking to connect with some women in high burnout professions for research, so if you know anyone or are that someone, please let me know and I’d love to connect. You can book time to talk to me in this calendar. Feel free to send this to anyone you think might be helpful for me to talk with as well. 🙂I’m so grateful for your time and consideration. Now onto the fun!

P.S. The fun thing I’ve been doing to take care of myself is spend time with kids! I was lucky enough to have 5 days with my sister's kids (and yes it was lots of work), and it was magical. Kids have a unique, wonderful, and infectious perspective and energy. I love listening to their randomness, and they restored so much energy and light to my life. My advice is go find a kid you love spending time with, bring your inner child, and let yourself play and be ridiculous. It’s absolutely the best!

Since you made it to the bottom you get to see my nieces fabulous art. She seems compelled to make these slow moving animals out of clay in art class, and it makes me believe she knows something it’s taken me a long while to learn. (she did give me permission to share, and would like you to know the turtles name is Fire and Ice and the snail is Fred and those were the only eyes available.)

If you found this letter relatable or helpful and you’d like to help me stay warm you can buy me a coffee 😀