Stop whatever you are doing right now, and just take a breath.
Take a breath.
The simplest thing you could really do in life. I could go on about how taking a breath allows oxygen into your brain, how it might stimulate some stress-relieving hormones, or how it might stimulate your parasympathetic nervous system, but in reality, just take a breath. Don’t put too much thought into it. Take one second out of your life to pause and breathe.
A lot of the time, especially here at UVA, we are constantly running around. We run from class to class, to meetings, to dinner with friends, to more meetings, to the library. There’s always something to do here, and it seems like we don’t have enough time to do everything we want to. However, when we keep up this mentality of rushing from place to place and trying to do everything we possibly can, we get burnt out. We forget to just stop every once in a while and appreciate the little things. We forget to stop to take everything in. We forget to stop simply to take a breath.
Just the other day, I was running from class to grab some dinner, then to meet up with a friend at the library. It was one of those really overwhelming days, where I had seven hours of classes, two meetings, and more than enough homework to do. It was on my way to the library that I ran into one of my friends, sitting at a picnic table outside. It was one of those moments where I could have easily just said “hi,” and gone on with my day, but instead, I decided to sit down and enjoy the crisp early-evening air with him. We talked about life, we listened to music, we appreciated the silences, and we just enjoyed each other’s company.
Sure, I didn’t make it to the library as soon as I had planned, but sometimes, we need to stop focusing so much on time and running from place to place. Don’t be afraid to take the long way to class or to even walk at a slow pace, rather than speed-walk as fast as possible. Take the time out of your day to take everything in. Appreciate your surroundings. Whether it is stopping to just sit or lay on the lawn for a few minutes after class, or mindfully eating your lunch outside, or even pausing during times of stress to take a deep breath.
Pico Iyer, an author, wrote about “the urgency of slowing down,” in response to today’s societal mindset that everything must be fast. Technology, work, life, everything is coming at us so quickly, and all at once, that we barely have time to sit down to think. I often find myself trying to get way more done than I have time for. My to-do list reads: read three chapters of a textbook, respond to all my emails, clean the apartment, attend meetings, do the laundry, meet up with friends for dinner, study for an exam, and somehow, still have time to sleep. We always want to be connected with what is going on, and we always want to be on top of things, that we don’t have time to slow down. It almost seems selfish to do so.
But what’s wrong with taking a little time to yourself? Sometimes we spend so much time on others that we forget to take care of ourselves, and that’s what this is all about. Take the time out of your day for yourself. Don’t do this for anyone else. Stop, and just take a breath.
“In an age of speed, I began to think, nothing could be more invigorating than going slow.” -- Pico Iyer, "The Art of Stillness"
