As I arrived into London Waterloo yesterday I could feel my blood pressure rising before I’d even had chance to slot my ticket through the barrier machine. Swarms and swarms of people senselessly rushing from A to B, head phones in, heads down, everyone seemingly on total autopilot with a complete lack of awareness about the people or places around them. It wasn’t that people looked unhappy it was rather that people just looked vacant - as if the lights were on but no-one was home. I wanted to stop and say ‘Woooooah, woooooah, woooooah, people calm yourselves down! The world is not going to end if you miss the next tube - there will be another one, there is always another one!’ Yet rather than stopping people, I actually joined them. Within seconds I’d reverted back into my old London head - headphones in, head down and off I marched along the Embankment. It wasn’t until looked up from my phone for the first time and saw how impressive Big Ben looked that I realised I’d missed all those people and places along the way. I thought to myself though, is it possible to slow down in London or does London life mean that you have to continuously be running at 100mph?
For 5 wonderful years London was my home. A home where I made some incredibly strong friendships and a home where I had some very, very fun times. There’s just something about the big city lights. It’s the buzz. It’s the energy. It’s the diversity - so many different people to meet, so many different places to go. But after 5 years that was it. I came to the realisation that whilst I had taken a huge amount out of London, London had also taken a huge amount out of me. London never stops and as a consequence neither had I. So whilst the lights may have been on, there was certainly no-one home.
Moving out to Uganda and now living back in rural England has forced me to slow down. It has forced me to stop. As a consequence I now see how important slowing down is for a healthier mind and body. Why? Because slowing down forces you stop. It forces you to think. To think about what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. Such basic human actions yet actions which the majority of us overlook. And it is easy to see why - in todays society where we are continually bombarded with images, sounds, news, media and advertisements it is far easier to be distracted than it is to think. Western society has no room or time for headspace or thinking. Did I once sit down at the end of a day in London and think to myself what have I done today and why have I done it? No - I’d get home to automatically turn on the TV to be distracted by some crap reality TV programme instead.
This year I’ve learnt how to slow down and to think. I’m still learning and by no means have I nailed it - I find it hard to be in total silence and I still love reality TV (the really crap ones like First Dates and Married at First Sight get me everytime) but at least I’m more conscious than I was. Here’s 4 practical ways which have helped me to slow down:
1. Turning music off and taking headphones out
In London I couldn’t walk out the door without putting my headphones in. It wasn’t as if I was listening to a vaguely useful podcast either, it would be ‘Hot Hots UK’ on Spotify. I’ve learnt that completely blocking yourself off from your surroundings isn’t good and it’s yet another distraction that you just don’t need. Even if it’s only for one journey, once a day on a commute, take your headphones out and just think.
2. Walking or Cycling
One of the hardest parts of London was the commute. Being squashed into carriages like cattle with someones armpit in your face. There isn’t enough room to breathe on half of the trains never mind room to think. I now walk a lot more - it may take 30 minutes longer but its 30 minutes well spent. It’s good exercise and fresh air too.
3. Stopping for a minute
Stop, quite literally for a minute. Stop rushing from A to B and instead stand still to think and watch the world go by. This sounds the easiest but I find it by far the hardest.
4. Getting out of London and into the countryside
One of the most important lessons I’ve learnt this year is the value of getting outside and into the countryside. It’s made realise how disconnected I was with the great outdoors which is hardly surprising considering I was surrounded by concrete 24/7. And its not just me, the psychologists agree. Research has shown that when we do get ‘back to nature’, we do our overstressed brains a favour - we slow down, feel restored and it improves our mental performance by as much as 50%. There is some incredible countryside within 30 minutes train journey from London - jump on a train and go for a walk in the woods. If you want some company let us know…
Hopefully this post encourages more of us to slow down, to stop and to think. In January we’ll be holding an event to encourage us to do just that - an event to get us back outside into the countryside too - it’ll be ‘Woods and Workshops’ so if you’d like to keep updated on where and when it’ll be just sign up to the AW Register, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @LifeAboveWater for further info
