Why It's Okay to Move Slowly

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My inner cat is emerging today...rare but welcome. I'm curled up in an armchair in a patch of deep golden sunlight as the sun fades slowly and gently, trailing its beams down the window.

I set my cup of coffee down slowly because I can. Because I have the time to be slow...because finally, as a junior, I've realized that you don't have to rush. 

That you can move slowly. 

I smile, because I'm surrounded by freshmen and I remember being a freshman, being tense and worried, praying and hoping for good grades, rushing from place to place, from activity to meeting to study session to dinner, to all-nighter, and so on. 

And it makes me smile because now I understand why all the juniors and seniors I that met my first year in college were so relaxed. Because by junior year, you start to realize that rushing and hurrying, that stress and worry really don't add anything to your life. 

That all nighters and insurmountable amounts of homework are not battle wounds to be boasted of proudly. That sleep really is more important than anything else. That the world doesn't end if you don't make an A or have a 4.0 GPA. That sometimes the most productive days are the days when you do nothing related to schoolwork. That at least one hour of each day should be devoted to alone time, to taking care of yourself.

  Of letting your soul breathe. 

That sometimes, we need to show kindness to ourselves before we show it to anyone else. 

Sometimes it means taking ourselves to that favorite coffee shop and studying with a cup of heavenly caffeine, or deciding to take the trash out tomorrow because it's okay if you don't do it today or accepting that today is a t-shirt and ponytail hair day. Or it could be as simple as sitting in the sun, drinking up the sunlight and gentle strains of music. 

Either way, I'm glad not to be running and hurrying. It's my natural instinct, and I still have have to fight it. But it gets easier. So if you're a freshman who feels the weight of the world on your shoulders and a life that never stands still and a to-do list that never ends....

Breathe. 

It will all work out. I promise. 

It may not seem like it right now. But I promise you will learn to slow down, to place importance in stillness, in steadiness, in walking slowly. 

Because honestly, dear girls, you won't get where you're going any faster by trying to rush. Just let it all come when it does. Stop trying to run this invisible race that you've been told you have to win, that you've been told you have to keep up with everyone else in it. 

You don't. So don't worry about that. 

You do you. Get sleep. Take walks. Read something for fun. Soak in the sunlight. 

It's okay not to rush through life. You miss all the best moments in between if you do.