As heatwaves hit France, and with the holidays, our rhythm tends to slow down. At least for the ones who do not work under air conditioning 😅. And this gives me the opportunity to talk about slowing time.
Maybe we had other plans for holidays, do more sports or visits, but the weather decides otherwise. And maybe it is a good thing.
What if we decide to let go about what we cannot control and review the way we organize our days. How could we adapt to this?
In some countries, where hot is their normal, the habits are more to be active early morning and evening and take a big break during the hottest hours.
Why not take this as an inspiration and get up earlier to enjoy activities and slow it down in the afternoon. Unless you prefer to move your activities in the evening.
Morning or evening or…?
What is interesting here is not to follow the norm, rather to find and follow your natural rhythm.
If you feel more energized and you naturally wake up early, keep it as is, even during holidays. And yes maybe you’ll want to go to bed early and it’s ok (sometimes despite what others say).
On the contrary, if you are usually energized in the afternoon and like to go to bed late, go for it. It’s also OK.
What matters is to listen to yourself and check how you feel during the day, to understand your own rhythm.
And if you are in a group and don’t have the same rhythm it’s also fine. There are still overlapping hours. You’ll just probably do other activities.
Talking about activities…
How to slow down with grace?
Ok, so now, what when it’s 40C outside from 2 to 8pm?
It’s time to (re)learn how to take your time to do things. To slow down. To find out how you want to use this time in a slower way.
One interesting thing to do is to welcome boredom. Why? Because we do so many things, that we forget to pause and we create a mechanism that pushes boredom away, not to confront ourselves with our own thoughts.
However, this is a great skill to develop to:
- Create awareness about yourself and know yourself better.
- Become more creative.
You can also take this time to read, write, do some creative activities like drawing, coloring, painting… or take a nap. Do board games with the kids or friends. Have philosophical discussions…
Unless you don’t usually watch TV or use devices, make sure you don’t fall into this easy trap. The idea is to do something different, that you may not usually do.
During slow time, let’s just say there is nothing urgent nor important, no issues of any kind, no constraints. Like if time was suspended. How would you like to use this slow time?
Enjoy the moment!
