“Adopt the pace of nature. Her secret is patience.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Do you ever find yourself trying to rush a project through…because it seems to be taking WAY too long to complete?
I was traveling in Thailand recently and had an interesting experience that reminded me of the importance of having patience. I was on a boat tour for the day—that was scheduled to end at 6 pm. Truth be told, the tour hadn’t been particularly enjoyable and my traveling companion and I were eager to get back on shore. The tour guide/boat driver, however, had other plans.
It was 5:45pm and we were heading back to shore…when the boat suddenly stopped.
“Sunset,” said the driver, pointing to the sun—that was nowhere near the horizon! My travel companion and I looked at each other. We didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The other people on the boat were equally confused.
And thus we all sat there, floating on the choppy sea, waiting for nearly an hour for the sun to set. The young British girl next to me was seasick and holding her head in her hands. At one point, we asked her what we could to do help.
To which she shook her head and said, “Nothing. I’m just trying to get through this.”
Which is kinda how I felt…being held captive on a boat, waiting for the sun to set. At first, I was really irritated that the tour obviously wasn’t going to end anywhere near the scheduled time. But then, after I accepted that this was how it was going to be, I turned my attention to where the boat driver obviously wanted us to be focusing our attention: the setting sun. And sure enough, even though it did seem to take an awfully long time for the sun to set, when it finally did, it was absolutely stunning.
Then the boat driver returned us all safely to shore—an hour later than scheduled.
The next morning, I woke up and I got to thinking about being held captive on a boat, being forced to watch the sun set for an hour. And it occurred to me that maybe I needed that reminder from nature that things take the time they are going to take. The sun isn’t going to set faster because I want it to. Likewise with some of the writing projects I have been working on for years now. The more I force myself to try and finish them faster—because I feel they should be finished by now—the further I seem to get from the finish line.
Perhaps watching that super slow sunset in Thailand was a reminder to me to take my foot off the gas pedal—of life and work—a little more often?
Enjoy the process. Enjoy the present. The work will get done. It always does.
How about you?
When was the last time you took an hour to watch a sunset?
Might there be an area of your life where, paradoxically, slowing down might be the smartest thing you could do…to get something finished sooner?
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