Serious rest

I live in Hong Kong and just assume people walk fast. After all, speed is on everyone's mind here. In the 80's Hong Kong'ers tested so high on stress that they were second only to Beirut which was a war zone back then. For instance, they would press the elevator button again if it did not arrive in 10 seconds. But a friend commented on how people do not walk fast here. I thought about it and had to agree. People in Hong Kong rush but do not walk as fast as many US metropolitan cities during rush hour. In Chicago I arrived in the city during rush hour and found myself stuck on one side of a torrent of commuters.

Whether we walk in a rush or at snail's pace is inconsequential (except when you bump into people) but the focus on speed is just a sign of stress. It makes waiting unbearable. I wonder at the people who stare at the cook while waiting for their take out order perhaps intending to hurry them up. But it's uncomfortable and unduly stressful. Even games and texting can become objects of stress while sitting with your phone. The concentration needed to type long messages on the tiny phone keyboards or furiously scribbling handwritten input in Chinese seems to strain nerves more than it was worth.

All the commotion and focus on quickly finishing something is sort of what I learned during my school years. I approached my homework, studies and exams with the goal of doing them quickly so I'd have time for my friends and other things that interest me. It was such a deep habit that my healing, my job search, my business seemed to take forever.

Now I realize that truth is in how I feel and deal with every moment. My childhood was like that. But bad times got me thinking only about survival. I thought to live I had to just focus on the mechanics of the home, food, money and people just to get them out of the way like homework, studies and exams. I rushed them and made compromises without giving it a second thought.

The problem now was that once you got the basic things of life sorted out, what dreams or better activity await me? I lost it for a while because I just wanted to hide and live a boring life. Many want and love living simply and anonymously. I guess someone made me differently.

During this year since my first blog, I have risen from the doldrums of my stressful convalescence to a seriously restful approach to today. While I swim or walk or talk and the many things I will need to do, the flurry of stress and pressure to hurry up is subsiding. Instead there is a life inside that guides me to love people, seek beauty and want to create something good out of the chaos that surrounds us. I'm doing it while seriously at rest; kind of like being on an express train.

Why push a high speed train or run while inside one? It just makes you tired for no reason.