A couple newsletters ago, I mentioned that I recently moved to Oregon.

(You can read that newsletter here if you missed it!)

Since then, I’ve been observing & connecting with the nature around me - which is the land of the Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla; Clackamas; Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde; and Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians. (Which I learned through this helpful & important website.)

A few things catch my attention when I meander through the forest in my backyard.

🦋 the butterflies that tease my dogs by flying just out of their reach

🦅 the birds that caw & chirp from high above, occasionally leaving a feather in the yard

🐌 the slugs that inch their way across the earth

🌲 the lush, moss-covered trees

🌊 the creek, whose cool, clear waters feel like a blessing

I notice that each living being moves at its own speed.

The slugs’ movements are slow and, well, sluggish. The butterflies dart around quicker than my eyes can follow. The birds zip & zoom through the sky. The creek bubbles & flows in an unhurried, leisurely way.

If the forest had a speed detector sign, it would clock speeds ranging from 0.000001 mph (🐌) to 100+ mph (🦅). Isn’t that wild?!

Every visit to the forest reminds me that as humans, it’s okay for us to move at different speeds.

Whether you energetically relate to the slow & steady slug, or the blink-and-you-miss-it butterfly, or the flowing creek – or all of the above, depending on the time of day, month, or year – you are moving through this world at a speed that is unique to you. And that’s a beautiful thing.

Here’s the tricky part: our (capitalistic) society tends to reward a certain type of speediness. We’ve come to normalize & expect: instant delivery; breaking news headlines of events that happened just minutes ago; and constant productivity. We’re told to buy products that will “optimize” our lives so that everything is quicker, faster, better.

Don’t get me wrong: there’s nothing inherently wrong with speediness. But what worries me is when a society that loves to move fast, forgets the value of slowing down.

I wish that we, as a society, talked more about this:

A brain & body that moves slowly is no less valuable than a brain & body that moves quickly.

If you have ever:

⌛️ needed a lot of time to process information (like a piece of news or an important text message), before you were able to form a response

⌛️ needed extra time to complete a task, even though your teacher / boss / colleague / peer expected you to complete it quickly

⌛️ simply enjoyed doing things at a slower pace - like sitting down to sip your tea & read a book in the morning - rather than rushing to the next thing

…then you know how helpful it can be to pause & slow down.

Not everyone needs that extra time. But some of us do. And it’s important to name that not everyone is wired to move at the speed that capitalism expects of us. That doesn’t make any one of us bad or wrong - it simply makes us human.

Just like a forest thrives when all creatures get to be exactly as they are - from the mushrooms to the trees to the butterflies - our human communities thrive when we embrace all the unique ways there are to be human.

To moving at your pace,

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I help highly sensitive, neurodivergent adults heal their nervous systems & connect with their authentic selves.

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