Remember Slow Down London? They're back with a new course to help Londoners repace. We sent along one stressed-out Londonist writer to chronicle her experiences.
Life has been hurtling at a frantic pace of late. My first foray into the world of house buying has proven frustrating and costly. Then there are the usual stresses and niggles of working life: trains that don’t turn up; crowds of people to barge through; deadlines that must be met; computers that break down before the new hard drive is ordered
Furthermore, I am two years from thirty, and, boy, do I feel a need to whiz through a whole catalogue of goals before this arbitrary date. We’re talking London marathons and Nobel Prize wins, as well as somewhat random things that I ‘have’ to do - because, well, you just have to, don’t you? Each week is being stuffed to the brink as the panic sets in.
But now Londonist has put me forward for ‘Slow Club’: an eight-week course from Slow Down London that will help me turn the speed dial down - all by email and a few friendly meet-ups. Sound good? You betcha!
The first email arrived just as pre-Monday mania was in its early stages. It suggested that, just once this week, I take a walk I do regularly but do it sl-o-o-o-wly. Cue mental images of me running up escalators and dodging ditherers on the concourse. I rush everything. I ‘pop out to the shops’ like I’m Jack Bauer trying to stop the world from another nuclear attack. Hmmmnn. Goal one: do my commute in a more leisurely fashion.
There are weekly ‘adventures’ too, but nothing of the ‘climb Mount Everest’ ilk. I’m supposed to find a quiet spot in London and ‘tune out’ for a while. Not sure how possible this will be around Farringdon (where I work), but I’ll try.
I’m worried that Slow Club will become another diary entry; an Outlook calendar item to be snoozed indefinitely; something to stress over because I can’t ‘fit it in’. But it does seem absurd that I have to make time for introspection - so here goes.
Why not slow down with me?
