Fast and Slow Summer

It’s a paradox but I choose slow

As July winds down, it seems like summer is speeding up. The fall equinox is still a good month and a half away but I feel like I’m hurtling toward it. The summer months are that way, though. They bring together the heat that slows us down and gives us evenings in the backyard or the front porch to laze away, along with more hours of daylight that push us to make the most of each second and urge us to work until dark.

This summer, I’ve found the right balance between the two. There’s definitely gardening and work to fill my time but at the end of the day, I’m letting go of the expectations of what I will get done. I no longer stick to a defined schedule; I know that my goals can be reached without extra pressure or stress. As long as I keep them in the forefront, I will slowly work at getting them finished. Currently, my future art and writing studio is a good example. 

We have a back room that Jim used for a workshop before he moved to his new space beside our garage. It will become my place to create. Last week, I finally cleaned it and gave the wooden floor a new coat of paint. Meanwhile, Jim built a nice work table that combines a newer butcher block top along with recycled legs from a loom he had made for me many years ago when I was a weaver. It now sits in the back room as a good example of how we mix the past and the present. I can now imagine the day the room might be finished but I’m not scheduling it on my calendar.

As for the lazy days of summer, at our house, those are translated into easy mornings and evenings. We linger a little longer with our morning coffee and, in the evening, we enjoy slowing down. Also, because the specter of Covid has receded, for the first time in ages, we are gathering with larger groups of people. Some of the best parts of the summer have been slow evenings with good friends and family sitting on the lawn, eating delicious food and sipping special drinks, letting the conversation drift into the air as dusk falls and the cicadas, katydids and crickets take over.

These peak days of summer remind us that life is full of boundless energy but times of rest and leisure are also required. So as August approaches, I’m trying to achieve the perfect balance between them. Even though September lurks right around the corner and I still have a million things I want to do, I’m learning to lean a little bit more toward relaxation, and that’s okay too!

How are you balancing the fast and the slow?