The Speed of Slow, part I

We all want it.
We've all seen it.
We've all focused on it.
We've all lusted after it.
We've all sacrificed for it.
We've all negotiated around it.

Lifestyle – a means to the end, or an end to our means? We stop, long enough to listen to the pace around is. “I’m missing out” echoes around us. Email; virtual offices; Blackberries; Like the forbidden fruit, a taste is all it takes to blindly jump back in.

Yesterday’s dreams are turned into successes of today, which are overshadowed by wants of tomorrow.

Ironically it starts slow. Added responsibilities, prestige, power, money – repeat. We automatically shift to the next level, unaware of our ability to tread backwards. We can, but it is as awkward as running the wrong way down an escalator. Why expend the energy to remove the perceived comforts? “ Ride the wave of comfort…” we think as we subconsciously keep our eye on the golden parachute to take us back down.

Now the real question comes: Can we reclose the Pandora’s Box of lifestyle?

Can we have a shift, without the shift? What if we stopped? Quit – stepped off the escalator where we were at? In our culture of success how is that different from mediocrity?

More pointedly: Is there still success in slow?

Next up - The Speed of Slow, part 2. Three locations with a feeling of emancipation thrown in.