It’s that time again! Five Minute Friday! Time to write freely for five minutes and then time to read and enjoy other’s writing. Everyone gather’s at Kate Motaung’s blog for a word prompt and encouragement! Take a look!
Today’s prompt is – Slow
Ready? Go!
I remember when just about everything was about waiting and the wait time being slow.
As a child it seemed like we were always waiting for something-Christmas, birthdays, being a teenager, the first day of school. Even getting my driver’s license was about anticipation.
Waiting was not really a big deal though. I came from a generation of individuals who stood in long lines just to see Star Wars. I’m not kidding. The lines were huge! Even the Star Trek movie with the whales had quite a line! I know you see some lines here and there now, but I am talking like waiting for two hours for the movie to end because the theater only showed the movie you wanted to see on one screen. Back then you didn’t have a cell phone to check out either. Not to sound like my dad here, but you talked to who you were with (imagine that!) and you would probably people watch. I recall waiting patiently in a movie theater line once with a date and this terrible awkward moment came about when I had this weird feeling I was being watched and made eye contact with my exboyfriend who apparently was waiting with his friends for a movie too-different movie thankfully!!! Still talk about SLOW! Time stopped and not in a good way!
Whoa! Sorry about the unsuspected trip down memory lane.
Life was a slower process by necessity and I didn’t even live in the Little House on the Prairie days. Still we had our things. We dialed a phone, looked up phone numbers in our address book, and pretty much were required to remember many numbers too (oh the joy of my first phone, it actually stored up to 20 phone numbers!). If you were watching television and wanted to see what was on channel 12 and you were on 2, you had to change the channel but slowly or your dad would flip out. Not just me right? I forgot to mention you had to change the channel by hand-at least I did, anyway.
Slow was not necessarily a choice, but it was a way of life.
Now things just move really fast. I think this is partly because I am older and partly because we have a microwave society.
We want items fast so we pay extra for two-day or express shipping, but won’t actually go to a physical store and pick up the item ourselves when we can.
I don’t dislike this faster way of life necessarily, but I am definitely learning to appreciate the beauty of slow.
When you take your time, you take things in. You learn a lot too.
I like that.
STOP
How about you? Have you come to see a cool side to slow?
I am nostalgic for a slower pace of life as well. The rush causes higher stress. Our efficiency has led to chaos.
🙂 Thank you for sharing these great memories. I’m your neighbor on FMF this evening at #70.
Love,
Tammy
(tammysincerity)
Thank you for visiting, Tammy. I agree, our efficiency has led to chaos. Seems like lots of changes are happening lately. 🙂 Thanks again for stopping by. I hope you have a great weekend!
A microwave society….oh how true are those words. Too sad that we want everything so quickly. We need to remember to slow down. I’m over in the 6 spot this week.
Thanks so much for visiting Tara. Speed has its advantages for sure. I just miss when it wasn’t everything. 🙂
I struggle with taking things slow and wonder at days gone by when waiting was a lot more normal. Sometimes I long for those days but I am so appreciative of the blessings of speed.
That being said, I still think leaving my phone at home and escaping into the bush is a fabulous idea- if I could ever get up the nerve to do it!
Great writing again! 🙂
Thanks for coming by! Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate speed too, but girl, when my friend Darren and I would people watch while waiting in lines to by concert tickets or even for a movie, we’d make up conversations for the people we’d watch. It was classic. 🙂
Yep to all that! I remember slower times. Quick Internet accessibility, minute by minute updates on the world, and just convenient tech in general makes everything feel so fast. In the past few years, I’ve discovered that my natural movement is slow, and since embracing that life has gotten way better. 🙂
Thank you for stopping by, Jen. I kind of felt like an old grump about noticing the change in pace, but it is something my husband and I have marveled out lately. Life is moving so fast now! 🙂 I like the idea of embracing our natural movement. I love how FMF has brought so many of these ideas forefront to my mind. Have a blessed week!
I totally agree with you on the change in our pace of life. I remember (BECAUSE I’M OLD!) having a party telephone line in our small rural community in PEI when I was a kid. You might pick the phone up to make a call and a neighbour would be chatting with someone else; so you’d quietly place the phone back on the receiver (after *maybe* eavesdropping for a moment 🙂 ) and wait until the line was free. That would be so unthinkable nowadays, yet we just took it in stride; we didn’t mind waiting. It was a slower time, a slower mindset. I think we’ve lost something in our striving for speed and efficiency Thanks for your post; I really like it!
Jeannie you totally had me giggling at the party line! I didn’t have one, but I have friends who have shared stories! I think we got to gather some pretty amazing memories in the slower times. 🙂 Thank you so much for visiting. What a blessing you are!
“… the beauty of slow.” There is indeed beauty in slowing down. I have found there is also learning, and noticing, and healing too. 🙂 Thanks for your post. Visiting from FMF.
Healing! Amen Esther! So so true. Healing takes time both heart and body. Thank you so much for visiting today!
It is just so easy to get out our phones now to waste away the time when we are waiting, I’m very guilty of that myself 🙁 Great reminder to look up, take it slow and enjoy the moments that are before us. Thank you!
I’m guilty of it too. 🙂 But my husband and I are trying to refocus. 🙂 Thank you for visiting!
I remember the days of the rotary phone and how much fun I had watching and making the dial go around. There are days I yearn for that slowness. I agree things seem to go faster and faster as I grow older. But I like how some things are fast these days. Shipping is one of them but that is because where we live I cannot get half the things I have shipped from Amazon. 🙂 Thanks for visiting me at #53 on FMF.
Girl I am so with you on the shipping! 🙂 And unfortunately lately we can’t get most of the things we’d like unless we get them shipped from Amazon. There are definitely good points on both sides of slow and fast. 🙂 Thanks for visiting me too! It is always nice when someone you visit comes by and says hello!
Hello Kelly and thanks for checking out my Five Minute Friday last week. http://jijikit.deviantart.com/journal/Five-Minute-Friday-665556044 I wanted to write earlier but this week has afforded me very little me-time. I remember the dial phones, TV’s you had to walk up to change and only had 5-10 channels. I remember waiting with friends for movies, sometimes 3 hours for a free preview (we would bring small games to play and sit on the hallway floor!) We were definitely a much more patient, slower generation and sometimes I really miss it. We try to mix modern and our generation concepts for my daughter; I can only hope it gives her appreciation for those slower times in life. Thank you again for checking me out. I hope to get to yesterday’s F5F sometime today. 🙂
Hi Gayle! Thanks for stopping by. I do appreciate the benefits we have as things certainly are so much faster than before, but I definitely want to keep in mind the good things that came with those slower moving moments too. I really did love waiting with my friends to watch movies. One of the theaters had a photo booth and we had so much fun making silly faces and taking lots of pictures. 🙂 Have a wonderful weekend! Thank you for visiting! I look forward to reading your newest post when it is up. 🙂