The 200th post!!! Slowness.

A couple of things. 

First, this is my 200th blog post.  They've taken the place over a couple of years, but that seems significant to me.  200 things to say.  200 moments where I took the time to sit down and say something to the world at large, or at least those who know me and care to follow this blog.  I feel like I've crossed a threshold with this blog project.  It's not some little sideline thing anymore.  It's a repository, a needed disclosure, a trusted space where I can process my life, my roles, my thoughts and feelings.  It feels good.  It always feels good to write and express and this space gives me constant reason to return to the keyboard.

Second, I'm starting a new unit in my First Year Seminar class.   All the units surround a book called In Praise of Slowness by Carl Honore.  You can find a link to the book on Powells.com here.  Anyway, it is a book I began a long time ago and to which I have longed to return.  It looks at the history of time in relation to man and human productivity and then begins to analyze how this relationship is expressed in modern culture.  It's a fascinating look at things we don't normally look at: Cities, Food, Sex, Health, Family, Work, Leisure, and Children.  Well, things we don't often think about in terms of time maybe. 

I move too fast.  I take on too much.  I want it all.  Honore has me PEGGED when he writes, "As well as glittering careers, we want to take art classes, work out at the gym, read the newspaper, and every book on the bestseller list, eat out with friends, go clubbing, play sports, watch hours of television, listen to music, spend time with the family, buy all the newest fashions and gadgets, go to the cinema, enjoy intimacy and sex with our partners, holiday in far-flung locations and maybe even do some meaningful volunteer work.  The result is a gnawing disconnect between what we want from life and what we can realistically have, which feeds the sense that there is never enough time" (30-31).  Do I hear a second?  Anyone else feel this way?  I have a hunch that many of us do. 

So, as I have worked hard over the last couple of months to "make time" for this blog, I must work hard to give time to those things that are priority and learn to cut away those things that might be unattainable fantasy.  I mean, really, does anyone need to see me at the club?  No, didn't think so. 

That doesn't mean I can't imagine it to be true.  I've shredded a dance floor or two in my day.  So, while the fantasy brings me joy, I can let go of the illusion and take solace in the fact that I just sat on my sofa with my dog curled up between my legs, reading a book after I've kissed my daughter and wife good night.  That's enough for tonight.  That's enough for me.  I must try to remember these things.