One of the best things about slowing down, even a little, is regaining the ability to say “Yes.”  Today I was scheduled to assist with a training session for a half-hour or so, until a student worker would be available to take over my role.  When she bowed out due to illness, I was asked to stay for the entire 3 hour session.

At HP, this would have been out of the question; with insufficient time to keep up with core, assigned tasks, how on earth can one give up 2.5 hours of prime, morning “real estate”?  That’s why it felt so good to look at my schedule and say, “Yeah, I can do that.”  It was good teamwork, and training is an important part of what we do in my group, so it made sense.

As it turned out, we had nearly a full class and it was a lively and productive session.  I was very glad that I had said “Yes”.  Best of all, I feasted on the positive energy all afternoon: I only had one unchecked “to do” left on my list at day’s end and that was a stretch goal anyway.

Life is not meant to be lived under the gun.  Time is a precious commodity, for sure–but we all need to learn to slide gracefully from task to task, and to keep some open spaces on our dance cards.  This will allow us the option to say “Yes” every so often, and the clearer perspective afforded by slowing down will allow us to choose our dance partners wisely.