The Art of Slowing Down

By Grant

I chose this title because I truly believe that “slowing down” in this day and age is a fading art that requires purpose and intentionality to implement into our daily lives. As technology allows us to be more and more connected with others, we are flooded with social media posts of people we admire and respect as they always seem to be “going and doing.” This makes us want to push ourselves to do the same. We want to get that extra hour of work in or add that one little thing onto an already packed page in our planner. It seems like we view slowing down as a weakness. At least I know I did.

Looking back to when Hillary and I were first dating, I remember thinking that if I didn’t have several things planned every night that we were together I would seem like a boring guy. So, for almost the first year of our dating relationship I way overdid it with always being on the go. Hillary, in her grace and poise, told me how she was happy just being together and we didn’t have to always be going somewhere and doing something. It may have taken me about another year and a half before I finally learned how to enjoy a relaxing evening without feeling like we needed to “go” and “do.” But, thanks to the Lord and his gift in Hillary, I now love to slow down and really enjoy things. Which brings me to one of the things I love about photography!

With crazy lives being the norm, I think it’s good to have something in your life that makes you pause, look, think, and have patience. For Hillary and me, photography is one of those things. Capturing a moment in time is not something that should be rushed or just snapped on the go. To capture a lifelong memory or timeless image, I know we have to slow down, look for composition, think about settings, and have the patience for the moment to become exactly as we have pictured. We can’t just rush around clicking and hoping. Learning that lesson with a camera in my hand was easy, while applying it to my every day life has been slightly harder.

So, if you feel like you may be prone to overdoing it and planning too much, maybe you should grab your camera or your iPhone and head outside (or even stay inside) to look patiently and intentionally for that little unique feature or a little composition to capture. Or if photography is not your thing, try to find something else. Whatever it is, I hope you will identify something in your life that allows you to put on the brakes and not get caught up in the crazy, busy world in which we live.