Life can be very hectic at times, but slowing down reminds us of everything that we love about life
Part of going to college in an urban setting is that the walk to and from classes is usually interrupted by waiting at an intersection. Cars whiz by, and some stragglers — desperate to make it to their classes — bravely try to cross the street. This instruction to stop and wait can be very frustrating, especially amid the hustle and bustle of university life. It always seems like there’s always someplace that you need to be and these couple of minutes of your life, as you wait for the walk signal to turn on, can seem like an excruciating pain in your day.
Over the past couple of weeks, I have taken the time to shift my mindset. I have to cross two intersections every morning to make it to my classes this semester, more if I want to go to the library or State Street. Instead of viewing these moments as a chance to roll my eyes and feel burdened by this abrupt pause in my life, I have taken to considering them tiny moments of reflection in my day.
I tell myself that I don’t have to try to run across the crosswalk when there are three seconds left of the walk signal. It’s okay to take a minute to pause in my day. Whatever it is that I am on my way to, it will still be there when I get there.
This shift in mentality has led me to appreciate the slow moments of my life in college. While balancing a social and academic life in college, it can feel like your life has to involve constant action. Everything can feel like it’s just constantly on without breaks or pauses.
There isn’t much time for slowness. While these moments in time, stopping at the ends of sidewalks and waiting for the walk signals to turn on, are very minuscule parts of my day, they make a big impact on me.
Reminding myself to be present and slow down a little bit has been one of the ways that I stay out of my head, especially when life becomes very stressful — à la midterm season. For me, these crosswalks have become short reminders in my day about taking a breather in between my classes.
This kind of mindfulness is important, especially as a college student with a busy schedule. Being able to have this tiny, but grounding moment in my days has been refreshing. It can be so easy to get caught up in your to-do lists and your grades that you forget about the simple things. I encourage anyone who is struggling to balance the rhythms of their days to find some sort of object — whether it is streetlights or not — that helps remind them to slow down a little.