13 Things You Can Learn From Slowing Down

April 19, 2020

Hi! Hello, my loves! Welcome back to another weekly message! I’ve been doing another project using my Rara Card Kanji Deck that’s previously used for deciding April monthly messages. It’s actually a project for learning kanji everyday. So everyday I will pull one random card and learn that kanji for the whole day. I have so much fun doing this. I then got an idea to make a video of it everyday, so here we have daily videos on lailiving youtube channel. Yeah, since the whole family is here, and everyone stays at home (especially the kids - because the school is closed due to the virus), I sometimes can’t record video because of the noises here and there. Even though I record it in my parents’ house, the neighbor’s kids' voices and their roosters’ voices are mostly captured in the background. I don’t know why they like to shout whenever I record a video, haha. I think they want to be featured sometimes in my video. It now reached 13 videos for the #LearnWithMe series and I have made a special playlist for it. So, please watch if you want to know what weird noises are behind my voice there.

Also, I got advice from someone that I need to do a private project to pour everything inside my mind, it can be a creative private project. She said that I might not realize that I would be under stress during May and June, so it’s important to recognize the things that exist inside my head. When you put your awareness into it, it’s no longer driving down the hill. You just are aware, you accept it, then you can let it go. That’s what I’m currently doing too. I’m writing a fiction story for myself. For me, it’s one of the ways that I can take to express myself and pour everything that gets stuck inside. It reaches chapter 16 when I write this blog post. So, if you find yourself having too many thoughts inside your head, you can journal it. I’ve been doing brain dump journaling for more than a year, and it really helps me to recognize any thoughts I have.

Since I’ve been focusing on making videos and writing fiction stories, I forgot to write a weekly message for my blog (I usually do it on Thursday or Friday then schedule it to be up on Sunday). Haha. So here I am writing this blog post before posting it without knowing the message I want to deliver here. Then I just heard randomly inside my head : IT'S NOT THE TIME. Someone might need to hear or read this message that it’s not the time.

The world gets slowed down because of the corona virus, people are forced to stay at home, and everything changes gradually. People change their routine and find other ways to live their lives. But, some others might feel stuck inside their house with people that can’t cooperate well or even abusive ones. If you need help, please reach out to the nearest people you know or even the police if it’s needed. It’s not only about viruses, but also healthy people who still have to live with abusive people.

For some others, they can’t go to work because there is some employment cutting happening here. Criminal rates also increase. That spreads more fear to people. Fear of unstable financial condition and fear of the criminals. Some others feel stuck that their new step seems not to work at all. Even myself, I often feel the same too. The same “getting stuck” feeling. I remembered one thing from an old video I watched in the past, that EVERYTHING HAS ITS SEASON. Getting stuck, stagnant or stopped means you are currently in the winter season. You need to slow down, to go inward, to stop for a while. Yeah, it’s not as easy as it’s said but you can try to do it. This winter season is the chance to know yourself better, to talk more with yourself, and to understand what you really need. Do you really need that new car? Do you really need that high paying job in that famous place? Do you really need the people, the value, and the beliefs you’ve been holding for so long?

It might be a difficult time for some people. I know that we don't have the same degree of difficulties. It varies for different places, countries, even different individuals. We can’t measure other people’s problems by using ours and then judge them being too weak. We can’t compare our problems with other people’s then beat ourselves down for not being able to solve it immediately.

You don’t need to do that. When you can’t have that job, it might not be your time. Now is the time for you to do something else. When you can’t afford that car, that might be the best for you to have it now, you need to focus on different things now. You might need to learn something different now, or you might need to focus on yourself more. Focus on the good.

Divine timing. Everything has its own timing. You can’t plant a tomato today and expect to harvest it tomorrow (even though it might happen). Those things you can’t have, those places you can’t go, those people you can’t convince to stay with you, don’t determine who you are. You are not defined by the things you have or you don’t have. So, it will hurt you and many people around you when you force the things to be always under your control.

Life always tries to help you. So please don’t fight it.

If you have tried, and it’s failed now. Life has sent you a message that right now is not the time for it. Right now is the time for doing something else. Don’t give up. You have reached this point. You are strong and amazing. You can go through this. Trust and do anything you can. Then you will find the light.

So, for summarizing this blog post here we have the list :

13 things you can learn from (this forced) slowing down

1. Go inward, know yourself, have deep conversation with yourself more, do journaling

2. Do something creative, it shouldn’t have to be a public project, a private one is good for your mental health too

3. Learn something new

4. Spend your time more with your family and loved ones if you live with them

5. Believe the divine timing, everything has its own season and timing

6. Stop beating yourself up because you have been doing it for years

7. Stop judging other people’s decisions because you really don’t know them

8. Do the best thing you can do right now, focus on the good

9. When you failed to do something, use another way, or do something different

10. When you have tried almost everything you can, but you still failed, you need to take a break

11. You are not defined by the things you have nor things you can’t have

12. Life always helps you, don’t fight it

13. Reach out for help if you need it

Thank you for reading this blog post. I'm surprised it turned out to be like this. It's the coolest blog post I made so far. Yay! Please share to the people that might need to know this message. Let's help each other and together we reach the end of this tunnel. See you on the next weekly message. Keep living, keep loving, and peace!