Slow Is Not A Bad Quality

A lot of my life I’ve felt slow. I was never quick at picking up on jokes right away. I couldn’t keep up with the fast-pace and competition of playing soccer. When everyone was excited to move out and go to college, I could have used a couple of extra years. It seemed everyone was moving faster than me.

I got good grades and kept up with my school work, but it was a way to keep my head above water. In terms of socializing and moving out, it seemed I was stuck a few years behind everyone else. And I always thought it was a bad quality.

I thought I should be more quick-witted, faster, smarter, more competitive, more ambitious, doing more to get ahead in life.

What I wanted to do was spend time in my room by myself, playing music, making art, taking walks with my dog. Things that now, as adults, we claim we have no time for.

The other day, I was feeling down and having a pity party for myself. You know, where you just want to feel worse and wallow in your own self-pity.

So I thought of something that could make feel even sorrier for myself. “You have so many bad qualities. What’s your worst quality?” I asked myself.

“I’m slow.” I answered.

I immediately laughed at myself. I literally made a business on slow. It’s in the name of my business.

I don’t believe slow is bad anymore, but it’s still subconsciously there. Now it’s more of a blessing in disguise.

Fast is not better than slow. They are complementary.

Just as living fast is necessary sometimes, slowing down is necessary also.

It allows you to hear yourself think, to re-evaluate what path you’re on, to be fully present with your loved ones and pay attention to the world around you.

We live in a world full of dichotomies. Light/dark, old/young, fast/slow, etc. You can’t have one without the other.

It made my day better to think of my bad qualities and then see them not as bad, but as good.

To be able to accept all our so-called 'good' and 'bad' qualities and use them to our advantage in life is to be at peace. So let me ask…

How can you accept your ‘bad qualities’?

In what ways do your ‘bad qualities’ really help you?

How do your bad qualities actually help others around you?

How can you be at peace the way you are?