The power of the tortoise

TL; DR: Doing things super slow is better than staying in bed wishing to be a more energetic person.

I would love to be one of those energetic people that jump off the bed before sunrise, get ready in ten minutes, make a healthy breakfast and go out for a quick run to start the day with the right foot. But just imagining that tires me, increases my anxiety, and paralyzes me even more in the depths of my blankets.

Recently, I found something very simple that has helped me to do simple but important things that require some physical energy like getting out of bed, bathing, choosing what to wear, making breakfast, etc. This works for me, but if you can pull off that quick get-ready routine, drink some raw eggs, yell “Hello!” to the whole town through the window, and go out for that morning run, stop reading, you don’t need this technique.

What seems to work for me is slowly crawling out of bed with my eyes shut, moving my feet calmly until reaching the shower, where carefully I turn on the shower faucet. I rest my forehead against the wall and take a semi-nap while a warm stream of water does all the job.

This, of course, takes more time than it does to my energetic runner imaginary neighbor, but at least I took a shower and I avoided any stress. The next step is to slowly pick up clothes, gently sit on the bed with eyes still half-closed, and using the less possible amount of energy, get dressed with no hassle.

Reflecting on why this “do things slowly” works better for some of us, it suddenly made sense. We are kind-of battery operated machines. We need to recharge on food and water daily to survive, so it just makes little sense to spend a lot of energy on non-vital functions like showering or getting dressed.

Sometimes, if you are doing things at this super-slow speed, you will feel that your body asks you for more speed at some activities, so let it use the energy it wants. We should hear more to our bodies and less to that little voice in our heads. Just because it never shuts up, does not mean it is in charge. Our body also talks and gives orders, just in different ways.

In conclusion, doing things super slow is better than staying in bed wishing to be a more energetic person. Or why do you think they told us that story about The Tortoise and the Hare when we were children?