Finding Balance with “The Slow Movement”

If you’ve been feeling overworked and stressed out lately, you may be a perfect candidate for The Slow Movement. Claiming that Americans are hurting their health, families, and communities by doing everything in high gear, The Slow Movement aims to slow us down.

Proponents of the movement say America is involved in a time famine - we work too much and enjoy ourselves too little. Leisure time seems a thing of the past for some people, especially with mobile technology that keeps us “plugged in” all the time.

Edgar S. Cahn, a leader in The Slow Movement, blames his hectic lifestyle for the heart attack he suffered a few years back. Stress and lack of time to enjoy himself are, according to him, the major factors that caused his disease.

“Time is the most precious thing we have,” he says. “Every hour you live, you never get back.”

That’s why he came up with the idea for Time Banks - or time cooperatives…

TimeBanks members barter blocks of time known as “time dollars.” One member may, for example, buy groceries for a stranger in exchange for someone else walking their dog.

Cahn is also trying to change what we value as a society. He doesn’t think that accumulating wealth and material possessions over time with our friends and family is the way it’s supposed to be.

I think he has a really good point. While it may be human nature to always strive for more, maybe we should consider what we’re striving for more of. More money or more time? A nicer car or more memories? In the end, it’s up to each one of us individually to decide what’s more important in life.

But no matter what we believe, you can’t deny that in life, balance is key. Play - or relax - as hard as you work.