No Rush

I grew up having an understanding that my words are only genuine when I say them without any filters or thinking. Our societies teach us that if you were asked a question, you need to have an answer or come up with one on the fly otherwise you’re not genuine, credible, or even intelligent.

Have you ever spent time reflecting on your automatic responses to see how they formed in your mind? When were they formed? And how old are they? When was the last time they got updated?

“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change” — Albert Einstein.

Spontaneous responses are not genuine. They are responses that you’ve already thought about a long time ago — usually ones associated with past experiences — and saved in your memory to use in the future. However, life is dynamic, always changing, and so are you. So if you want to have a truly genuine, honest, and thoughtful answer, you have to pause and take your time to think about the question. You need to challenge your automatic responses and see if they’ve become outdated. You may need to revisit and update these thoughts. The goal is not to spit out just any answer, but rather, to uncover the truth.

“Speak good or remain silent” — Prophet Mohammed

When you’re asked a question, there’s nothing wrong with slowing down and taking the time to think about it. There is nothing wrong with saying that you don’t know and that you’ll have to get back to them later after you spend more time on it. In fact, this is the only way that you can be genuinely helpful.

It’s hard for us to untangle ourselves from the social expectations that we grew up with and rewire our minds with a new world view. But that’s why life is never about perfection, but rather about progress. Enjoy the journey :)

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