Choosing to be Actively Slow
Being active in your actions but slow in your life
When you multitask, that is doing more things at the same time, you evade yourself, if you have specific health needs, is probably that you misuse your energy by doing so. When you choose to be active in your actions, you choose to be present, and being present helps you enjoy the moment and your life.
How do you do it?
We all have a pool of personal abilities, the first step is to recognize them in ourselves.
When you are physically disabled and chronically ill like me you tend to forget what you are good at, especially if you are having a bad time. In those moments the best is to have a literal list of your “excellent personal abilities” so you can remember, in my experience is better if you wrote it, since the mental argument of — “This person loves me so they lied about this and that”— is an invalid argument.
In my list I have, for example, active hearing, that is, I hear what you said and I ponder on it, I really listen.
That is what I mean to be active in our actions, to be present and to do the thing like is nothing else in that moment.
I am not saying is always easy, or that for some people with other conditions or mental issues, it will not be difficult. But, when we stay in the present trying to give our maximum to a certain one thing and on purpose, we are evading the multitasking factory, we are more aware of the energy we apply in every activity, and, on the larger run, we set ourself to a more enjoyable life by slowing our pace, since we are doing one thing at a time instead, say, five.
Multitasking requires cognitive abilities or executive functions, being able to shift between tasks, maintaining attention, and of course a lot of concentration. That is too much for some people like me, when my mental and physical health are linked to the energy and oxygen that goes to the brain, and, when one of the symptoms you suffer is brain fog, multitasking is a horrible idea.
So, I invite you to live your life slowly and enjoy it by taking active actions.
Benefits on doing it
There is the energy factor that I write above, but there are more.
In a study of 2024 (yes, this year) the researchers compared the effects of media multitasking vs single-tasking on both task performance and biological as well as subjective stress responses.
The study identified a lower biological stress response in single-tasking in adults over 60, remember that multitasking is demanding for the cognitive system, and that itself can be a challenge, so it is not rare there is a higher biological response, even tho, according to the study it was not perceived subjectively. So, this is something to consider.
What do you think? Do you prefer to take it actively slow?
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