So here I am at the end of my first week of Slow Club. And it’s with some sheepishness that I admit it’s not been the walk in the park I imagined. It sounded very simple – just pick a few moments in the day to notice my speed and consider whether I could be going slower. My plan was to notice my ‘inner speed demon’ when it kicked in each morning. Instead of rushing around my flat and slamming out the door, I would check myself and go about things at a more reasonable pace.

Did that happen? Absolutely not. If anything, I’ve been whizzing around with renewed gusto – if you live in Hackney you might even have seen me sprinting to the station on several mornings. But I think that’s okay. Just taking time now to pause and reflect on that feels like a step forward. It takes time to reduce your speed. You can’t do it instantly – otherwise they wouldn’t call it slowing down.

So I’ve now put a sign up on my wall saying ‘Slow’, which might make me pause when I wake up in the mornings. George Orwell once said that “seeing what’s in front of your nose needs a constant struggle”. Now I know that struggling is not what Slow Club is all about – but building in gentle reminders seems like one way to keep my speed demon in check.

In more positive news, I did manage to tackle one of my Slow challenges. On Wednesday after work I walked slowly over Waterloo Bridge, watching the lit-up buildings blinking along the banks of the Thames. It didn’t last long – perhaps ten minutes. But it was enough to remind me that London is a beautiful place and that I’m lucky to be living here. Even an insight as simple as that can be lost among the daily grind, when I’m more likely to be complaining that life here is so hectic and stressful. The point is that it doesn’t have to be: you can choose your own pace.

Chris Cox

Image: ‘Home’ (from Waterloo Bridge) by Jimbus.org on Flickr

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