Learning to Slow Down- With the Help of a New Born
Before my daughter was born, I was constantly told how busy and overwhelming my life would be. People told me that I would have a ton to do and be go-going all the time. As a fast-paced person I thought I would be ready for this- and I was. But what I wasn’t ready for was for my life to suddenly slow to a stop.
The day my daughter was born my life immediately slowed down almost to a stop. I had to have a c-section which took me from doing everything to doing almost nothing. On top of that I wasn’t quite prepared for how little new borns do. Taking care of my daughter entailed feeding her (which left me in sitting quietly in place for 30 mintues), rocking her to sleep (another 30 minutes), and watching her sleep.
At first I found this process very frustrating. Yet as the weeks past I realized that there was a very strong spiritual message of learning to slow down. I began to realize what it really meant to be ‘in the moment’. I was learning to give my daughter undivided attention and to simply be at peace with whatever she was doing. I was learning that in life, we often get distracted by ‘chores’ and ‘duties’ but if we just slow down, amazingly everything still gets done. I feel blessed for this lesson and try to apply it to all aspects of my life.
