Lisa Mayoh: Why we need to slow down rather than looking ahead to big ticket calendar dates

We need to remember to slow down as there’s a simple joy in saying no to things that don’t refuel you and saying yes to the things that do, writes Lisa Mayoh.

When you think about it, it’s practically Christmas. Picture: iStock

As we (OK, I) get older, it feels fitting to say time is flying – I remember my mum saying it when we were little and thinking she was mad. Holidays seemed to last forever when all you did was ride bikes, play cops ‘n’ robbers and make handmade cards to sell up and down the street for some red frog-buying money.

But the other day, even my nine-year-old commented on how fast the year was already going – and if it’s coming from the mouths of babes, that tells me it must be true.

Easter is over. Anzac Day is over. Summer is over and Thursday marks the start of May. It’s winter uniforms when school’s back after a two-week break. That break seemed to fly because of the public holidays peppered in between the obligatory rugby and netball camps, and soon we’ll be rugged up in our woollies to cope with winter before spring sets in and we slide into summer. Again.

Blink and we’ll be debating changing the date of Australia Day and hot cross buns will be back on the shelves. Pictures: Supplied/NewsWire

When you think about it, it’s practically Christmas – and then a new year and the chance to resurrect the resolutions we didn’t keep this year.

Then you’ll blink and we’ll be debating changing the date of Australia Day and hot cross buns will be back on the shelves.

But instead of looking ahead and ticking off those big ticket calendar dates so time feels like it’s even faster than usual, we need to remember to slow down – and carefully jump off the treadmill before we fall and break something (bones do get brittle as we age after all).

Because I don’t want to rush all the time.

I don’t want to think ahead and feel like important dates are just days to get through, tick off the to-do list and on to the next thing.

Instead of saying yes to three kids’ parties on your only Sunday off, maybe take the birthday kid for an ice cream after school one day and reclaim your weekend instead. Take a ferry. Go for a walk with the dogs. Look at the ocean and lie on the grass. Take your watch off and put your phone away.

There’s a simple joy in saying no to things that don’t refuel you and saying yes to the things that do – like sleeping in, reading a book or having a bath. Picture: iStock

Sleep in. Read a book. Have a bath. Can you imagine it? Heavenly, right?

There’s a simple joy in saying no to things that don’t refuel you and saying yes to the things that do.

So here’s to slowing down and basking in the calm of free time – and not feeling guilty for enjoying it. Everything else can wait – it is almost Christmas after all.

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Originally published as Lisa Mayoh: Why we need to slow down rather than looking ahead to big ticket calendar dates