Slowing Down to Speed Up

Recovery, resilience, and why settling back in takes longer than we think.

It took me an entire week of being home after our vacation to the Pacific NW to feel settled and at peace again. Travel can be fun, but it can also demand that we give up a lot of ourselves and our personal time. The routine we've established at home provides comfort. Even when it consists of moments of intentional challenge.

For me, recovery has consisted of a few customary parts of my week:

• Conversations with friends, challenging workouts, the feeling of providing value to my clients.
• To-dos accomplished - sourdough starter activated, weeds pulled, pool cleaned, and chemicals balanced.
• A few hours of alone time, and quiet moments to reflect, journal, or meditate. Some good nights sleep and morning coffees at sunrise in my garden.

It always surprises me how long the restoration process takes. (A whole seven days.) And reminds me of my client work around healing and transitions.

We kind of expect growth work to take time. (Though sometimes we want that to happen sooner as well.) When it comes to recovery, rebalancing, or regaining energy, however, we are less forgiving of the idea that it takes time.

It's our impatience towards the discomfort of slowing down.

Many of us attribute slowness to the inability to keep up. The risk of being left behind. Alone.

But what if I told you pushing yourself is not the answer.

Let me say that in a different way. Constantly pushing yourself is not the answer.

Have you ever heard the phrase, "slow down to speed up"?

In endurance training led by Peloton coach Matt Wilpers, most workouts in the schedule require you stay in a lower performance zone. Yes, it also workouts that push you. Yet the majority of the sessions coach to a total output that is lower for longer.

After a peak performance period, he recommends going back to the fundamentals as the first step to improving for your next race. In other words, slowing down to speed up. 

• Pacing yourself. 
• Advocating for your own recovery - what you or your body need after intense periods. 

These are forms of resilience development. As much as pushing yourself through periods of difficult moments.

Resilience, a bit like faith, requires trust.

Whether something is hard because it feels like a lot, or hard because it feels too slow. The self-awareness and self-talk needed is the same.

“I'm okay. This won't last forever. I will be better than before, because of this experience.”

Being present, slowing down, and accepting that we're not “there” yet, can be grounding. This is true because what's familiar - what we do know as high performers - is what it is to journey from a point A to point B. You can't skip the road between.

Questions for reflection:

• What is there to enjoy here and now at this point of your journey? Whether it be settling back in after a period outside of routine, your quest to reach a new goal, or navigating an unplanned life change.
• What does your body need in order to endure this in-between stage and the days to come?
• How are you different today than yesterday?

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