Slowing Down Time

Slowing down time is a worthy pursuit.  Time is our most precious resource, yet our most limited.  It’s THE resource that we will never know how much we have left of. 

Slowing Down Time

This has been a concept that has weighed heavy on my heart lately.  In last week’s post, Dear Ashtyn, I shared that our daughter graduated high school.  This means that our son is only two years behind her.

With the time and focus placed on getting Ashtyn graduated, I owed Grant time and a fishing trip to the mountains.  Waist deep in a river trout fishing is one of my happy places.  My favorite place to do so is on the Upper Toccoa River in Suches, Georgia.  This past Saturday, Grant and I headed there in a pursuit to slow down time.

Grant and I left my mountain bike underneath the bridge where we get out of the river.  From there, we drove the truck up to Deep Hole Campground one mile away.  We prepped our fishing float tubes, loaded our gear, and hit the water.

We floated for nearly five hours through the Chattahoochee National Forest.  It was peaceful, quiet, and we caught a lot of fish!  It felt like we had been on that river for days.  For just a moment, we were able to slow down time. 

Here are three strategies for slowing down time:

Find Water

If we are going to try to slow down time, find water.  It’s a good place to do so.  Whether it’s a river, ocean, or lake…all possess the power of slowing down time.

For me, I prefer moving water.  The sound of a river flowing or the crashing of waves does it for me.  It just seems like the impossible task of slowing down time is potentially possible when I find water. 

Leaders need to find water.  If it’s not water, find somewhere.  Escape to it.  Find that place that puts you at peace.  Anywhere you feel like time slows down, go find it.    

Leave the Watch

We spent Friday night in Ellijay, Georgia.  Suches is about an hour away from there.  We knew we would be on the water for a while, so we grabbed some coffee and biscuits from Bojangles on the way.

As we were pulling out of the parking lot, I looked down at my watch to see how we were doing on time.  It was dead.  I took it off, handed it to Grant, and he plugged it into the charger for me. 

As we were about to get into the water, I again looked at my wrist to check the time.  I remembered that it was still on the charger.  So, I went back to the truck to get it.  I pulled it off the charger, it was still dead.  It must have never charged, so I just threw it back in the truck and got in the water.

We both had our cell phones in waterproof cases that were hidden away in a storage compartment.  A hard lesson Grant learned the week before as his old phone sits on the bottom of Lake Acworth!  Other than taking pictures, the phones were of little use.  There was ZERO service. We had little access to keeping up with time.

Most of us are glued to our phones.  It’s the central repository for email, text, social media, the latest news, and keeping time.  The frequency in which we check them regularly reminds us of the passage of time.  It’s amazing how without them, time can slow down.

Sometimes life and leadership requires leaving the watch behind and putting the phone away.  It makes the slowing down of time achievable.              

Get Lost

We were floating on a river through the middle of a forest with no cell service.  Those unfamiliar with the area could literally get lost.  I’ve done the trip enough to know the markers of where we are at.  Most importantly, I know where to get out! 

For us, the trip is a figurative way to get lost.  It’s an escape into nature that soothes our souls.  It’s the skill in the strategy of bait selection, the reads of the water to determine the cast location, and the fight when we are successful in finding the fish.  We got lost in the entire process and time slowed down.

In life and leadership, we don’t create enough opportunities to get lost.  Too often we are controlled by our schedules, not in control of them.  The structure, rigor, and routine of the day prevents our ability to get lost.  It can be suffocating.

We have always been told to plan and prepare.  It’s a necessary evil of success in life.  Sometimes there is significance to getting off the beaten path.  Get lost.         

Conclusion

If you recall, we left my mountain bike at the takeout point.  The one that was a mile away.  I knew that because I set the mileage on my truck on the way to the launch point.  The truck sure made traversing that terrain look easy! 

I’ll share a quick geography lesson with you.  We were in the Blue Ridge Mountains, mountains are steep.  Water flows downhill.  Most of that mile back was…you guessed it, uphill.  It was certainly a reminder that father time waits for no one! 

Naturally, it would make sense for the younger of the two of us to ride the bike uphill for that mile.  But, Grant is 15 and only has his learners, so I was the only one that could legally drive the truck back. 

In between each deep gasp for fresh mountain air as I pedaled, something hit me.  In two months, Grant will have his license.  Next time he can ride that mile!

As I turned onto the gravel road to get back to the launch point, there was a brief downhill slope.  I was able to coast the last part. 

As much as I would have loved to be sitting at the takeout point waiting for him to come pick me up, I checked myself.  I needed to make sure I wasn’t wishing away time.  It’s something we are all guilty of.  It’s always about what is next, what is coming down the road of life and leadership. 

For me in that moment, I wanted to constantly pursue ways of slowing down time with those that matter most.  How about you?  It’s the only way to make slowing down time possible.