Pacing ourselves for change

In my last blog post, I wrote about the view I have of North America from here: the view of a giant ship that’s been slowly taking on water for over fifty years. 

While I was in Canada, I certainly knew that scientists were saying some scary things about climate change, the boundaries of our planetary systems and resources, and I took steps to reduce my contribution to those problems. But I was still on the same ship as everyone else in North America, a ship that I’d never seen from a distance.

2,000 to 10,000 year old rock paintings near Dedza, Malawi

Getting to know Malawi has allowed me to better see what North America looks like from the outside. It has also forced me to slow down.

As with visiting or moving to any new city or country, I’ve had to slow down simply because I didn’t know the basics that allowed me to function efficiently back in Vancouver: where things are located, how to get around, which companies sell the goods and services I need, what things cost.

But on top of that, things just happen more slowly. I’ve been accustomed to being able to fulfill my wants and needs very quickly. Here, I’ve had to learn that things aren’t as readily available, and even if they are, they seem much more expensive. Most transactions are still done in person. Very little information or goods are available online, and internet data is also expensive. A letter to or from North America takes at least a month to arrive.

Bicycle taxi in Mzuzu

People also live and talk at a slower pace here. They take time to greet each other and genuinely ask after each other’s well being. There’s a chair at the front of the line at the post office, foreign exchange bureau, immigration office so that the customer being served can sit for a while. More people walk or cycle. Only 6% of Malawians own any type of motorized vehicle, including scooters, while 36% own a bicycle.

The pace is slower at work, too. People don’t live by their calendars, as I’m used to doing. Most things happen when they happen. Meeting times regularly get postponed, or are scheduled on short notice. I spend much more time waiting, and often I don’t know that I’ll be travelling for work until the day before our departure. I’m learning a new level of adaptability.

This has been a huge change for me, and there have definitely been many times when I've felt impatient or frustrated, or caught myself being abrupt and unintentionally rude.

But I’ve also found that living at a much slower pace than I was before is one of the things I enjoy most about my life here. I have more time to think, read, learn, pay attention, and to connect with the people and environment around me. When I sometimes feel impatient, I remind myself of the many things that are more important than doing something quickly: safety, quality, health, relationship, understanding.

Enjoying the view during a hike to see ancient rock paintings

Slowing down. Paying attention. Those are such simple things to do — and also difficult, powerful, and profound. Most of us in North America live at such a fast pace that we don’t even have time to really know how we feel. We avoid discomfort. We distract ourselves with technology and entertainment, have a drink, smoke a joint, take a pill if we're in pain, so that we can keep doing what we think we need to do every day. And through that avoidance, we ignore so much.

Being in Malawi has forced me to slow down. Making that shift while you’re in North America takes much more intention and courage. It takes courage to pay more attention to what feels uncomfortable or painful, to say “No” to continuing to do the same things that have gotten us into this mess. But if we keep moving at this pace, where will we find the motivation or the capacity to change anything else in our lives? 

Many of you already know the benefits and importance of taking time to know how your body feels, to know how you feel, to really connecting with the people closest to you. It may be too late to stop our ship from sinking. The best we can do may be to mitigate the damage it does as it goes down. But to do that, we have to get ourselves and our families ready. We have to prepare the lifeboats. And we can’t do that if we’re too busy with other things.

Copyright © 2019 Lynn Thorsell, All rights reserved.

Resources for change

The Case for the 6-Hour Workday. Steve Glaveski. Harvard Business Review, December 11, 2018.

The Research Is Clear: Long Hours Backfire for People and for Companies. Sarah Green Carmichael. Harvard Business Review, August 19, 2015.

The surprising benefits of relentlessly auditing your life. Amy Westervelt. The New York Times, May 25, 2019. 

Full Catastrophe Living. Jon Cabot-Zinn. Bantam, 2013.

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New Malawi album #2 on Google Photos

Please note that the views expressed here are mine alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cuso International.