The Pace of Our Lives...

This is an article I love, by a woman named Merrilee Boyack, I think she makes her point so perfectly, and I can so relate to what she says about feeling like a racehorse tied to a horse drawn carriage...to each their own!


My momma always ends our phone calls the same way. “Well, I have to go lie down now after all that!” She is referring to the pace of my life. It exhausts her just hearing about it.
My mother is 87. All her life, her pace has been slow and steady. And now, the speed of her life is even slower. I think of an old horse drawing a carriage, clop-clop-clop, slow and steady. There’s something rather wonderful about that pace. Horse-drawn carriages are wonderful for enjoying the scenery and relationships.
I was visiting my mother recently. “Look out the window!” she exclaimed. Her window offers a breathtaking view of the mountains above Provo, Utah. Snow-covered mountains stood against the backdrop of the startling blue sky. They were gorgeous. And I realized that I’d been in Utah for two days and had not stopped to enjoy their beauty. We sat and visited and Mom asked about all the people in the family. Scenery and relationships. Not too bad.
We discussed my sister. My sister, Andrea, is a speed demon. She is also very unique. She lives life fast and large. She thinks nothing of hopping on her Harley and taking a 6,000 mile road trip to visit temples. She’s off to Africa next month for humanitarian work. Andrea is like the William Tell Overture, “Ta-da-la! Ta-da-la! Ta-da-la-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da!” She loves to live her life that way. It’s her normal pace. She gets a ton of things done. She impacts a lot of people.
My own pace is speeding up. After being a mom at home for the last 26 years, the kids are all growing up. It was hard while they were growing up. My pace is also high speed. But this was impossible with little ones. I felt like a racehorse chained to a horse-drawn carriage. It was hard. But it was necessary. And it forced me to focus on relationships and scenery. It was a good season of my life.
But now I’m hitting my natural rhythm. It’s William Tell Overture with a little rhythm thrown in, “Ta-da-la! Cha-cha-cha! Ta-da-la! Cha-cha-cha!” I like Latin music and dance! I live high speed with lots of variety.
We all live our lives at our own pace. We all have our own rhythms. It’s what makes life so fun!
My girlfriends have their own. Sue is a pretty quick pace. I think of “High on a Mountain Top” briskly sung. And that’s Sue, hanging out the banners on the mountaintop. Diane is more whimsical, sort of like “Little Purple Pansies” from Primary, sewing her seeds of kindness here and there at her own pace. Libby is kind of “How Firm a Foundation.” There is nothing she can’t do and she works day after day doing it. A little more slowly, a lot more steadily.
So which one is best? Which one is right?
What an absurd question!
Each of us has our unique pace. And it is exactly right for each of us.
So it bugs me when women compare their pace with others. I get the comments all the time. “Merrilee, you should slow down! You’re doing too much!” Or I’ll hear others, “Well, she should just speed it up! What does she do all day?”
Dumb.
We each have our own internal clock. We each have our own rhythm.
So take a moment and enjoy the rhythms around you. Perhaps your dad is speedy with a bit of a rock beat. Maybe your grandma is slower and regular like a beautiful waltz. Listen to your daughter, living like a dramatic opera. Hear your young son, marching loudly through his life.
My sister always says, “He has his own drummer. He’s listening to his own beat.” And I think she’s right. We all have our own beat.
And it’s music to our ears.