There might just be a movement afoot to get us to slow down in 2010

First there was the worst snow in 30 years over the New  Year here in the UK had a huge impact.  For a couple of weeks the message from the police was only to make a journey by car if it was absolutely necessary. Now obviously there are many people who have to try to get to work eg emergency service workers  but for many of us that decision about “absolutely necessary” might just have shown how many trips by car are “absolutely not”.

Thankfully we have a supermarket nearby ( another big thank you to the delivery drivers who did their best to make sure the shelves were stocked) and it was heartening to see people walking to and from with bags  of shopping. Children who may have been driven to school normally were all wrapped up and walking instead. The buses were busier than usual as cars were left at home ( thanks to the bus drivers who kept on going). 

Then there has been an upsurge in people talking about leaving social networking behind. Apparently some people’s lives had become so ruled by Facebook etc that they  have ditched it all. The strong message from this has to be that social networks should be under your control - and not the other way around. And  this applies to e-mail and text too.  If you really can’t focus on what your are doing - or the person you are with - because you have this need to check your texts/emails/Facebook/ tweets could it be time to step back and rethink?

 And finally  this Harvard Business Review post  on taking a “creative sabbatical”   in which the author says that it is a psychological necessity for us to be “idle” sometimes  which allows us to “figure out who we are and what we believe”.

So there you go…slow down  - and stop for a while - in 2010 and see where that takes you!