Slow Down and Breathe. (Part One)
Why are we always in a hurry? This question has been bugging my mind for some time now. As usual, I tend to draw on personal experiences in a bid to try to understand the situation.
There are two stories I want to share and to prevent this post from being too long, I'll break it up into two parts. One is the story of the lessons I learnt while walking this earth with no earphones on, and second will be the story of how I escaped an auto accident.
What Is Around You?
I listen to music almost every time; indoors and outdoors. When i'm outdoors, I use my earphones for two reasons. First, because of all the noise around, I need the earphones to properly hear the songs I play, and secondly, it won't be proper disturbing everyone with my songs (even though my playlist is always super cool 😎). So for these reasons, I use earphones outdoors.
I've noticed that when I listen to songs via earphones, i'm always moved to another realm. I tend to be engrossed in the whole process and begin to feel on top of the world. At this stage, I can walk the entire breadth of the earth without breaking a sweat.
Then one fateful day, my earphones went missing. I searched everywhere for it but to no avail. It was really weird walking the streets without music in my ears but the experience made me realize how much I depended on music in my day to day life. I soon found myself humming some of the songs on my playlist. All these were happening in my head until I noticed and decided to stop it.
How I Took Control
I knew I had to stop. Stop humming the songs, stop depending solely on music to get me through the day, stop being in a hurry.
So I decided to walk more slowly and observe my surroundings. By doing this, I was able to notice things that were always there but never caught my eye before then.
I noticed how everyone seemed to be in a hurry. The hustle and bustle of the ever busy Lagos streets.
Listening to the rhythm of my footsteps was enough music for me. It was fun comparing my walking pattern to that of others. Watching sellers try to make customers of passerby. The various noises made by the different vehicles on the road, the length of the train passing by.
There was so much chaos I previously didn't know about and wouldn't have known if I didn't lose my earphones.
... to be continued
Nicely writen. The whole world is in chaos. If ir werent for music i dont know how id suvive. Id listen to music 24/7 if i could but at some times u gotta be social or you are at work or something else gets in the way. As you said everybody is just rushing around chasing their lives but not once stopping and observing all the things happening around us.
Music helps me breeze through whatever I have to do and sometimes I feel it's an unfair advantage lol. I'm just trying to see if I can find a balance and not be lost in times when there's no music around (for whatever reason) 😊
It sounds like you thought it was an interesting change when you noticed things you didn't notice before. But which world do you prefer? The one with the music or the one without?
The one with the music is definitely the preferred one but I felt it was a nice experience to be able to see the world for what it really is instead of hiding behind the walls of music and living in a "created reality".
I still walk around with my earphones on, mostly to block out the noise, but I tend to look around me more. Sometimes I find beautiful sceneries like the lights of ships adorning the waterways at night. So beautiful.
Yeah, I understand completely. I can relate to that myself.
I like where you're going with this, but the post has left me hanging. I see that you have part 2 up already. How fortunate! I'll give it a read and complete my comment there :)
Lol. I was half asleep typing this post so it's safe to say my subconscious wrote it. The second part felt very different though. Would be waiting to see what you think. 😊
I've already left my thoughts in it :D Haha! Your subconscious has mad talents as well, bro! You should write a story where the two of them switch between chapters, with both not knowing what the other came up with until after they read the finished chapter haha!