Quick Quick Slow

Life is getting quick.

We are quicker at shopping, quicker at making, we have quicker turnover, quicker paying.

When food isn't fast, it is still pretty quick, cut into portions for our convenience, vacuum packed.

But real engagement with life isn't quick. It has to be slow.

What, you never heard of a long engagement?

You only fully understand something when the process is considered. A meal carefully prepared, even if it's thrown into a slow cooker. A kipper slowly smoked. A whiskey tediously distilled.

A card that is handmade. A little something you designed and brought together yourself.

We need to get the balance right.

We've got pretty fast, pretty quick. But you only own something when you do it from first principles. You only have expertise when you can improvise from a foundation, when you can teach from experimentation as well as learn from it. 

That's what expertise is. 

If you apply that principle to the things of life, then that is life experience. 

It's a good thing. Something to be admired. A solid foundation. Not too many have it. 

Life experience isn't just experiencing life. (You get that just for turning up). It's becoming experienced through life. It is developing expertise at life. It is the difference between longevity and wisdom.

It is the reason you may not choose to be treated by an "experienced" doctor, who may have lost his way years ago. Whose foundation became redundant and whose "expert" improvisation continued unabated.

You're not a chef, just because you can microwave a ready meal.

You're not an artist, just because you can trace.

You are not a 'pathway'.

Fast is good, and, yes, slow seems to be a luxury. But it's not. It's a necessity which should be reinstalled, re-evaluated, and elevated, trusted and acknowledged.

Without recognising that balance, there is no foundation, there's no strength, there's no base or basis.

Iconic pop outfit 'Bucks Fizz' said it best.

"You gotta speed it up. 

Then you gotta slow it down".