A few weeks ago, I took Lola on a college visit. We sat in an auditorium and listened to a panel of current college students answer questions. One question was what advice they would give to high school seniors. All of them had a similar sentiment in their answers of “relax more” and “enjoy the process, don’t stress.” As we left to go onto the next location, Lola and I joked with each other. “Easy for them to say, they’re already in college!”
For some reason, this summer feels busier than our regular school year. Our teen and pre-teen kids are involved in camps, sports, studying for SATs, and thinking about college. When I was their age, I was happy to hang with my friends and maybe get a part-time job scooping ice cream. Nowadays, teens are looking for internships to put on college resumes.
What happened to summer? What happened to slowing down?
The Power of Slow
This week on our podcast, we invited Carl Honoré, an international bestselling author, broadcaster and the voice of the Slow Movement to help us find more slow in our summer. His two main-stage TED Talks have racked up millions of views, and his counter-intuitive message is this: To thrive in a fast world, you have to slow down.
Carl is the father of two children, who are now young adults. We talk a lot about his philosophy in guiding his kids through adolescence and adulthood. We learned that while you can’t do everything slow to be successful, you have to create space for slowness. In a recent poll of 1,000 Americans, 52 percent said they want this summer to be a time of free play and discovery for their kids. We hope our discussion and Carl’s tips help you achieve some of that.
What did you think of our discussion? Listen and let us know in the comments.
