Felix Rektor

3 days in a different world 🕺🇮🇳

Still processing the impressions!

How do we slow down when we’re always busy? - You might think I will tell you something about spending time in nature and while this is a way to slow down, it’s not what I want to share today:

First - what does slowing down actually mean?

Slowing down in a busy life means pausing the constant rush to be more present, make intentional choices, and reconnect with what truly matters. It’s not about doing less for the sake of it, but about protecting your well-being, avoiding burnout, and finding clarity in a world that constantly pushes you to go faster.

The older we get, the faster life seems to move. Partly because the time we have left feels shorter compared to the time we’ve already lived.

As children hours could feel like days and days like weeks and now it might feel like the opposite.

But what’s the reason for that?

New experiences.

As children we are constantly exposed to new experiences. As adults most people get lost in routines with little to no new stimulation. And when nothing stands out, time blurs together.

But here’s the key: we don’t need to chase constant excitement to make time feel longer, we just need to slow down enough to notice what’s already here.

Slowing down gives us the space to break out of autopilot, welcome new experiences, and be present in the moment. That presence is what brings depth to our days and makes life feel richer, longer, and more alive.

In short, we can’t add more hours to the day, but by “slowing down” we can fill them with more life making our days feel longer 🙌

Some impressions from Boston (saving the nature stuff for later; I might even create a post dedicated to only the food😄)

The more I have been travelling, the better I understand the saying that travelling makes you richer than any material possessions ever could.

Especially in terms of changing your perspective of the world or your paradigm.

This trip especially made me aware of that.

The last time I was in the USA was 15 years ago and since then not only have a lot of things happened in the world, but I also changed a lot, and with that the lens I see everything through.

In all honesty, before this visit I was sceptical if I was going to like it in the US, to say the least. The outside perspective of the US, especially as narrated through media, has been quite negative and because of that I was full of prejudice regarding people, the justice system, food, infrastructure, etc.

The other two times I had been to the US as a child gave me great memories of nature and landscape, but I also remember finding it strange that you were restricted to swimming areas at public lakes and that people would potentially walk around carrying guns.

Then, a few years later I read a book by a German lawyer who was wrongly convicted in the US while on holiday, for conspiracy to commit extortion. He spent two years in prison uncovering the billion-dollar business behind US prisons. After that I told myself to not set foot in the US again.

This changed when I met my friend Brian, who is from the US and who unconsciously helped me break down prejudices. Him being reason enough to travel to the US once more helped me to reflect on my views, but more importantly, he even made it feel like home.

This time, there were still a lot of strange rules (like not being allowed to use certain car parks after dark or being allowed to openly carry a gun while hiking in New Hampshire) and other things that seemed weird to me, such as someone riding his motorcycle barefoot or someone else having a flagpole on his trailer coupling, trailing a giant US flag behind his truck 😆

[continued in comments]

Who said you can’t go on a canoe/camping trip in winter?

Throwback to January 2019 when .mchardy and I spontaneously decided to visit Spreewald, a popular summer destination in Germany, in the middle of winter.

- no tourists (no people at all in fact)
- no sunburns
- no mosquitoes

Just

- nature/wild life
- ice breaking
- hot rum & apple juice
- camp fires
- silence

And even a huge herd of red deer that jumped one by one across the canal in pic 3. Imagine how they crossed it in one gigantic leap!

Often the spontaneous ideas are the best. Have you had similar spontaneous ideas, where the outcome exceeded your expectations?