Enter the Chill Zone

Is it just me or does time go by faster in New York City? What if time actually moves faster here than in other areas of the world or even faster than just a few miles away where there are more trees and less traffic noises? Maybe a New York minute is a real defined increment of time manifesting as two minutes squeezed into one typical minute experienced by everyone else outside the NYC bubble. Suddenly four years can feel like a decade, which explains a lot.

I feel the difference as soon as I hop out of the train, car, plane – you name it – and take in a few breathes of fresh air somewhere else, even if its just a few miles upstate. Everything slows down, and not just that, but I feel how fast i’ve been moving. My body needs a few moments to recover and catch up with itself, like I’ve been running in a marathon without even knowing it and I urgently need air, water and rest. Sometimes when I go home to SF, I can lay so low and literally laze around for as long as possible to make up for lost chill time – marathon chill sessions of epic proportions. For some reason i feel like it’s allowed – I can finally do nothing without putting any kind of deadline or pressure on myself to be productive again. That must be the difference between the two cultural meccas – legendary chill zone vs. 24-hour ultra productivity contest.

My big goal this year is to open up my schedule for more fun and spontaneity. At first glance I might already be able to claim that my life is full of this kind of magic already – but the truth is, I, like so many other New Yorkers I’m sure, over-schedule and plan out my life like it’s going out of style. Deep down part of me is scared of what will happen if I wake up one weekend and have nothing to fill my day with – what, no plans? No brunch? No friends? What will I DO in that case? I want to shift away from thinking about DOing to instead embodying a mentality focused on BEing. If I don’t have anything to DO, what if that’s when the most fun can finally happen?