Time Changes

Seventy hours has been reconfigured. My weeks, once compressed into 25 and 55 minute meeting blocks, back to back like a corporate iron man, is looser now. Project Reviews replaced with visits to the Vet. The nervous fur and a calm receptionist addressing my cat by name but not me. Yoga with my wife instead of leadership meetings, in a room with dimmer light, my movements unhurried and imperfect. I walk trails instead of a loop of stairs between 6 and 9 and 3 and 6. Trails maintained by the unnamed, no one clamoring for credit.

Home projects no longer compete with my one free day. I can do both: adventure and attend to this week of HGTV inspired activity.

I shop for groceries in the middle of the day. The aisles are quiet and the shelves are full. I interview cleaning services, a task I would have unfairly delegated to my wife previously. I was too busy, but so is she. I read books that do not mention leadership or leverage, books that were not purchased in airports, books that do not suggest what I should do next.

The gym no longer feels like a race. I move through repetitions without watching the clock. I send texts and voice notes to friends without news to report, just musings, wonders and mundane observations with a flourish of the existential. There are downsides. At the mechanic, I now worry about the unexpected repairs more. Truth that you can have it all, just not all at the same time.

Two weeks of living slowly in Washington. The journey south begins soon.