My day is spent moving at human speed. I walk the dogs several times a day at paces ranging from 1-3 MPH, or slower, depending on the weather, the smells, and our combined energy levels. I swim a mile a day at 1.3 MPH.I putz around the house and yard at well under 1 MPH.
My daily calisthenics, movement and yoga workouts are done in my one car garage. These exercises are performed slowly under control.
The only times I break the 3 MPH barrier on foot is when jog across the street when a car is coming or on the rare occasion when I lose my grip on Wiggle’s leash.
Most afternoons, I take a short nap too. That helps slow things down even more.
I drive to the pool, the grocery store, the hardware store and the vet. For the most part, I stick to neighborhood streets and surface roads while avoiding the highways. I tend to drive at 2 speeds – 25 MPH in neighborhoods, 45 MPH on the bigger interconnecting roads. I also do a lot of coasting. I’ll let my car drift up to red lights. I take advantage of the hills by coasting down them. It’s become a game to me to hypermile and see how much I can maximize my car’s MPG. After filling my tank, my ride home is nearly all downhill and I can get my MPG up to 90 MPG! Of course, once I leave to go anywhere, this drops to the still quite reasonable 40 MPG.
When I was working, it seemed liked I was always rushing. I never had enough time. On good traffic days, I’d speed to work on the highway and rush home afterward. On bad days, I’d sit in interminable traffic jams, while my anger and frustration raged inside me.
At work, I’d process hundreds of emails a day. Some days were wall-to-wall with meetings. Others days, I’d make a hundred phone calls and make dozens of sales pitches. The end of the month, quarter or year was always rapidly approaching whenever we were behind in sales.
Only on weekends and vacations would life slow down to a reasonable human pace. And even then, I was usually thinking about work and often dedicating at least part of the day to it.
I no longer fly anywhere.
The last time I flew was for business in 2018. It was such a terrible experience, that I might never get on a plane again. Even before that fateful trip, I despised the inconvenience, the horrible customer service, the cancelled flights, the delays, the cramped seats, the TSA security theater, the engine noise, the stale air, the slow luggage, the hotels, the food and pretty much everything about air travel. Spending the night in the airport after my flight being cancelled and being rebooked on a flight landing 1000 miles way from my destination pretty much sealed the deal for me.
Flying to go on vacation or see friends and family is slightly better because I have something to look forward to. Although, unless I’m going overseas or more than 1000 miles, I’ll drive instead.
I used to like going fast. As a teen, I drove my mother’s car and the pizza shops’s delivery cars as fast as possible. When I road my bike, I’d speed down hills and pump my legs as fast as possible at all times.
I bought a used Honda 450 motorcycle when I was 19. I drove it for about a year until it fell apart. That thing flew! I’d crank the throttle and the bike would buck like a horse before taking off. I easily could go from 0 to 90 in seconds. It was thrilling (and way too dangerous). After my Honda died, I was looking for a new motorcycle until I met someone who had lost half his leg in a motorcycle accident. He was just a few years older than me and had a fake leg below the knee. Someone pulled out in front of him, he put his bike down, his leg got trapped between the bike and the car’s bumper and it was ripped off.
That convinced me not to get another motorcycle. It was a blast to ride though.
I like spending my time at human speed. I think it is the way we were meant to live.