Don't panic on the treadmill - trust me on this...

I'd like to make myself believe that planet earth turns slowly. (Owl City) I think that's pretty apt for a sparkly little tune. Granted the rest of the lyrics are pretty whacko, 'Cause I'd get a thousand hugs from ten thousand lightning bugs as they tried to teach me how to dance...' Sure. Fruit loop. But I digress.

Is it just me, but do you ever get that feeling that your running from pillar to post without really getting anywhere? Or at least without getting anywhere worthwhile? Your on the luxurious treadmill of life that doesn't seem to slow down. Not even so you can tie your shoe, take a sip of water or check out the hot guy behind you doing the strange bo-flex machine. There has to be an emergency choke chord on this damn thing?

Well I've had it, after a week and weekend of indulgence at 3am breakfasts with the 20% Russian and my usual whirlwind antics, I'm doing my best to simply slow down. Walk looking up, stopping to let someone cross in front of me, staying at the coffee shop for an extra 10 minutes to watch the world. And for once, it's working. It's only been on the agenda for a few days, but I'm thinking that I should start to introduce being calm on a more regular basis. I even managed to go to a yoga class tonight, stop at the little japanese supermarket I love and come home to cook something for dinner. This is unheard of for me. I could barely believe it myself, I still can't. I won't mention the fact that I was running to class from work after deciding to stop and pick up the jacket I left at a club after 6 tequila shots last Wednesday. Let's stay focused on the calm section of the evening shall we?

My grandmother is always at me about burning the candle at both ends, and in the middle - which I do just for good measure. But somehow I never take it in, and chances are I'm probably never going to in any meaningful way. It's not that I don't like stopping to smell the roses, it's just that no one seems to send the ones that smell anymore. I don't think that not being busy is something I could ever do. I like that little bit of adrenaline akin to minor hysteria. I like to have 100 things on a list and attacking them in a tizzy. What I'm starting to embrace is that if you believe the world is turning slowly you fall into one of two categories. The one where you speed up to fit more into your day. Or the second, where you slow down with it.

Either way I'm pretty happy with my yoga/cooking schedule tonight - it makes a change from cocktails, man eating and chasing the vanishing hours in the day. Chances are the world's pro rata speed I don't think will be changed by some luny lyrics in an elctro pop song but still the notion is a wonderful idea. And I think I can safely say that, for this week at least, panic is not our friend people and I'm pulling the damn choke chord.