What Parkinson’s Can Teach Us About Slowing Down

It’s not pretty being forced to slow down, but this disease shows that slowing down is doable in a rushing world

Oct 20, 2024

Hello out there - in a rushed world looking for some sanity and serenity!

Here is some input for getting clarity and confidence to pursue the power of slow and to smile wearily at the absurdity of rushing.

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What Parkinson’s Can Teach Us About Slowing Down

It’s not pretty being forced to slow down, but this disease shows that slowing down is doable in a rushing world

When you have no choice and are FORCED to “be slow,” how can you change your systems and activities so your life and work are still functioning?

And if that is somehow possible, why is it not for anyone else who WANTS to slow down and change their way of living, working, and responding to the demands of a rushing world? The world is more stressed out than ever. Yet, we don’t want to slow down. Or, those of us who do slow down experience rejection, resistance, and incomprehension.

I just experienced the challenges a person with Parkinson's disease faces and would like to share with those of you who like to slow down a bit the lessons we can learn from a “forced” slowdown.

We are responsible for our decisions. Or not.

If you and I want to finally slow down, we make a decision to do so and take the respective action steps. (Or not. But that’s a different discussion). Parkinson’s disease is a little devil that does the opposite for the person who suddenly finds himself co-living with that devil. It is an outside power beyond your control that forces you to slow down. You have no choice.

Now, try to imagine how it feels if it is not your decision anymore, but you are in the hands of an outside power that forces you to surrender to the slow movement. It’s probably challenging to imagine because you are used to making decisions about whether you want to be busy, speed up, shift down a gear, or if you aim to change the tempo of your life.

What do you do when the world demands “fast” from you, pressuring you to think, decide, calculate, read, grasp, and notice things quickly, but you just can’t comply with it? You’re f*ckd. That’s how you probably feel about it.

Here is a different perspective on slowing down I gained recently by watching and helping a loved one close to my heart who is dealing with the damn thing called Parkinson’s disease.

To start with, we can take philosopher Marcus Aurelius’ words to heart: “Don’t wait around hoping for someone to save you. Instead, get active in your own rescue — if you care for yourself at all — and do it while you can.” And even with Parkinson's, you can.

A space where we secretly might want to be

Parkinson’s is different from burnout, or being physically and mentally ill due to too much stress because Parkinson's cannot be cured and progresses slowly, whereas many other neurological diseases can be healed. Parkinson’s is usually connected with trembling and slower movements, but there are many non-movement symptoms, as they are called, that are often overlooked, such as depression, apathy, anxiety, dizziness, thinking slower, reacting slower, and feeling overwhelmed by all the stimulation and demands in daily life.

Doesn’t the hyperconnected world and life in overdrive stress and overwhelm all of us? But we don’t stop. We keep going and the tempo, confusion, and complexity only get worse. Mentally and physically “fit”, we believe we can conquer the accelerating world. Or, perhaps we feel different about it.

Maybe he is in that space we secretly want to be in.

The things that he approached now in a slower way felt like a lesson that things CAN be approached more slowly.

Here are 4 things I observed with Parkinson’s that offered me a different perspective on slowing down.

1) Taking the time and space to think – Creating substance and quality

We lost the art of giving things thought. We don’t think longer about problems, tasks, or challenges to find the possible answer or solution and not the quickest and most convenient response. Likewise, we are under constant pressure to think fast and make quick decisions, which often leads to superficial, low-quality, and sometimes even bad outcomes.

Burdened with Parkinson's, you look at all your invoices, letters, documents, and tasks and don’t know where to start and feel overwhelmed. “I can no longer grasp the content of this business letter so quickly”, he says. “I need time to think about what they ask from me or how to decide on these problems that need to be solved.” At the end of the day, all of us are overwhelmed with requests and demands. Since we try to work through everything quickly, we can only give little attention to each task and not properly think about it.

Sitting next to him, I was reminded of how many emails or documents I recently brushed over quickly, not taking the time to read them all. With the result that I either missed deadlines or was unnecessarily worried about having to follow up on something, which I didn’t if only I had read the whole thing more carefully.

Richard Merrick nicely describes the thinking world we are living in.

“To grow into who we are, we need the time and space to think, to meander, experiment and create substance. Work, on the other hand, would rather we just go faster in order to meet those SMART goals because even if the end results are thin and weak, the goals have been met and bonuses achieved.”

2) What is important and what is not – Select and focus

We want to do it all, check off To-Do's from our list, and pursue many projects and ideas because we think everything is important and needs to be done. As a result, you don’t get much done by the end of the day.

Not being able to take care of all the tasks and requests and being forced to take care of only the most important issues at hand was a good reminder that our claim to be able to do more and more these days is wrong. You have the ability to make choices around things that are important to you and your work. It’s about taking back control over your time and your priorities.

Everything changes in our lives from the moment when we realize we have a choice. When we are conscious of our ability to choose, we take a different perspective on our momentary situation.

You have the choice of what you focus on and what you give your attention to.

“The weakest living creature, by concentrating his powers on a single object, can accomplish something. The strongest, by dispensing his over many, may fail to accomplish anything.” - Thomas Carlyle, Scottish historian and philosopher.

3) Multitasking – The illusion of productivity

“Our competitive, service-oriented societies are taking a toll on the late-modern individual. Rather than improving life, multitasking, "user-friendly" technology, and the culture of convenience are producing disorders that range from depression to attention deficit disorder to borderline personality disorder”,

describes Byung-Chul Han in a piece on Burnout Society.

Multitasking gives us the illusion of productivity because it makes us feel more productive than doing just one thing. But in fact, it reduces productivity by as much as 40%. Not focusing on one task or one decision in front of us, we make decisions too hastily instead of thinking them through. Mistakes happen that need to be cleaned up later. Switching between tasks stresses your mental resources and is an inefficient way to work.

The more task-switching we do, the more it impairs our cognitive ability and, ultimately, burnout.

Multitasking is not only not thinking; it impairs your ability to think. Thinking means concentrating on one thing long enough to develop an idea about something or to come to a solution or conclusion.

Research has shown us the harm of multitasking, and we have become aware of the need to change that. Yet, we’re still finding it difficult in a world that pushes us to do everything at the same time. Watching the person next to me co-live with that little devil inside of him controlling and limiting his “normal” abilities (though we shouldn’t call Multitasking “normal”, to begin with) was a good reminder to slow down and just do one task at a time. That’s it. Do ONE thing at a time, and do it right.

4) Walking with awareness – You can out-walk diseases

With Parkinson's, you experience trouble walking and holding your balance. The best thing you can do to slow down the progress of the disease is to exercise a lot. You can literally outrun Parkinson's. This is connected to a certain protein, which is important for the cells responsible for Parkinson's symptoms and which can be increased through exercise, especially through walking or interval running. This also means the rest of us can reduce the risk of neurological diseases through regular exercise.

The Association of Nature and Forest Therapy explains that walking reduces stress. Chronic stress is a driver of many health problems, from depression to burnout and neurological diseases. Walking in the forest has been proven to reduce cortisol, the stress hormone, in test subjects. Pulse rate and blood pressure are dramatically lower after people visit the woods. It also enhances your brainpower and memory.

Walking in the woods and walking with awareness not only helps people who are ill, but it also helps the rest of us to prevent major health problems. You can grant yourself permission to slow down and make it part of your lifestyle.

The lesson learned here is that regular walking and walking with consciousness, being aware of your movements, are not only a must for people with Parkinson’s. It is part of a slower and healthier lifestyle. I walk every day in the woods because I simply love it and couldn’t do without it. There is also the Japanese concept of Forest Bathing, which has proven health benefits and makes you walk through the woods with more consciousness.

If you WANT to slow down, you can do it. It’s YOUR way.

We get impatient with a person who is doing things at a slower pace. Why is the person not getting it (a problem, a situation, a question)? Why is he not moving faster? Instead, we could change perspective and realize that the person is incapable (due to an illness) of going faster and that the very thing we all need to do is what this person is doing involuntarily. Slowing down.

Interesting INSIGHTS I found

Curated articles/links on the topic of slowing down and living better

SLOW ESCAPES

Travel can slow the aging process, a new study says

According to researchers in Australia, positive tourist experiences can help you live longer because the positive experiences associated with trips — social interactions, mental stimulation, physical activity, and healthy cuisines — can delay the aging process.

Researchers noted that many of the lifestyle practices espoused by medical and mental health experts are intrinsic to travel, such as social engagement, appreciating nature, walking or other types of exercise, and nutritious meals. Immersing yourself in a novel destination, the study reports can slow the aging process.

Future studies will focus on how travel can help people with dementia or other chronic illnesses. The researchers hope to expand this burgeoning field that, one can only hope, will lead to more vacation days and fewer sick days.

CONNECTING & CARING

A wonderful story of friendship….Revealed five decades years later

A story of friends, friendship, and a crazy idea that this group of 12 friends executed: to have a champagne breakfast on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., five decades ago.

They had no idea that a reporter captured this scene in a photograph, to be discovered decades later.

LIVING WITH AWARENESS

The world's sixth 'Blue Zone': Why Singapore values both quantity and quality of life

When it comes to longevity, few places in the world have seen such a drastic jump in life expectancy as the island city-state in Southeast Asia.

Though recently questioned for their accuracy by demographers, the Blue Zones were discovered and coined by National Geographic journalist Dan Buettner, who claimed to identify regions where people lived longer, healthier lives, in large part due to a combination of culture, lifestyle, diet, and community.

Singapore was the first new region to be added to the Blue Zones in decades (dubbed a "Blue Zone 2.0" by Buettner) and stands apart from the other Blue Zones in part because the longevity of its people comes more from forward-thinking policies than long-established cultural traditions in other Blue Zone communities like Ikaria, Greece or Nicoya, Costa Rica.

But it's not just the quantity of life, but also the quality of life, that residents here appreciate.

SLOW BEING

Solitude - The power of alone time

Being alone is not the same thing as being lonely. Solitude is associated with positive feelings. Choosing solitude can free your mind and lift your mood. Throughout history, artists, philosophers, and other visionaries have had a penchant for solitude. All of us can benefit from alone time, too. In the last few years, people have started to come out with concrete evidence to support the idea that solitude can be a very positive thing – especially in our constant-on world, bombarding us non-stop with noise and distractions.