Where A Fast And Hectic Place Goes Hand In Hand With Slow Life
Learn from the Neapolitan how to slow down amid busyness
Hello out there - in a rushed world,
Here comes your weekly permission slip to Un-rush and Slow Down.
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IMPULSE
Where A Fast And Hectic Place Goes Hand In Hand With Slow Life
Learn from the Neapolitan how to slow down amid busyness
I just came back from Bella Napoli, the city of Naples (Italy), and the chaotic rhythms of this city are just mind-boggling. This city is equally fascinating but disturbing, unreal but down-to-earth-real, wonderful but nerve-racking.
Naples is an example of a place where slow life and fast life are in an odd symbiosis. A lot of it is based on their unique culture. But that doesn’t mean we can't learn from it. In fact, this is why we are here at the publication Un-Rush-The Power of Slow. To show you different versions and concepts of slowing down from other cultures, businesses and people who serve as inspiration.
Contradictions (or not) between fast life and slow life
In Naples, you can experience the extreme interplay of apparent contradictions between fast life and slow life very vividly. Just stop on some corner, stand still, and watch. You slow down and step back from the chaos, and the chaos unfolds in front of you in the form of a 24-hour theater production with roughly one million single Neapolitan actors. The crazy, fast-paced world of Naples passes by you (if not through you). But if you slow down, you will detect the slow life sprinkled all over this lovely, noisy, dirty chaos.
There is a lesson in this. We can be part of the big, rushing theater without being sucked dry by it.
The city is very fast because of the non-stop traffic without rules: cars, Vespas, scooters, delivery trucks, taxis, some bicycles, and an endless stream of pedestrians, locals and tourists, all moving at the same time as on a gigantic ant hill. It sounds like NYC, Shanghai, or Barcelona. Even though the number of tourists is growing, Naples still belongs to the locals. That's why watching them in their daily activities is fascinating. Everywhere there are locals standing around and chatting, discussing loudly, gesturing, and shouting across streets and from balcony to balcony. All of this in the middle of insane traffic, thousands of restaurants, bars and cafés.
As an introvert, I am not good at dealing with distractions from noise and masses of people buzzing around me, but I do love this crazy city. So it is an interesting experience and exercise to try to mentally distance myself from the chaos and stay with myself while studying how the locals manage this hectic life. I just positioned myself in the chaos on a bench or standing against a wall, waited, and kept watching. Or, we walked with the flow, keeping in mind that there is not much distinction between the space where cars drive, people walk, and scooters wriggle around.
Inspirations on how to slow down in a daily overwhelming busy life
Learning from the people of Naples how to slow down while being part of a constant rushing and speeding chaos is an interesting lesson.
Here are 5 insights you can adapt to daily life to slow down your busyness.
1. Social interaction (face-to-face) while going fast is possible
Here is one thing that the Neapolitan people prove to us: You can integrate social and human interaction in the midst of a fast-paced daily life.
People in Naples are constantly moving, on two legs, two wheels or four wheels. There are damaged cars everywhere because there is not enough space for all the cars moving, squeezing, pushing, honking, parking in the third line, or standing randomly around, and they eventually hit, scratch or bump into each other. Yet, the people stop. They stop on their scooters to chat to someone, to have an espresso, to walk into a shop and talk, or to just slow down for the hell of it.
There is a constant flow of moving and pausing. They all seem busy and hurrying. But at the same time, in the middle of their hurry, they pause and interact with friends, neighbors, shop owners, baristas, handymen, or whoever else crosses their way. A brief interaction, to greet someone, or a longer discussion because they are upset.
Human interaction is possible, also on the run.
2. Tunnel Vision
After living for 8 years in London, a young woman moves back to her hometown of Naples. We met her in a newly opened Leica store in a nice, clean, slightly posh neighborhood of Naples. I was surprised to hear she lives in the historic heart of the city, the old town (also declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site), because it’s a completely nuts, chaotic, and typically Neapolitan old neighborhood. It is a wonderful area to stroll around and observe and photograph the life of Naples, except for the masses of tourists and locals buzzing around like bees.
I asked her HOW she was able to live there. Tunnel vision, she said. She walks with a clear destination and puts on tunnel vision to walk through the crowds.
You can limit and discipline your field of vision and keep your sanity by not interacting with the chaos or people around you.
3. Stop and zoom in
If the world around you is just buzzing, and you feel stressed by your daily duties, because several things are happening at the same time (phone notifications, emails, colleagues asking questions, boss demanding stuff, appointments waiting, meetings scheduled) – stop. Stop for a moment, cut out the surroundings, and zoom in on the details. Select one or two things that are right now the most important, and just zoom in and focus on those.
Imagine, for a moment, being a photographer in Naples. With all the busyness, you don’t even know where to point your camera. Stop for a moment and look around and pick out some interesting details you are going to focus on. You will let the busyness go, relax more, and zoom in on the selected details you chose.
Slow down and zoom in, and you will not notice the masses and the chaos around you but see with clarity what you declared as important for now.
4. Move and zoom out
You can also reverse the strategy. You keep moving, go with the flow, and keep an eye on the bigger picture and the bigger scene. Don’t get distracted by too many details that can make you stressed out, anxious, impatient, or just overwhelmed.
Again, imagine being a photographer roaming the streets of Naples. The stimulation and permanent outdoor theater actions of one million things happening around you can be overwhelming. You can walk with the flow, keep an overview of the situation, and find the connections between the various information, sights, scenes, and activities.
There were times when I felt I was floating through Naples, not letting the many, little, interesting things capture my attention. Letting go of the feeling of FOMO was a way of slowing down in the middle of a wave carrying me around. Ignoring the details helped to better connect the dots in the bigger picture.
5. Develop inner calmness and peace
Similar to the Stop and Zoom in concept, you can train yourself to develop inner peace and calmness amidst the noise.
For Seneca, a Roman philosopher, Stoic, and statesman, and “to his fellow adherents of Stoic philosophy, if a person could develop peace within themselves, then the whole world could be at war, and they could still think well, work well, and be well,” writes Ryan Holiday in his book Stillness is the Key. Think of the samurai in Japan, the Shaolin monks and martial arts experts, early Greek philosophers, or modern-day philosophers and self-development practitioners; they all seek to become masters of their inner calmness and peace.
Work on your inner peace, so when the world around you is on steroids, spinning and rushing, you can act with prudence, clarity, and awareness.
“One's action ought to come out of an achieved stillness, not to be a mere rushing on.” D. H. Lawrence
Slow and Speed can go hand in hand
As for Naples, all of the above tips and tactics don’t change the fact that the people living there are still exposed to a very high level of noise, heavy air pollution, dirt and chaos that has an impact on their well-being.
But this example shows you that even in very unfavorable circumstances, it’s possible to slow down, to maintain and cultivate human interaction, and to not let the outside chaos and rush affect your inner peace.
