Act fast.
Think on your feet.
Fail fast(er).
In an age where performative workaholism could easily be the new organised religion, we are all forcibly a part of a formula (pun intended?) where speed is considered the glorified variable to win.
[And winning is seen as the number of finish lines you cross, rather than the value in crossing them.]
On one hand we reward #hustle as the new social currency for us “cool kids” to claim our own validation – that we matter.
Yet on the other hand we see ourselves indulge in acts of #selfcare because that’s what we need to convince ourselves – that we matter.
In this vicious cycle of trending hashtags, we are in a race of the need for speed – where burn out is the trophy, a now socially normalised approval to take care of yourself.
As Rob Estreitinho accurately aphorises, “In the war against the cult of speed, the front line is inside our heads.”
A cult of speed.
A construct that binds us with the belief that speed is the only thing that matters.
It makes us invincible.
We may hate on fast fashion or fast food today, but we are irrevocably addicted to the instant gratification of fast.
Because, the truth is, we have monopolised fast.
We have tools to help us act fast(er).
We have technology to help us think fast(er).
We have the means to make us move fast(er.)
We have the internet to help us reach fast(er).
Hell, we also have apps to make us love fast(er).
Humanity has truly conquered speed.
We can choose to believe that.
Or we can choose to see how we are at the mercy of it.
One virus. A few days. A few hundred thousand infected. A few billion immobilised. One global pandemic.
The whole world is forced to slow down.
So is it better to be fast?
Or is it better to do what’s right (for you, for us all)?
Speed is too slippery and intangible a variable to quantify in the formula to win [value].
Maybe that’s why a formula can have more than one variable?
Find those other variables.
Search for what works for the greater good.
Create your own formula.
And fight as hell to prove it.
Because when you get to this finish line,
the question won’t be whether we were fast or not.
It may not even be whether we were right or not.
But it will most definitely be whether we did the right thing. Or not?
fluid.world 
Yes amidst the reckless vicissitudes of life we need to slow down a bit in order the understand and appreciate life in it’s truest & it’s purest form. We need to understand the journey of life rather than hastily arrive at some desired destination by any means necessary. Thank you Nishita, for sharing such a thought-provoking post! According to your convenience, would request you to please read some of my writings would love to know what you think about them. 🙂
Such a lovely thought to read at this hour of the day! It really did make me think on a lot of things which we easily take fr granted.
So keep posting your thoughts!
Thank you for taking the time to read, I’m glad that it serves as a good reminder every now and again. That’s how I got down to writing it as well 🙂