When I went to work after the National Day holiday last year, I found that my colleagues had a very fulfilling festival. Some went to the Internet celebrity scenic area, some participated in rural activities in the suburbs, and some went to shopping malls for entertainment. Only the department manager, Lao Zhou, did not go anywhere and stayed at home for 8 days. We said that he was wasting the great time of the long vacation. Lao Zhou smiled and said: “I feel like my life is like driving on a highway, going to work, getting sick, getting sick at noon, and sick at night. ‘,’Illness’ comes to’Illness’ and I have not been able to relax my spirits, and people are very tired. During this short vacation, I pulled up the’handbrake’ of life and let my high-speed car take a rest.”
Old Zhou is our leader. The work is indeed very busy, and working overtime is commonplace. He is not too old, but he has already given up. Lao Zhou still looked intoxicated when he told us about the time when he used the “handbrake” in life. He first slept until he woke up naturally, and then lay on the bed and watched how the sunlight at eight or nine o’clock spilled into the house. Don’t worry about traffic jams, don’t need to rush to clock in, just relax. He can get up slowly, cook a bowl of pumpkin porridge, make a glass of milk, and chew. After eating, you can walk slowly on your flower-filled terrace, or you can enjoy tea and read books in the sunny study. At night, he lay lazily on the sofa, turned on the video software, and watched a few movies he liked. These casual leisurely and wonderful things were beyond words.
Lao Zhou’s words silenced everyone. We are in a fast-paced era. It is true that we come and go in a hurry every day, blinking for a day and closing our eyes for a week. The fast days almost make us unable to remember the traces of time. When we are running around for life, life has already left us.
There is a barbecue restaurant in our community, run by a couple. The man is the chef in the operating room, and the woman greets the guests in the lobby. Because the barbecue tastes well, the business is very good in the shop. One night I went to this barbecue restaurant to have a meal. I didn’t expect the shop was closed. The couple were sitting at the table with a few dishes, drinking small wines, talking and laughing. I was puzzled and said to the store: “The nearby restaurants are still doing business, why are you closing so early?” The store owner pointed to the car I parked in front of the store and said, “We are busy from morning to night, and our bodies are too much to eat. Now is our’parking’ time. Cars can’t always be driven, and money can’t always be earned!”
The shopkeeper’s words are plain and unpretentious, but they speak the truth of life. We really need to pull up the “handbrake” of life at some point to slow down our lives. During this precious time, we can lock ourselves in the house and do what we like, have dinner with our family, have a long conversation with friends, spend time with our partners, and play with our children. Stopping the pace of life occasionally, experiencing the warmth and tranquility in life down-to-earth, and savoring every moment in life, isn’t this also a kind of happiness in life?
You know, on the road of life, stepping on the accelerator can make us gain speed, but learning to slow down and brake can give us better control and see a lot of beautiful scenery along the way.
