Slow down, and enjoy the ride!

“ITB adalah tempat dimana lupa adalah salah, tidur adalah penyesalan, ketiduran adalah dosa.”

I laughed my ass off reading those simple statement. Anyone who aren’t a student of this institution maybe don’t get this kind of joke and thing that we are being narcissistic. It’s of course an exaggeration. But what’s fun to discuss is why everyone of us laugh when we’re reading this. I post that in my status in social networking site, and voila! There’s many “likes” appearing, even it’s not at the busy hours.

The question is: why do we think so?

At the first time we come here, there is a very big banner stated that “Selamat datang calon pemimpin bangsa” which in english stated: “Welcome, the future leaders”. A very very pompous statement, which gives completely the reverse reaction based on the readers: If you are an innocent fresh year high school graduate who happens to study here, you’ll be experiencing a huge sensation of self pride, and if you don’t: you hate this institution more than ever.

But after you enter this institution for like, 1 month, you’ll regret your decision, except for those a noble student who thinks study and doing homework is a need, not a must. Which I believe, very rare in this period of time. You have to choose between social life and your grade. Between meeting friends, and married with your laptop/PC. Between playing games, or solve the magnificent coding challenge. You can do things in balance, of course, but will be just good in both things, not excel at it.

I personally choose the have fun way in my first year: meeting new interesting friends, exploring Bandung, culinary trips, having cooking experiment at least once a week, watched uncountable movies, go to concerts and plays, finished a pile of books each month, and I go to bed with smile on my face, and wake up filled with enthusiasm of what comes next. I was so positive back then. So naive, and thinking that bad times is there to make things good again.

As I remember, thing started to change when I received my first semester grade. At first, I started to panic and reduce my “quality time”. The result of my second semester is what shaped me to be what I am now.

Constantly in hurry, feel the need of rush the things off, very impatient, easy dissapointment when things don’t go as I planned, feeling insecurity, and many more. It took time to realize that it’s not what a think a “maturity process”. It’s simply that I think I’ve moved as fast as I can, but the world just keep spinning faster.

I read from article from my fave blog, that “Our interconnectedness through technology has helped create the illusion of a faster paced world. It’s also created the illusion of less loneliness and isolation”. Being constantly online, addicted to internet, I humbly think, is becoming a syndrome nowadays. Information comes to us so fast today. For a very curios person like me, I spent A LOT of time figuring out what happens in the world, and I always feel like I want to know more, I don’t have time to know it all. I don’t need to digest all of the information at the same time, and I actually don’t need to know all of the information. But I just can’t help it.

I have to balance my curiosity with my social time, because we born as a social person, and yes, we need to socialize with other (this is an example of bad sentences). And with pile of assignments coming each week, I have to sacrifice something to keep everything run smoothly. This is how things related to the opening quote: I, (and I believe many of us too) gave up our sleeping time. I can’t have sleep deprivation for a long time, and to overcome this, lets get back to what I said earlier: I rushed things. And without realizing it, this is what I called a routine: Do things as fast as possible, so I have more time to do more things.

And you know what that’s lead to?

Those bad feeling that I talked before.

And in my last semester, I just want to slow down. Yes, I have to finish my bachelor thesis as soon as possible, because that’s a promise with my parents. But other thing, I want to experience thing more, and revealed it’s true content.

I want to have peace with my mind, regardless how fast the world is spinning out there. I want to take time to read in serenity. I want to feel the fresh air every morning while jogging/swimming. I want to enjoy every bite of my food. I want to really feel the touch of the smooth water on my skin. I want to listen more to my friend. I want to feel, what life has to offer. And that’s, what I’ve been doing starting at March. And I feel like I’m coming back to be a positive person again, as I used to.

And this site, is a good example of how to find your own pace. Hope this helps! J : http://zenhabits.net/slow-relationships/