I’ve spent a lot of my life running fast toward a future I thought I wanted.

Tons of goals, lots of work, and heaps of pressure. It wasn’t the work that caused trouble. It was the speed I was moving at.

I’ve learned that when life gets too busy, you stop noticing what actually matters. You stop hearing yourself. You stop seeing others. You stop counting your blessings. You lose touch with anything holy in or around you.

There’s an old line from a Japanese writer named Kenkō: “The most precious thing in life is its uncertainty.”

I have a love/hate relationship with uncertainty. Thank you very much Kenkō.

I don’t know about you.

During a week like this (Thanksgiving week here in the good ol’ U S of A), I need this type of wisdom.

It’s a reminder to slow down, look around, and notice the good that’s already here. To be grateful for the pieces of life we’d miss if we kept sprinting.

A few years ago, I realized I was running faster than the life I actually wanted to live.

I wanted room for peace, room to breathe, room to pay attention to the things that really matter to me.

You see, my pace didn’t match my values.

And, nothing good grows when life is a constant sprint. Not connection. Not leadership. Not character. Not a grounded sense of self.

Maybe you feel some of this too?

Maybe your schedule has been too full for too long. Maybe the days blur together, and even the good moments slip by without you really absorbing them.

You can be successful, busy, impressive, and still feel like you’re missing your own life. That’s because, the right things at the wrong speed eventually leave you empty.

When we move too fast, we lose the ability to give the necessary attention to our work, to our people, to ourselves. Speed steals presence. And, presence is where gratitude usually lives.

So here’s the question I’m sitting with this Thanksgiving: Am I living my life, or running past it?

This week gives us a moment we rarely take on our own. A pause. A breath. A chance to actually look around and see what’s good, what’s solid, what’s worth protecting.

Thanksgiving reminds us to notice our own life again, to be present for it, to be grateful for it, to return to it.

We’re not here to outrun ourselves. We’re here to experience the whole enchilada.

And, the things that last, like meaningful relationships, good work, inner peace, are built slowly. With intention. On purpose.

So if you’re up for it, let’s agree on a simple goal for the rest of this year: let’s not run faster than the life we really really want.

Let’s slow down long enough to appreciate what’s right in front of us.

Maybe just maybe, we can feel life again. We can tell the difference between what matters and what doesn’t. We can feel the pull toward what’s meaningful. And, we can remember that the life we’re trying to live isn’t somewhere in the future.

Nope.

It’s already here. It just needs us to notice it.

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What part of your life is asking you to slow down this week so you can finally show up for it?

Not for the optics.
Not for the achievement.
Not for anyone else’s approval.

But, for your own soul.
For your own sanity.
For your own gratitude.

You don’t have to outrun your life.
You just have to return to it.

And, maybe Thanksgiving is the perfect place to start.

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Steve Knox | Carmel, CA

\\\ Happy Thanksgiving to the Americanos reading this. To the rest of my tribe, thanks for being you. For being real. Keep going. I’m grateful for your readership. Until next time. Be honest. Be you. Much love.