Looking back on my life, especially here in the States, I’ve
come to realize that I have always been viewed by people around me as the one
in a rush most of the time. “Hurry! Make it quick! Bustle around! Step on it! No time to lose!” must have
been the unhealthy modus vivendi that’s been established deep inside of my
life.
Back in my days during master’s program of TESOL, I
studied night and day to understand all the theories and concepts of teaching
ESL/EFL, trying hard to stay ahead of course schedules. Topics for term papers were
chosen in two weeks, written and revised by week 3, and then submitted way in
advance. Even for the four-day long ‘take-home comprehensive exam’, I had
prepared for the culminating project by making myriads of example questions and
answers that could be on the test since one full year before the D-day, and was
lucky enough to complete the 26 page-long papers to turn in only within two
days. I’d even told my little son Hans to turn in his arts-and-crafts homework
without having to embellish his less-than-perfect creations.
The nail artist friends
of mine named “My” and “Lily” had always said “Jean, you got somewhere to go
right after this? Just wait ‘till your nails are fully dry and good to go.” At the post office, I have
been the only one who seems impatient, grumbling to myself in a low voice ‘How
come this post office is ALWAYS crowded?!!!’, in the long line of people
waiting for their turns to send their mail. At the gym, I have been the very
one that was running to my favorite treadmill without even stopping by lady’s
locker room or rest room. At the shopping mall, I have never entered a store
where I haven’t been to unless it carries the item on my shopping list. The
road is no the exception. Being stuck in heavy traffic, I’ve been swearing four
letter words at random slow drivers ahead of me, wishing they might have read
my lips. “Hurry, you slow poke!”
Now that I moved to this South Central region of this country,
my morbidly ingrown snappishness in life
stands out more in the crowd. Most people here are very laid-back and scarcely
lose their temper or throw a fit
over trivial matters. Hmm….maybe it’s time for me to shift gears in the second
round of my life.
The famous artist, illustrator, and author of children’s
book named Tasha Tudor said “Nowadays, people are so jeezled up. If they took
some chamomile tea and spent more time rocking on the porch in the evening
listening to the liquid song of the hermit thrush, they might enjoy life more.”
Like she mentioned, I am thinking about taking a slow shunpike rather than a turnpike
with speed for the rest of my life, for the purpose of being truly savoring here
and now.
Expressions
1.
Step
on it!: (phrase) Move briskly! / Hurry!
2.
to be
good to go: (phrase) ready to leave or to start doing something
3.
morbidly:
(adverb) suggesting an unhealthy mental state or attitude; in an unwholesomely
gloomy way or extremely
4.
to
throw a fit: (verb) to get very angry and fly into a
rage
5.
shunpike:
(noun) a side road taken instead of a turnpike or expressway to avoid tolls or
to travel at a leisurely pace
6.
turnpike:
(noun) express ways or main road with a toll gate
No comments:
Post a Comment