What Spain taught me about slowing down

I just heard someone on a podcast say, "In the Netherlands you live, in Spain you truly live."

I've just returned from a wonderful holiday in Spain and caught myself thinking exactly the same thing when I got home: why are we always in such a rush in the Netherlands?

You feel it the moment you land at Schiphol. Everyone is rushing around, heads down, staring at their phone screens. Then you get stuck in traffic on a grey, dreary motorway. Once you're finally home, you collapse onto the sofa, turn on the TV and slip straight back into the daily grind.

So why does life in Spain feel so much more relaxed?

It's not because I don't work there. As a freelancer, I work even when I'm on holiday. In fact, I'm sometimes more productive there than I am at home.

I think it's the mentality. You know the saying: mañana, mañana.

More time spent outdoors, less unnecessary rushing, more connection with the people around you and less time staring at screens.

In the Netherlands, I sometimes feel like everything revolves around efficiency. Everything has to be done as quickly as possible. We want to earn as much money as possible in as little time as possible.

Everything has to be faster, better and easier. That's why my LinkedIn feed is full of AI courses, and I get at least one DM a week asking if I'd like to automate parts of my business.

But if I automate everything, where does the human part go? And what about the joy of actually creating something?

Maybe I think differently from the average Dutch person on this, but I don't think we need to speed up. I think we need to slow down.

And I think we're eventually going to reach a point where we have no other choice.

One person burns out, another struggles with panic attacks. People lose their jobs because an AI tool makes it possible to do the same amount of work with a smaller team.

Efficient? Absolutely. But is life really all about efficiency? Or is it about being happy?

Last winter, it snowed heavily for several days. Suddenly, we were forced to slow down.

Walk slowly, or you'll slip.

Don't stare at your phone while walking, or you'll end up flat on your face.

People went outside again to build snowmen and have snowball fights. I remember looking around and being surprised by how friendly everyone suddenly seemed. People greeted each other in the street. There were smiles instead of rushed faces.

And no, I'm not anti-technology. Some tools make our lives genuinely easier. But I don't think it would hurt to hit the brakes every once in a while.

More connection, more time outdoors, more slowing down, more living.

That way, we don't all have to move to Spain. Maybe we can just bring a little bit of the Spanish mentality home with us.

Olé!

Do you want to be less tied to your screen and look around more? Then do the Offline Reset and take that first step!