Back in college, we dressed up as the 7 deadly sins for a costume party.
I was lust. I was pretty lazy about it and just kitted myself out in all pink and called it a day.
Ironically, how I went about this task demonstrates the sin I always tend to choose for myself when asked which of the seven I would be…. guilty as a sloth 🦥
I can be reallllly uber lazy at times, and in many seasons of my life I’ve been notorious for watching episodes of trash TV from sunrise to sunset.
But somehow, among the sloth, I still got good grades, had lots of friends & kept myself in relatively good shape. So I never felt sloth was really, truly my sin.
And then the other morning while in yoga class - I had a realization. The creation of the 7 deadly sins was in what … like the prehistoric times? I don’t know exactly when but I associate it with the timeframe of the ‘Dante’s Inferno’ era of my literature studies … and that is OLD.
So let’s just assume it’s been around for a long while. Definitely long before the Industrial Revolution, and most definitely before the tech boom.
If that is the case, whoever created the 7 deadly sins likely didn’t realize there would have to be an amendment for an 8th sin in the 21st century.
The sin of Haste.
The sin of wishing you could move through the tough moments faster. The sin of moving at a clip simply for the dopamine hit it gives you. The sin of optimizing for the short term.
It’s the sin of the collective at this moment. We’re paying for it in our climate crisis, in our healthcare systems, in our children’s education. Profits are more important than regenerating the many ecosystems that are teetering on a knife edge.
Some of us are trying to do our part, but capitalism has made it impossible to escape funding Haste. You indulge in Haste by buying a Subway sandwich. By having your morning coffee. By going to that workshop on your inner critic (because you need to silence her, and now!).
We retox, and then we detox. In a perpetual and horrific cycle. We indulge in Haste in buying some cheap clothes, and then we try to make up for it by composting our banana peels.
I’m not saying this to shame you. It’s a simple, frustrating fact of the world we live in.
And yet …. we always have a choice.
If we can just admit we are all overdosing on Haste, can we choose to be different?
As I reflect on my past sloth-y ways, I can see now that the antidote to my Slothiness was not productivity, but instead inspiration. When I felt vitality … the Sloth in me disappeared.
So what is the antidote to your Haste?
For me, it’s internal validation. I move with intention (rather than speed) when I am moving fully for me. When I know where I am going and with what motivation.
Haste comes from a place of unfounded desire, of striving to be something for someone else.
“I should be richer”
“I should be married”
“I should be smarter”
“I should be more successful”
No - my love, you shouldn’t.
The only thing we know is what we know right now. The present moment. Where you are today is exactly where you need to be.
If you - truly you - want to be elsewhere… you will get there.
Whenever I have a fundamentally heart led desire, I don’t feel a need to rush. I actually realize the depth of truth and importance to my desire and I slowwww down to be sure I am in fact ready to plunge into such an aligned trajectory. That kind of knowing that excites you, but really equally terrifies you.
And as I slow… the solution / opportunity often finds me faster than I’m ready for it.
It’s happening right now in the childminding desire of mine, and it’s happened before in the many moves across state lines, ponds, companies and relationships I’ve desired in the past.
So what’s the punchline?
As always — know yourself, so you can be yourself.
And know yourself, so you can validate yourself… and you can stop rushing towards someone else’s dreams 😘