Slowing Down

Today marks exactly one week since I became a village resident. In the past few days, there has been a drastic change in how I live my life.

Becoming slower, yet at the same time feeling more alive.

In my usual routine, after waking up and having breakfast, I would sit in front of my laptop until evening. Often, that time still wasn't enough, so it would continue into the night.

Sitting in front of a screen with my brain constantly working makes time truly fly by unnoticed.

There was one time when I was so focused—from morning until evening working on enjoyable code—that when I finished, I truly felt like I had just returned from another world. The time that passed felt like a single blink of an eye. No, this isn't an exaggeration. This is reality.

I felt 'lost' from myself. To come back, I usually needed to find someone to chat with or exercise, so I could feel alive again.

Everything I described above doesn't happen when I'm in the village. Why?

The first reason is certainly because I'm doing KKN (community service program), so my time is focused on working on the programs we've planned. Another reason is that the network here is slow. If you ask whether there's network coverage, yes there is. But the indoor signal is very poor—you need to place your phone near the ventilation for the signal to improve.

With all these factors, my screen time has significantly decreased. I've been talking more with friends and enjoying my time—something I've finally rediscovered.

In fact, if I weren't here, I would almost never experience the state of "having nothing to do." In my usual routine, I find it very hard to feel bored; almost every free moment there's always something to do. To the point that at the end of the night, when I lay down to sleep, many things still swirl in my head—so many things I want to work on.

Twenty-four hours still isn't enough.

Time to slow down.

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Started writing on Saturday, July 23, 2023.

Completed on Sunday, July 24, 2023 at 19:48 at Bambangin Village Office.