The World Will Not Stop For You

The world is a very busy place. And somewhere along the way, I started matching its pace. As if slowing down meant falling behind, as if stillness was something I had to earn.

But busy stopped feeling like a purpose a while ago. It started feeling like noise. Like motion for the sake of motion. Like I was always somewhere, always doing something, and somehow never quite present for any of it.

There’s something the world doesn’t tell you, that slowing down isn’t the opposite of progress. That the life happening right now, in the quiet, in the in-between, is still life. Still counting. Still worth being inside of.

I wonder what I’ve rushed past. What I’ve missed because I was already moving on to the next thing before the current thing had finished with me.

The world will not slow down on its own. It never does.

-Oluwademilade from MANI