Click here to listen to Episode 173 of the Minutes on Growth Podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify or to watch it on Youtube.
Hi soul friends, its Tannaz Hosseinpour, and welcome back to another short solo episode of the Minutes on Growth podcast.
Today’s episode was inspired by something that happened on a recent trip Ash and I took to New Brunswick.
We decided to do a guided kayak tour at the Bay of Fundy, and honestly, I thought it was just going to be a fun afternoon in nature.
I didn’t realize it was also going to become therapy.
Because isn’t that how life works sometimes?
The most ordinary moments end up revealing the most extraordinary things about ourselves.
There were about ten or twelve people on the tour and three guides.
Within the first fifteen minutes, Ash and I noticed we kept drifting farther and farther behind everyone else.
One of the guides stayed with us the entire time because they never wanted anyone paddling alone.
And almost immediately…
I noticed something happening inside me.
I kept saying,
“Ash, come on.”
“We need to paddle faster.”
“We’re holding everyone up.”
“We’re making him stay behind because of us.”
I couldn’t relax.
I couldn’t fully enjoy where I was because I was so focused on where everyone else was.
Meanwhile…
Ash was having the complete opposite experience.
He kept smiling and saying,
“Why?”
“Look around.”
“This is beautiful.”
“Slow down.”
I’d finally look up.
The cliffs.
The water.
The silence.
I’d take one deep breath…
and then my eyes would wander back to the group.
“We’re falling behind again.”
It became this cycle.
Until finally I turned to our guide and apologized.
I said,
“I’m so sorry we’re slowing you down.”
“I feel bad that you have to stay back with us.”
And his response completely shifted something inside me.
He smiled and said,
“Don’t worry.”
“I get to spend more time on the water.”
“And I love being on the water.”
That’s it.
One sentence.
But it hit me.
Because the entire story I had been carrying…
was a story I had written in my own mind.
Which reminded me of something I often tell clients.
Every situation in life is an opportunity to get to know yourself better.
Not because life is constantly testing you…
but because life constantly reflects you.
Someone cuts you off in traffic.
Someone doesn’t text back.
Your partner forgets something important.
A coworker gives you feedback.
You fall behind on a kayak tour.
None of these situations create your beliefs.
They reveal them.
And what that kayaking experience revealed to me…
was a younger part of myself.
The part that learned…
Don’t be difficult.
Don’t inconvenience people.
Be easy.
Don’t take up too much space.
Don’t need too much.
Don’t slow anyone down.
That part wasn’t thinking about the scenery.
It was thinking about survival.
Because when we’re triggered…
our nervous system doesn’t respond to what’s happening.
It responds to what something reminds us of.
Anyways, afterwards I found myself wondering something.
How many people on that tour were rushing?
Not because they wanted to…
But because somewhere along the way…
they learned that faster is better.
That productivity equals worth.
That slowing down means falling behind.
And then I thought…
Isn’t that exactly what so many of us are doing in life?
We’re rushing through breakfast.
Rushing conversations.
Rushing weekends.
Rushing vacations.
Rushing childhood.
Rushing healing.
Always thinking about what’s next.
Always arriving somewhere…
without actually being where we already are.
Sometimes we move through life so quickly…
that we miss the life we’re trying so hard to build.
I think its important to note that somewhere along the way…
our culture confused slowing down with laziness.
But they’re not the same thing.
Slowing down doesn’t mean doing less.
It means becoming more present.
It means allowing yourself to actually experience your own life.
To taste your coffee.
To notice the trees.
To hear your child’s laughter.
To really listen when someone is talking.
To feel the sunshine instead of photographing it.
Presence isn’t passive.
Presence is participation.
I also want to note that I think one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves…
is curiosity.
Instead of asking,
“Why am I like this?”
Ask,
“What part of me just showed up?”
“What is this moment trying to teach me?”
“What belief just got activated?”
Maybe your story is,
“I have to earn love.”
Maybe it’s,
“I can’t disappoint people.”
“I have to be perfect.”
“I have to be useful.”
“I can’t ask for help.”
Every trigger becomes information.
Not evidence that something is wrong with you…
but an invitation to know yourself more deeply.
I also kept thinking about our guide.
Because nowhere in that interaction…
did he experience me the way I was experiencing myself.
He wasn’t annoyed.
He wasn’t impatient.
He wasn’t wishing we’d hurry up.
He was simply enjoying more time doing something he loved.
How often do we assume we’re burdening people…
when that story only exists inside our own minds?
How many unnecessary pressures do we place on ourselves because we’re living inside assumptions instead of reality?
So this week…
I’d love to invite you to slow down.
Not because life isn’t important.
But because it is.
Take five extra minutes on your walk.
Eat one meal without your phone.
Watch one sunset.
Sit outside.
Drive without rushing.
And maybe even ask yourself…
“What part of me is showing up right now?”
Because every moment—
even something as simple as a kayak tour—
can become an opportunity to know yourself a little more deeply.
So soul-friends, I’ll leave you with this:
Life isn’t a race to the finish line.
The goal isn’t to get through it as quickly as possible.
The goal is to actually be here for it.
To notice it.
To experience it.
To allow yourself to move at a pace where you can fully receive your own life.
Because sometimes…
the most beautiful views are found by the people who aren’t rushing past them.
Thank you so much for spending these minutes with me, soul friends.
Until next time…
Slow down.
Your life is happening now.
Minutes on Growth 