Snail Steps

What is Snail Steps?

In the wake of the global pandemic a few years ago, after pushing myself to keep going day after day after day, there came a day when I decided I just couldn’t keep going on in the relentless hamster-wheel cycle I’d been running for so long. As someone who has been goal-oriented for nearly my entire life, it felt very strange and disorienting when I began to feel a strong resistance to the mere idea of doing anything productive. I also felt my dreams and plans slipping away from me and no longer had any idea where to go next.

All I wanted to do was cocoon myself away from the world.

As I started to contemplate these new feelings, I finally understood they were the result of exhaustion and burnout. I realized I needed to make my health and well-being top priority. What I yearned for more than anything was a long, uninterrupted stretch of rest and exploration—a sabbatical. But I couldn’t afford to take a true sabbatical.

So I did the next best thing: I slowed down. 

On nights, weekends, and any other time I could scrounge up from between the couch cushions, I allowed myself to simply be. To fill in the time and space without an agenda other than self-care, to appreciate the present as much as I could, and to only do things that nourished me and gave me joy (as much as possible). The more time I spent in this liminal space, the more I began to enjoy the slower tempo. Instead of being fearful of my disorientation and lack of direction, as I felt initially, I began to see the fog around me as an opportunity to retreat and rejuvenate. Slowly, I also began to uncover some glimmers of clarity here and there, insights about myself and about life that I might have missed had I not taken the time to pause and reflect.

Then I thought, perhaps if I share what I’ve learned about my experience, I can create a safe, welcoming space for others who are yearning for a slower pace and a simpler way of life that gives them plenty of space to be human.

And this is how Snail Steps was born.

Snail Steps is a blog in which I explore what it looks like to practice slowing down and creating a meaningful life in the midst of a human world optimized for fast-paced frenzy.

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