Reflecting on Our Slow-Down Plan at Playa Del Carmen, Mexico | Day 319 of my 2023 Journal

The slow-down plan is coming to an end.

We had high hopes for our time at Playa: all the things we wanted to do, the habit changes we wanted to install, the long to-do lists we wanted to eliminate. We felt a month would be a long time. It was not.

Realization & Adjustment: Accepting the Unplanned

The many conversations we had planned to have to get clear on things, the many steps of preparation we had planned to take to be ready for the rest of the tour - well, it hardly happened. It felt like a drop in the ocean at this point. On the second to last day, it became clear we would not make it; by no standards did we succeed in what we had planned to achieve at Playa.

The Value of Slowing Down: Our Key Takeaway

Except for one. We had planned to slow down. To learn how to travel at a pace leaving space for everyday life, for education, for tweaks on habits, for work and workout, for preparing and evaluating. We are not perfect, and we are not systematic. We do not do a lot of spreadsheets. We are more dreamers, intuitive adventurers, feeling our way with guidance and principles and values - and we sometimes suffer from the unplanned chaos of our lifestyle. There ARE a few things that truly become better when under some sort of structure. Like workouts, diets, education (if you want an exam), and finances.

At the beginning of the month, we felt restless, bored, and frustrated with the “unreal” location, and now that the end is visible, we know we like the slow pace, the home life, the space for thinking, planning, structuring - a space that opens when we slow down.

Embracing Spontaneity: Lessons from El Dorado

And for the rest of it, we will say with the main characters from the wonderful movie El Dorado:

“But we don’t have a map” (Miguel)

“We don’t have a plan” (Tulio)

“Well, that’s what makes it interesting” (Chel)

Yes - we watched that movie the same night we visited the ruins. It was perfect timing. To get the shoulders down as to ambitions for how much we need to change. We just need to slow down. We don’t need to get too structured.

With love

Cecilie Conrad

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