Speed is rarely questioned. It’s treated as a given—something to optimize, not examine.

But what slows us down is often more revealing than what pushes us forward.

In travel, pace is usually dictated by plans: what needs to be seen, what comes next, how much time is left. Movement becomes a response to structure rather than curiosity. The body keeps moving even when attention has already left the room.

Slowing down doesn’t always come from intention. More often, it comes from interruption. A conversation that runs longer than expected. A place that refuses to be summarized. A moment that asks for presence instead of progress.

These interruptions aren’t inefficiencies. They’re signals. They show where attention naturally wants to settle when it isn’t being pulled by urgency.

What slows us down isn’t resistance to movement—it’s alignment. The moment when motion and attention finally occupy the same place.

Not everything needs to be slowed. But when nothing is, something essential is lost.