Going slow doesn’t mean you live risk-free. In fact, it can be pretty risky to walk at the pace of your own heartbeat.

Think about the autobahn. Your fast might be someone else’s slow (in Germany that is often the case. I have a two-seater, after all. It can’t keep up with all those bossy BMWs). And it can be risky to stay the course when everyone else around you seems to be rushing, pushing and forcing their way through the day.

In our Information Age, it can be overwhelming just getting up in the morning. Confronted with overnight emails, text messages and Facebook postings, I often wonder if anyone sleeps anymore. But then I am reminded that there are such things as time zones that mean someone is always awake and online.

Always.

And that brings me back to the decision to live at your own pace. It’s possible if you direct your attention to what’s truly important to you.

Last night the World Cup game was important to me, for instance. So despite the plummeting temperatures, I found my way to the public viewing space to meet my love with his camera and smile at 10 o’clock at night. We were invited to the VIP lounge so at least we could sit while watching the game as the crowd jumped in concert at every lost ball (Germany won. We’re sorry, Algeria. Well, not really).  The crowd’s intensity reminded me of what we are willing to withstand when something is meaningful to us. It was cold. It was late. It didn’t matter.

Choosing to embrace the power of slow isn’t always comfortable. But it’s worth it because you will find yourself in places and spaces you might never have imagined if you had opted to let life whiz by you while you raced and ran and forgot what you are doing here at all.

Take the time. You have it. You really do.