For the first time in over a decade of writing, I had to pause because I was asked to. I would usually stop out of laziness, insecurities, fears, or lack of focus. I dealt with those blockages over the years and was on a roll in 2025, but had to pause mid-December. I had this inner knowing to Be Still and wait until it was time again to go into the world; I had to retreat from the outside world to cater to my inner one. As seasons constantly change, the time is finally here. Hello, again, world.

Now, can we talk about how fast the world is moving?

I can’t keep up anymore

Am I the only one who gets fucking overwhelmed when I look at how fast the world is moving? Am I the only one who feels behind? Like, I need to work faster, more efficiently, making more money—not because I truly want to, but because that’s the pace of the world?

Everything feels rushed. It’s been the case, but lately, it feels like the norm in many places and industries.

I’ve never felt this behind like I do. And mind you, I finished university in my late 20s. I’ve struggled for quite some time reconciling with my own journey and walking my own path. But something shifted recently, and I feel like I can’t keep up anymore.

I was nudged to slow down back in December and obeyed this inner knowing. Disconnecting the way I did for over 3 months was wonderful. The unplanned digital detox and the slow living that came with it were unexpected and much-needed gifts, reminding me that we live in a cyclical universe.

Also, without the distractions I usually engage with in the digital landscape, I was able to immerse myself deeply into moments. I had the purge of lifetimes during this detox.

I knew intuitively that I was in a cycle, and I honored the cycle I was in. But now that I’m ready to reemerge into the world with my writings, I’m telling y’all: I’ve been struggling to put myself out here again, in the online world. It’s overwhelming. A very messy energy. I’ve said this before in one of my posts: I don’t like messy.

So, imagine being all peaceful, living in the moment, reducing the noise, catering to your inner world for several months, and then choosing to re-enter this landscape because you want to help, educate, and inspire whomever you can reach with what you know. How do you keep up once you start the engines in this digital mess?

I’ve realized that I can’t. Not by myself. Not when I’m “competing” against machines—and projects, books, writings (co)created by machines—that vastly surpass me in speed.

But what happens when you decide to drop the race altogether? When you decide to slow down when most people are sprinting to… Where are they sprinting to? Where is everyone running to?

I can’t—and honestly, I don’t want to—keep up. This is me openly saying: y’all can have the race. I’m taking my time. Let’s talk about it…

Keeping up vs. showing up

There is a big difference between keeping up and showing up.

Keeping up is relative to our surroundings, as it asks us to look around us and keep up with what’s happening. It asks you to look outside yourself for a standard to meet. You must keep up with this standard. You must keep up with where the world is heading.

But if I were to look at the world’s standards to keep up with—which I’ve done—I’d always feel behind. When I woke up from the race (in 2015), I soon decided that I wouldn’t want to gain the world’s approval, telling me that I “made it”, at the expense of my soul. I’m feeling that the pressure to keep up has only accelerated with the increased use of (Generative) AI.

I don’t know if it was the distance I took, or the period of said distance, or the rebirth during that process, but something changed when I came back. Trying to keep up showed me an old pattern that I didn’t want to repeat.

The digital space now feels like the same old race I quit over a decade ago, just in a new environment.

I think the contrast between living a very rich existence—rich in beauty, simplicity, warmth, love, humanness—and entering a very empty experience—empty in purpose, reason, ambition, soul—created too big a tension for me to ignore.

It somehow brought me back to the things that mattered to me. Reminding me that my timing is perfect.

How often have you not felt behind when you started comparing your journey, your lane, with someone else’s? So many “shoulds”. Isn’t that just exhausting?

Life has shown me that I’m always at the perfect place, at the perfect time. I bet you, too, if you believe in having your own lane and journey.

While keeping up can make me anxious, showing up for myself has never failed me.

If keeping up is all about outside forces interacting with and influencing us, showing up is all about ourselves and our relationship with all that is.

One is rooted externally, the other is rooted internally; one has an outside authority as a standard to measure and compare to, the other one takes command and is the final authority.

One pushes the status quo, the other one encourages the individual journey and its perfect timing.

Fuck the race. Go ahead. Leave me behind.

I will be just fine because I will always show up for myself. I will always choose consistency over speed.

Consistency over speed

I show up to write in my personal journal almost daily. I’ve filled several circa 200-page journals by showing up. Me, my pen, and my journal. This practice of writing almost daily was cultivated over the years. What started as an occasional thing became a ritual.

The speed is not nearly as important as showing up. Yet as you show up, showing up will show you what you are capable of doing.

Consistently showing up has shown me that I can write almost 200 pages by hand in 74 days. Other journals have taken me anywhere between 90 and 150 days before it was time for the next one. I had one a couple of years ago that took me almost an entire year to fill.

Regardless of how fast I fill my journals, I show up. I’m not afraid of a blank page. I’ve built the muscle to sit with my own thoughts and let them cook. And some thoughts, some topics, some entries can take days and weeks until they are done “cooking,” so to speak, while others are one-pagers.

All equally worthy. Always insightful. Showing me what it means to practice a discipline.

The thing about my Sacred Practices is that it’s all me. I’m not competing against anyone or anything to come up with a new topic, afraid that I’m lacking or that I’m behind. It’s literally me with my thoughts. Me with God. Me dancing with creativity, flirting with the pen. Me being a writer and a thinker. Me showing up for myself. And that takes time. And all that time accumulates into something beautiful, eventually. I have filled 11 journals—written 11 books by hand—by showing up. This did not happen in one day; it accumulated over time.

Organic processes take their time

There is an entire process behind learning and mastering skills. There is an entire process behind designing and building a house—or anything, for that matter. Indeed, there is an entire process behind thinking about and doing something from scratch.

Ask anyone using their hands and working with the Creative Spirit to create, and they will tell you the same thing: creating takes time.

I’ll give you a glimpse into my creative process: I have/get a thought, topic, or idea that asks for or has my attention. Firstly, I need to let it cook. That is, I need to sit with it. Then I need to actually write. Then comes editing. And then, the stunning visuals. In some cases, audio recordings, too. That’s not even including sharing the creation with the world… In the sea of information of which there are plenty of inorganic creations roaming.

If that process wasn’t enough for me to take my time, what the fuck am I doing? How am I honoring the creative process then?

If I don’t respect my creations and my creative process, why and how am I to expect the world to respect them?

I’m here to help, educate, and inspire. Not daily. Not weekly. No… Consistently. And that looks different depending on the season, medium, and topic. And only I get to decide what consistency means for my intentions with this Digital Sanctuary. This Sanctuary was created for us to slow down and reduce/remove distractions to engage with one topic at a time. Each should be treated with respect. Each must get its time to shine. And I can’t do that if I’m focusing on the speed of my creations over the quality and standard I intend to maintain.

I’ve decided and am announcing that I’m taking my time. I’m not a production machine; I’m a human creator. So I will act accordingly.

I’m taking my time to read. I’m taking my time to write. I’m taking my time to build. I’m taking my time to learn. I’m taking my time to live. Just like the moon, I’m taking my time to live my cycles.

To any creator who wants to build and share with the world, please understand this: to establish a practice is one thing. But to intentionally, independently, and systematically do this is another one. It takes time to birth creations. Much like it takes time to grow into your favorite version. Honor the processes. Show up consistently for your journey, and you will see how Fate Favors The Brave.

With love,
Jun

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A disclaimer: I REFUSE to stop using em dashes, semicolons, and Oxford commas just because machines are using them now. I said it twice, and I’ll say it again: If you are that, be that. I am a seasoned writer and an academic—I will not compromise my writing style to avoid sounding like AI. (The fact that I felt like putting this disclaimer is ridiculous, but here we are. You can rest assured, it’s all me.)