You’re allowed to slow down. To take a breather, to take a longer walk than usual, and to not always be on the run. After all, you are only human.

It’s okay to slow down once in a while. The world isn’t going to end. Your life isn’t going to turn upside down. And you aren’t going to get crushed by the weight of your responsibilities.

It can wait. That all can wait. Because you know what can’t wait? Your health. Your heart. Your well being. Your life. You.

Don’t treat your life as if it was a marathon run or a rate race. Time runs out. People leave and people go. Time will be gone before you know it, so you might as well start living.

You don’t always have to be in such a rush, to let your stress weigh down your shoulders every single day. You don’t have to care about the minuscule things that people tell you to. You don’t have to run so hard, because sooner or later, your legs are going to give out. 

You are allowed to stop.

If you don’t slow down, you are going to burn out. You are going to hit rock bottom. And you are going to sink in that ocean that you have been building for so long. So please, give yourself a break.

Take that extra week off. Say ‘no’ to more things instead of piling more things on your to do list. Buy that plane ticket to California. Take some days off from work when you feel like you will break. Let yourself breathe. Let your tired heart and eyes rest. 

Life wasn’t made for you to not enjoy it. Life wasn’t made for you to just go nonstop. You have to make time for yourself. You need to make time to experience joy again. To laugh and smile. To breathe in new scents.

You don’t always have to always go at full speed ahead.

You don’t have to kill yourself just to make a living. You don’t have to kill your body and your soul just because you think you’re supposed to. You truly don’t have to break your back to get everything done.

Because the truth is, you will never be able to get everything done. You will never be able to do everything and be everything you want to be. You are human. You have a heart that can break. You have bones that can tear in half. And your soul is capable of giving up.

So don’t let yourself go. Don’t let yourself down. Live and truly, truly live. Don’t run if you don’t have to. Don’t sprint because you are going to miss more than you know. Walk. Listen. Look. Experience. 

While you were busy rushing to get everything done and to get everyone to love you, you forgot what it was like to live. You forgot what it felt like to just be. You forget how to love yourself first.

So just be. Let yourself slow down. And tell yourself that it’s ok. Because it is.