Slow Your Roll Part 2

Slow Your Roll Part 1

As far as I can remember, my parents always told me to slow down.

Not because I moved too quickly, ate too quickly or walked too fast.

It was because I spoke way too fast.

My father understood because he also talks too fast. I got this incredible gene from him. Due to the fact that he is a public speaker, he had to teach himself to speak slowly.

In high school, my teachers would always interrupt me and say, "Faith, start from the beginning, but this time around try to keep it in mind to slow down."

The only issue with that was that I actually was thinking about talking slow, but when I was excited or nervous it always turned into a bunch of fkghiahgalgiojgh.

In college, my professors were kind not to interrupt me. They waited until I had finished and then my classmates would give me feedback. What do you think they said?

Yup, you're right! It was annoying to spend all my time on this presentation to be told that. And when I would ask, "any questions?" There was no question to be asked because they didn't really catch everything my presentation was on.

It also didn't help {well, it did help} that my sisters and friends started to keep my voice mails and will let me hear it. It would always surprise me that, that was me talking.

It was at that time I began to make a serious effort to talk slower.

Once I drilled it in my head, I would take a moment to think about what I wanted to say, would try to get a rhythm, then I would speak. This has worked because I don't get the "you talk too fast" nearly as much. Once in a while, but it is mostly when I am excited or heated.

So when the hubs first said to me, "Slow Your Roll". I was taken aback. It wasn't until he said, "Well, if you're talking all that fast garbage how in the world am I suppose to say anything? I don't even know what you're saying".

That I literally stopped talking.

All my life, if someone said, slow down, I would. I had to stop, think about what I wanted to say and then say it as slowly as possible.

In the heat of the moment, I would go back into my old ways and talk miles a minute.

Hubs did not realize the strength he would hold with just those three words.

So since I am not nearly as perfect as I hope to be, I still get angry and I say all the things that I am going to have to apologize for later, because ... well, I didn't really mean it. It was just the heat of the moment talking.

Lucky for me, Hubs can hardly understand what I am saying when I am pissed so he always has a question mark on his face. So when he says, "Slow Your Roll." I do. I stop.

I then begin to think about what I want to say. This is the stinky part. No one wants to say, "You annoy me to no ends, I would like nothing better than to punch you in the groin as hard as I possibly can", very slowly. It does not work as well as "IwouldlikenothingbetterthantopunchyouinthegroinashardasIpossibycan."

Well, since that is what I really want to say, I end up not saying it at all. It doesn't sound very nice when said slowly.

So the next time you're in the heat of the moment and you're about to say a few things that you are going to regret in the next few minutes, just imagine my husband saying to you, "Slow Your Roll."

I bet those words you want to say will stay where they ought to stay, in the back of your throat.

:)