How Peace Corps is Helping Me Learn To Stop Walking So Fast

The Head Security Guard at my building stopped me as I rushed to my office.

"Wow, you walk fast," he said. "I've never seen anyone walk so fast in my life!"

He shook his head at me as we both laughed, then he shooed me out of the lobby and toward my door.


As I sat at my desk, I had to agree.

I am a fast walker.

I can't count how many times friends have physically pulled my arm back to get me to keep in line with our intentions of having a leisurely stroll, how people have planted themselves against walls to let me by when they see me walking brusquely down the hall, and how my sister (who walks fast herself) just plain stops walking and waits for me to notice my rushed pace.

I walk fast, but half the time, I'm not going anywhere. I don't have anything to do. I'm not rushed to get anything. I don't eat fast. I don't speak fast. I rarely wear a watch, and I can sit still and meditate for hours. I don't know why, but fast-walking is something that was bred into me from childhood.

My walking is very typical of my working style. I'll take the entire morning, and blast through, getting everything done in a clean, precise (but very fast) manner. My supervisor has actually pulled me aside once to tell me "we're not that kind of office" and that I "don't need to stress myself out".

I'm not stressed. I'm just working quickly (maybe too quickly). But if you're like me, someone who leaps and bounds when it's "go time", I've got the perfect remedy:

Apply for the Peace Corps. That'll slow you right down.

I'm only in phase one of the application process, but I am itching to break from this slow, steady pace into a all-out run.

When I received my first packet of information in the mail, I was excited, until I opened it and realized it was just my log-in information. Guess they really, really gotta confirm my identity.

The next packet arrived ten days later, which was good because I think I was nearly about to crawl out of my skin checking the mailbox each day.

Fingerprint cards. Check. NAC forms. Check. Addendums.

Check. Check. Check.

I completed them all in a day and mailed them off.

Now, for the long wait. Again. It can get a little annoying (oh man, I have to fill out which adendum form now?), but it has also allowed me to really calm it down and just move slowly.

Joining the Peace Corps cannot be a accomplished in just one day...

For more on this topic, check out Brittany's blog post, "Why the Peace Corps is Worth the Wait".

She explains it way better that I!