Lessons from the siesta in Spain
One thing I learned the citizens of Spain have learned how to master is the art of SLOWING DOWN.
Of all the cities I visited during my sabbatical, Granada was probably the most challenging to adjust to.
BEAUTIFUL city, lots of culture and history (controversial history but thatâs another post for another day đ) but the language barrier, the siestas and some of the cultural differences were quite an adjustment for me. I had heard a lot about siestas growing up but experiencing them was a whole different ball game.
I am not sure of how common siestas are in other parts of the country, but in the southern region where Granada is, things are still a bit more traditional so siestas still exist. And It sounds great in theory until you actually are in need of something. đ
I literally could not predict when a store or establishment would be open or closed. Google would say it was open and then I get there and itâs actually closed. This probably happened to me a few times a week. And I walked everywhere I went, so walking 30 minutes just to arrive somewhere and find it closed was not a fun experience. It felt like a lot of businesses operated on their own time lol.
I remember complaining about this to one of my friends and she pointed out to me that maybe it is them who have it right and we have just been conditioned to want what we want, whenever we want it? (Thanks Amazonđ ) And that could be the case. Why do we feel the need to have things done so urgently and on our time? I would even find myself walking hurriedly down the street just to get stuck behind people strolling and taking their time completely unphased by my quick pace. It would annoy me and then I would be like wait, why am I even rushing?!
I realized how much of my behavior was actually just on auto pilot.
This is something Iâve thought a lot about since being back in America and getting back into our urgency culture. I havenât quite landed on who has the right formula but for now I will remember to slow down and take my time a little bit more whenever I can and this is your reminder to do the same.
