Live slow die old

Somewhere on Instagram I saw the phrase “live fast, die young.” And I thought: no, thank you.

I mean, I do Taijiquan. It’s slow. Hopefully I will get very old. I don’t want the rockstar burnout. I also do not want to be counting supplements at 5am. All this longevity optimising is not for me, either. I want something in the middle.

I want to move through life with a bit more ease. To practise Taijiquan and enjoy life. As I thought about that, I thought: I want a sticker for that. I want a visual reminder to take things slow.

Living slow is not only about practising Taijiquan in class. It transcends into my daily life. I do not want to be doomscrolling all day. I want to take time to journal and have a coffee in my favourite café in the morning. Talking with friends and cuddling with my kids. Reading a book instead of listening to podcasts at 1.2x speed.

Recently I have been thinking a lot about overstimulation. It takes away joy. But when I do things slowly, deliberately, that is when joy comes back. I do not know when I will die. But I hope I will be old, and that I will have lived a life full of slow joy. I want to live slow, die old.

So I started creating stickers. And here is the honest part: I am not good at graphic design. The process is frustrating. I am still not completely happy with the result. I just continue creating things because it is fun.

At some point I realised something that felt very familiar from my Taijiquan practice. You do not have to do a perfect Single Whip to call yourself a Taijiquan student. You just do it anyway. Even if it is a bit crap. You continue to practice.

Creating something and not being good at it is humbling. In a good way. It reminded me of the beginner’s mind that is so present in Taijiquan. That idea of not overcomplicating things. Of not having to be perfect, just good enough to keep going.

That is what this is about for me. Doing what I love. Yes, I love Taijiquan. But I also love bringing ideas to life, like my Tai Chi novel*, my form audios, and now these stickers.

And not all the things I create are perfect. Not every Taijiquan move I do is perfect. I am fine with that.

So here they are, lots of stickers for Tai Chi people, perfectly imperfect:

Put one on your laptop, your phone or into your journal. Have fun!