Yesterday, I was having “a day.” You know the kind.

It all started when first thing out of bed I stubbed my toe (like a mega “I think it’s broken” stub). This was further complemented by yours truly spilling a full cup of coffee onto her white shirt (why the white shirt?!), dumping last night’s chicken grease on the floor, and then slicing her finger wide open during morning smoothie prep (and yeah, more white linens ruined).

All of which happened in the first 30 minutes of my day.

Ugh.

I’ll admit it; I was rushing to get the workday started, my head begrudgingly dragging my body along, a string to its helium balloon. I was madly scrambling to keep it all together in the wake of the day’s 1000-mile-long to-do list.

I’ll bet you can relate.

I thought if I just get the “mundane” stuff done quicker I could get on to the “important” stuff sooner, and thusly be more productive. Right?

Big mistake.

There I was, post-apocalypse, completely immobile (ahem … pissy) and forced to sit on the couch with my hand in the air while my finger decided whether or not it needed stitches—a decision-making process that took an entire work-less hour.

You can imagine my delight.

“I don’t have time for this! Why won’t you stop bleeding?!?! I’m so behind now. Why does this crap always happen to me?! Stop bleeding, darnit!!”

And that’s when life showed me a bit of her magic.

(You saw that coming, didn’t you?)

As I’m sitting on the couch, staring out the window in utter defeat, something interesting happened:

I noticed how lovely the red and gold leaves were on the trees outside, and how a few of them were already falling to the ground.

For the next few minutes, it was almost as if time stopped, and everything got quiet as I watched nature unfold.

Before long, I realized that I had surrendered to the slow down, and what’s more, I was okay with it.

(P.S. No stitches required, thank goodness).

What’s more? The choice to make peace with the day afforded me more energy than I’d had in a good long while … and that energy turned into insight … which spurred a confidence and a clarity for the workday’s direction.

As I continued to watch the leaves dance outside my window, I began to feel excited, powerful, invincible, ready to conquer the day.

And holy mama, you won’t believe how much I got done yesterday!

But more so, how energized I still felt at bedtime (which was 2 a.m.!).

Sometimes life gives us gentle nudges, reminding us of what really matters. And that creating space in our day is infinitely valuable to our psyche, well-being and yes, productivity levels.

Pause the hustle. Slow down to speed up.

This fall, find the gift in slowing down.

And hey, maybe sing a little. :)