A Few Words at Full Speed: If My Life Were a Billboard

A Few Words at Full Speed: If My Life Were a Billboard

There is something deeply paradoxical about a freeway billboard. It stands still while the world rushes past it. Cars speed by, minds preoccupied, hearts burdened, ambitions racing ahead of reason. And yet, in those fleeting seconds, a single sentence can lodge itself into a traveller’s consciousness like a seed dropped on fertile soil. If I were given such a billboard—just one, towering over the relentless flow of life—what would it say?

After much reflection, I believe my billboard would read:
“Slow down. Not everything precious is meant to be chased.”

In an age where speed has become a virtue and busyness a badge of honour, we have quietly forgotten the art of pausing. We race against clocks, compete with calendars, and measure our worth in deadlines met and targets crossed.

Somewhere along this high-speed journey, we misplace the very things that make life meaningful—peace, relationships, gratitude, and inner balance. The billboard’s message would not be a reprimand, but a gentle nudge, an invitation to breathe.

Freeways are symbols of modern existence—efficient, directional, and unforgiving of hesitation. Life, however, is not always meant to be lived in the fast lane. Some lessons reveal themselves only when we slow our pace: the quiet wisdom of ageing, the innocence in a child’s laughter, the solace of music in solitude, or the grace of faith that sustains us when logic fails. As someone who has walked through classrooms, corridors of responsibility, and the quieter halls of retirement, I have learnt that speed impresses the world, but stillness heals the soul.

Philosophers across cultures have echoed this truth. The Bhagavad Gita speaks of sthita-prajna—the person of steady wisdom, unmoved by frenzy. The Bible reminds us, “Be still, and know that I am God.” Even the Stoics believed that mastery over one’s inner tempo was the highest form of freedom. My billboard would, therefore, carry not just a personal reflection, but a timeless counsel drawn from humanity’s collective wisdom.
It would also speak to the young driver, eyes fixed on the horizon of ambition, and to the weary commuter, weighed down by unspoken worries. It would whisper that life is not a race to be won, but a journey to be understood. That success without serenity is a hollow triumph, and progress without purpose is merely motion.

If words could function like a speed breaker for the mind, this would be mine. A sentence that asks nothing, sells nothing, demands nothing—except a moment of awareness. For sometimes, all a tired soul needs is not another destination, but a reminder to look within.

Because not everything precious is meant to be chased—
some things are meant to be held,
some felt in silence,
and some discovered only
when we dare to slow down.