Stop and smell the roses

I was speaking to a friend tonight and we were talking about how crazy our schedules seem to have been here lately and it got me thinking. The more I thought about it the more I realized that it seems that here in the last few years, everyone has seemed to have been working more and more.
      The sad thing is that means people are taking less time for themselves to relax. Now this time from what I can tell seems to coincide with when we hit the last major recession here close to 4 years ago. From what I can tell everyone is working more, but not really getting anywhere with it, do you follow me?
      We have all gotten to the point to where we are getting by, but not making any headway with life in general.  To me this seems like a pretty huge problem, like we are getting close to a tipping point.  From what I can see, if things don't start to improve here in the near future, I'm afraid that instead of barely being able to hold the ground we have, we will start to quickly slide back.  If that happens, the recession we had will look like a cakewalk.
      One of the other things that I thought about in this regard are the relationships that we have with other people.  Now relationships do ebb and flow like they normally do, but I do think when we have events like what I am describing above happen, it can affect those too. 
      The relationships that are strong, which have a very good foundation, can handle this kind of shakeup.  Those are the type that shrug this kind of a thing off and move on, while others that are either just starting, or are shaky will fall apart under the additional stress.
     I'm fortunate that I have some relationships with friends and family that are strong, and I consider those my core relationships.  They won't ever really disappear, but will always be there.  I know everyone gets busy from time to time, and things can seem nuts, but a friend with a strong relationship will always be there for you when needed.
     I know personally, I have been way too busy as of late.  I keep telling myself I need to slow down, just a little, so I can enjoy life a little.  It seems little things keep popping up so I promise myself I'll slow down later, but you know what?  Later never comes.  So I know, I need to just dig in, and make myself take that time, for my own good.

                          I promise to slow down a little to smell a few roses along the way.