Faster further exhausted How you get out of the acceleration

👉 The key facts from this guide

Autumn is coming. Like every year. The leaves are falling. Again and again. And while I stand there, beneath this old oak tree, it occurs to me: Nature is not rushing. It does not accumulate. It does not accelerate.

It simply returns.

And yet everything works. For millions of years.

We humans, on the other hand? We run. We optimize. We have calendars full of appointments, to-do lists full of tasks, and the feeling of never arriving. As if there were a goal somewhere that we must reach – before it's too late.

But what if that's exactly the lie? What if there is no goal at all? What if we have simply forgotten how to live in cycles?

Linear Time – Where It Comes From and What It Does to Us

Our entire society is built on a single principle: making progress. Getting faster. Achieving more.

This has deep roots reaching back to the Christian-Western worldview. The idea of linear time: There is a beginning (creation), a progression (history as progress), and an end (redemption, the Last Judgment).

In between lies the task of making something of your life. To improve yourself. To move forward. Not to stand still.

With the Enlightenment and industrialization, this idea was reinforced. Time became measurable. Exploitable. Controllable. Suddenly time was money. And whoever wasted time, wasted their life.

From this emerged what we know today: the logic of accumulation. Ever more possessions. Ever more success. Ever more growth. As if you could pile up time and life like coins in an account.

But what does this do to us?

It creates pressure. Constantly. Because it's never enough. Because standing still feels like moving backward. Because we ask ourselves: “Have I come far enough yet?” – and the answer is usually “No.”

We climb career ladders, pay into pension systems for decades, and plan our future – and forget the present in the process. We fear stagnation. Fear the moment when nothing “progresses” anymore.

But in doing so, we overlook something crucial: nature knows nothing of this logic. And it works anyway.

Cyclical Time – Where It Comes From and How It Feels

There was a time when people lived differently. Not better or worse – but differently.

They knew no career ladders. No five-year plans. No pension points.

Instead, they knew the seasons. The phases of the moon. The rhythm of sowing and harvest. Of birth and death.

Indigenous cultures – and also our pre-Christian ancestors – lived in cyclical time. A time that moves in circles. Not forward toward a goal, but again and again back to itself.

This might sound strange to us. But it is the most natural thing in the world.

Because that's exactly how nature works: spring comes. Summer follows. Autumn lets the leaves fall. Winter moves in. And then? Spring comes again.

None of this is progress. None of this is growth in the sense of “more.” It is simply rhythm. Recurrence. The trust that everything has its time – and returns.

In this worldview, there is no accumulation. You cannot save the summer for the winter. You cannot increase the harvest infinitely. You take what the earth gives – and give back when your time has come.

Death here too is not an end, but part of the cycle. Your body returns to the earth. Becomes food for plants, for animals, for new life. You have not disappeared – you have transformed.

The static, the recurring is in this view not boring. It is reliable. It is healing. It gives support.

And it takes away the pressure.

Because if you know that everything returns – the harvest, the sun, the strength – then you don't have to hoard. Then you don't have to rush. Then you can simply be. In the moment. In the rhythm.

This is not a romantic idealization. This is wisdom. A wisdom that has worked for millennia – and that we have forgotten.

The Comparison – What Distinguishes These Two Concepts of Time?

Perhaps it becomes clearer if we place both worlds side by side:

Linear time says: There is a goal. You must make progress. Standing still is falling behind. The past is lost, the future uncertain. Acceleration is the solution. Man stands above nature and must control it.

Cyclical time says: There is no endpoint, only balance. You are allowed to be in rhythm. Standing still is rest. The past returns, the future is part of the cycle. Deceleration is wisdom. Man is part of nature and lives with it.

Both worldviews have their justification. But only one of them makes us sick.

Because linear time – with its logic of progress and accumulation – drives us into exhaustion. Into the feeling of never being enough. Never having achieved enough. Never having enough time.

Cyclical time, on the other hand? It gives us trust. Trust that life is not one long race, but a dance. A dance in which you are allowed to pause. Because the music continues. Because the next round is coming.

Why Linear Time Harms Us

Look around you. What do you see?

People who are exhausted. Who despite all time-saving have no time. Who despite all technological progress are more stressed than ever.

Burnout is no longer an exception – it is the rule. We function until we can't anymore. And then we continue to function because standing still doesn't seem to be an option.

The climate crisis? A direct result of this logic. Ever more growth. Ever more resources. Ever more acceleration. Nature cannot keep up as fast as we exploit it. But we continue. Because the logic of accumulation knows no pause.

In our personal lives too, we lose connection. To ourselves, because we no longer feel what we need. To others, because we no longer have time. To the earth, because we see it only as a resource – not as home.

Nature knows no acceleration. A tree grows as fast as it grows. A river flows as fast as it flows. But us? We force everything into our logic. Factory farming so it goes faster. Monocultures, so it's more efficient. Exploitation so it produces more.

And in the end we stand there – with full hands and an empty heart.

Why We Should Return to the Cycle

Here is the truth we have forgotten: We are nature.

Not metaphorically. Not symbolically. Quite literally.

Our bodies are made of the same elements as the earth. We breathe the oxygen that the trees produce. We drink the water that flows through the rivers. And when we die, we return – to this very earth.

Even though we experience a birth and a death – we are part of a larger cycle. Our bodies become food for worms, for fungi, for plants. New life grows from us. Again and again.

This is not an esoteric thought. This is biology. This is reality.

And nature has shown us for millions of years: The cycle works. Perfectly. Without acceleration. Without accumulation. Without the constant “more.”

So the question is not: “Can we return to the cycle?”

The question is: “Why did we ever leave it?”

If we return to the cycle – or at least begin to live in its rhythm again – we regain something we urgently need:

Rest. Because we no longer have to constantly make progress.

Meaning. Because we feel that we are part of something greater.

Aliveness. Because we are here again – in the moment, in the body, in nature.

Deceleration is not regression. It is not a return to the Stone Age. It is a return to wisdom. To a life that feels good – because it breathes with nature, not against it.

Practical Steps – How to Bring the Cycle Back into Your Life

Perhaps you're thinking now: “That sounds nice. But I don't live in the forest. I have a job. A daily life. Obligations.”

I understand that. I live in Berlin too. I have a family. I know the pressure.

But that's exactly why we need the cycle. Not as an escape – but as an anchor.

Here are a few simple ways to get started:

Create rituals. Not complicated. Just regular. A weekly walk in the forest. A monthly bonfire. Celebrating the wheel of the year festivals – winter solstice, spring equinox, harvest time. These repetitions provide stability. They remind you that life is not just a to-do list.

Appreciate repetition. We are trained to always look for what's new. But try the opposite: Take the same path. Cook the same recipe. Use the same fireplace. You'll notice: Repetition is not boring. It is deepening. It lets you arrive.

Experience the seasons consciously. Not as weather that annoys you. But as a rhythm that carries you. What does spring do to you? What do you need in winter? When you feel that, you live in the cycle – not against it.

Let go. Less accumulation. Less hoarding – whether things, appointments, or expectations. The cycle teaches us: Everything returns. You don't have to hold onto everything.

Practice Slow Learning. Knowledge that is allowed to settle. Skills that you don't check off in a weekend course, but internalize over months and years. Learning that is fun – because it doesn't rush.

The Invitation to Circular Thinking

I would rather not sell you anything. No lifestyle. No ideology.

But I would like to make you an offer:

You don't have to constantly make progress. You are allowed to simply be.

You don't have to always become more. You are allowed to become yourself again and again.

You don't have to rush. You are allowed to breathe.

The cycle is not waiting for you – it's already here. The only question is whether you're ready to get back in.

Maybe you start today. Go outside. Look at something that repeats itself. A tree you've seen a thousand times. A bird that sings every morning. The light that changes every evening.

And feel how good that does.

No rush. No accumulation. Just the cycle – and you in the middle of it.

You can learn more about it if you wish. But you can also just go outside. And start thinking in circles again.