Stop at the red light
On choosing pauses over constant motion.
There’s a life lesson that has travelled with us for years, shared by 46-year-old Johan Petit from Belgium, who spent most of their life doing exactly what many of us do—moving fast, moving ahead, moving on.
He shared, “My whole life, when I was walking, when I was biking, I never stopped for the red light. If there were no cars, I drove past by and I always wanted to be at the next stop. I wanted to go further. The biking was to get somewhere, and I wanted to be at the next stop. And when I am doing dishes, I am not doing dishes. I am doing dishes to get to my couch.”
And isn’t that familiar?
When we’re eating lunch, we’re thinking about the next meeting.
When we’re on the way home, we’re planning a post-dinner task list.
There is a quiet urgency stitched into our days that is so subtle we barely notice. We’re always on our way to the “next thing.”
But then a shift came for Johan when he stopped at the red light:
“What I learnt was that if you stop at the red light, even if no car is coming, even if it is 3 AM in the night, you can just stand there. That is one of the most precious things you can have because you have the time and see everybody rushing. Have time. Mastering time is being able to master yourself because, in the end, you have to stop for the red light.”
Stopping at a red light, for no reason except because it was there, felt like reclaiming time.
Inspired by Johan’s life lesson “Stop at the red light”, here’s a small activity for you:
Find one “red light” in your day today.
It could be literal (at a crossing) or made-up (while waiting for your kettle, your microwave, your browser to load).
When you reach it, pause for 5 seconds. Don’t reach for your phone or think of what’s next.
Check in with yourself: What felt different after the pause?
Holding still for a moment,
Team FUEL.