Are You Living Life at Warp 10?
When social media maven Kristen Lamb suggested I use the logline Life At Warp 10 for my blog, she found a way to sum up not only my love for science fiction and fantasy, my fascination (my husband would call it obsession) with uniqueness, and my desire to try new things, but also the speed at which I live my life—something she couldn’t possibly have known.
Or could she. You see, living life at warp 10, for all its benefits, can bring with it consequences obvious to anyone with eyes.
I first heard about warp 10 through the Season 2 episode of Star Trek: Voyager called “Threshold.”
The starship Voyager is stranded in the Delta quadrant (Earth is in the Alpha quadrant). Even if they could travel at their fastest speed the whole time, they’re still 75 years from home. And more than anything they want to get home to the loved ones who think they’re dead.
Lieutenant Tom Paris, Voyager’s pilot, along with his two closest friends, comes up with a plan to get them home sooner—warp 10. Theoretically, warp 10 is impossible. You wouldn’t really be moving at all. You’d be everywhere at once. By traveling at warp 10, they could simply be home again instantly.
Paris, however, has solved the puzzle, and they’ve equipped a shuttle with warp 10 capabilities. Before he leaves, the doctor warns Paris there’s a two percent chance he could die due to a rare medical condition. He decides to take the risk. He argues this is his one chance to do something truly great, something that will go into history books.
He breaks the warp 10 barrier, and for a moment, it’s amazing. He’s everywhere. He can see Voyager and knows they’re looking for him, but he can also see home, their enemies, everything. The data he collects is invaluable.
And he’s achieved his goal. He’s made history.
Although Paris doesn’t die due to his medical condition, his time at warp 10 mutates his genes. He can’t drink water or breathe oxygen anymore. Before the doctor can treat him, his mind goes, he kidnaps Captain Kathryn Janeway, goes back to warp 10 to find a planet, and they both end up mutated lizards on a non-oxygen atmosphere planet with three lizard babies.
Living life at warp 10 is like that (minus the kidnapping and lizard babies of course).
You move as fast as you possibly can, and for a moment, it’s amazing. You’re able to be everything for everyone and do everything you need to. You’re doing it because you have a dream of doing something important, and that dream is worth the risks and sacrifices.
Except if you only stay at warp 10, you find yourself mutating into something you don’t like. I don’t like how tired I am and how I can’t enjoy the simple things that were once essential (you know, like Paris and his water and oxygen). I don’t like how I sometimes snap at my loved ones. I’ve been moving too fast for too long.
So while I want the experience of life at warp 10, the discoveries it brings and the chance it provides to reach my dream, I’m learning to also come back and get a treatment of slowing down and enjoying the simple things in life. Being able to successfully live life at warp 10 requires finding balance.
After all, I don’t think my husband would really appreciate me having lizard babies with someone else.
What keeps you moving at warp 10? What do you love about it? How do you make sure you don’t miss the simple pleasures along the way?
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Fire at Warp 10 | Marcy Kennedy & Lisa Hall-Wilson
Nov 17, 2011 @ 07:01:23
[…] Are You Living Life At Warp 10? – Marcy shares the benefits and drawbacks she’s found to living life at high speed. […]
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Nov 17, 2011 @ 09:07:42
I am so impressed with people who can remember specific details of television shows and/or movies. So I start my day with my mouth hanging open in awe.
I used to live at warp 10 but i’m in recovery from that now. at one time in my life I worked full time, which included commuting to another office in Toronto for 2 days a week for a year. At the same time, I ran my husband’s company, completed a second university degree (20 courses in 22 months), was president of one board and a member of another, went to sports events for each of my three kids and managed my household. I have never used the term Warp 10. I now call that crazy VBG but I did it and I survived. Thanks for the memories and the reminder that that was then and this is now and I’m not up to that anymore.
Nov 17, 2011 @ 23:11:52
I have a weird memory like that. My husband hates it when I repeat conversations back to him word for word or remember some inane detail 🙂
Wow. You definitely were living life at warp 10. Shannon suggested the perfect word in rhythm for how things seem to ebb and flow. I don’t think anyone can sustain warp 10 forever without resting at times. I was just thinking the other day of how much more energy I had just 6-7 years ago. Life was even crazier then than it is now, and I don’t know how I didn’t collapse.
Nov 17, 2011 @ 09:40:27
Oh, I missed that episode! Maybe instead of balance, you should think of it as finding your rhythm. Balance implies that you spend your time equally divided amoung the things in your life and that’s just not possible and causes more stress trying to achieve it. Sometimes life requires us to live at warp 10, sometimes it gives us a day to stay in our pajamas and read. 🙂
Nov 17, 2011 @ 23:05:24
Rhythm–that’s the perfect term for it! Very jealous I didn’t think of it when writing this post. Would it be completely unethical to update it do you think?
Nov 17, 2011 @ 10:43:55
I remember that episode, saw it several times. (Voyager fan) Yes, I too once lived my life at warp ten, and it did lead to disaster. After I picked up the broken pieces of my life, I vowed to keep the pace more livable, allowing time for me to smell the roses. I like this much better and I feel younger now than I did at forty.
Great post. loved it.
Nov 17, 2011 @ 23:15:00
Thanks 🙂 So nice to meet so many fellow Voyager fans! I’ve always been one to push myself a little too hard, a little too fast, for a little too long. In the past, I wouldn’t remember to stop until I ended up sick. Not ideal. Like you, I’m trying to remember to slow down a little now. It’s a learning process, but I’m trying.
Nov 17, 2011 @ 11:02:10
You’ll find a good balance eventually – family has a way of doing that to you 🙂
Lisa
Nov 17, 2011 @ 23:03:06
I have a theory that moms have superpowers. Some day I’m going to find a way to prove it 🙂
Nov 17, 2011 @ 11:14:15
I’ve never watched a lot of Star Trek, but my husband has, and now I want to know how that episode ended. I know everything was fixed and Janeway and Paris didn’t die (they’re the stars after all), but you left us hanging there.
Anyway, I think Shannon (the other one) has it right. I definitely don’t have balance in my life, but I’m getting to a point of finding a rhythm. Sometimes the rhythm rocks and I get a lot accomplished without feeling drained. Then something interrupts (usually my husband) and the rhythm is gone. I try not to panic because I know I’ll find it again.
So I don’t travel at Warp 10, but I’m probably at an 8-1/2 or 9 most days. 🙂
Nov 17, 2011 @ 23:17:07
Well, 8-1/2 to 9 was the speed that got Voyager out of many sticky situations, so maybe you’re on to something 🙂
Nov 17, 2011 @ 13:24:18
Huh. I think I missed that episode too. Odd. But I LOVE that log line! Sometime I find myself wanting to live my life that way and I need to remind myself to s.l.o.w. down. I certainly want to drive that way. Why must we always be in a hurry? Oh, that’s right. Because we have a million things to do and half the time to do them in. Great post Marcy!
Nov 17, 2011 @ 23:21:34
Thanks! I have all seven seasons on DVD, so I’m kind of at an advantage over anyone who only got to watch them when they aired (or on reruns). I keep telling myself that “I’ll slow down when . . .” but the “when” comes and something else crops up to keep me going, so it seems like if I don’t just force myself to slow down for a bit, it doesn’t happen.
Nov 17, 2011 @ 16:17:38
Wow. I so relate to this! I had no idea my spastic pace had a name. LOL I’ve learned the importance of using the ‘off,’ or at least ‘dim,’ switch over the past couple of years…a pursuit that may ever require more practice. That said, full speed ahead is the mode I’m most comfortable with.
Thanks for making us laugh and loading us with insight simultaneously! Great post.
Nov 17, 2011 @ 23:23:29
Thanks 🙂 Sounds like we’re too of a kind. I’m thankful to have my husband to remind me in his not-so-subtle man way that it’s time for me to take a break. Definitely a work in progress!
Nov 17, 2011 @ 16:31:11
I love your logline, Marcy. It fits today’s life so very well. Sometimes I think we’re either born to live life at warp 10 or born to live life at warp 1. I’m a warp 10 baby, too. I think you can live at Warp 10, as long as you don’t let it stress you out. It’s the stress that makes you crash and burn.
Wonderful post. Thank you!
Nov 17, 2011 @ 23:25:44
Thanks 🙂 Hmm, good point about letting it stress you out. I usually get a lot of pleasure from moving at warp 10, but when the stress starts to pile up, it does signal the point where I need to slow it down.
Nov 17, 2011 @ 17:41:07
LIZARD BABIES!!
Such a great post. Slowing down can be sooo difficult…
Nov 17, 2011 @ 23:26:59
😉
Some days I think my husband will need to sink me into a tar pit before I’ll willingly slow down. I’m far from perfect at it yet.
Nov 17, 2011 @ 18:02:24
Hey Marcy,
I’ve always been in awe of people like you. Go,go,go at warp speed. How do you do it?
My mind will go a warp speed. The only problem is that my body never kept up. So maybe it’s been a blessing in disguise. It has forced me to live a slower paced life.
Loved your post Marcy!
And thanks for all your support!
Nov 17, 2011 @ 23:30:20
Thanks 🙂 I’d love to say I had a secret for moving at warp 10, but the truth is I think it has a lot to do with caffeine and being a glutton for punishment 🙂
Nov 17, 2011 @ 18:12:17
Warp 10 is a speed that passed me by light years ago. Oh, I loved it at the time. But it wore me out. Just couldn’t do it any more and didn’t want to. My pace now is a lot slower and it suits me much better. I guess you whiz kids need a stationary object to surpass, hmmmmm?
Nov 17, 2011 @ 23:32:41
I’ve often wondered if I’ll hit a time when I want to slow down for good and retire my warp drive. I guess only time will tell 🙂
Nov 18, 2011 @ 14:00:59
I’m like Karen…my mind works at Warp 10, and always has. I’m always thinking, and my mind jumps from one subject to another without pause…ever. My body, on the other hand, doesn’t even know there’s a place called warp, although I seem to be busy more often than I’d like. 🙂
Okay…I watched Voyager…but I sure don’t remember that episode. How did they get Tom and Janeway back? Whisper if you need to. I promise I’ll keep it a secret.
Nov 18, 2011 @ 17:16:56
Well, as long as you promise not to tell . . . 🙂 Fortunately there were still enough traces of their human DNA that the Doctor could save them. He developed a treatment using anti-proton radiation from the warp core that would destroy the mutated DNA while he restored their original DNA.
Nov 18, 2011 @ 18:24:22
Thank goodness for the doctor. Hope they didn’t miss the little lizards to much. 🙂
By the way, I see that someone wrote saying the love your log line. I don’t see one.
Nov 18, 2011 @ 19:36:13
Thankfully, they had no memory of it 🙂
The logline is on the homepage of my site. I haven’t figured out if there’s a way to get it at the top of every page just yet.
Nov 18, 2011 @ 19:42:43
I’m going to have to have a look. The one I’m using right now is at the very bottom of the page, which is why I haven’t been in a hurry to figure out a better one yet. Not many people scroll that far down. 🙂
Nov 18, 2011 @ 17:46:33
What a cool post. I haven’t seen that “Threshold” Star Trek, but it sounds really good, up until the lizard part. Say what? What a bummer! I love your log line. Perfect. And your analogy is great, too. As many times as I’ve attempted to reach warp 10 or something close, it never happens. Not even for a minute. I suck at balancing it all, so one thing at a time. And then I get sidetracked. My life is more like a maze. Warp 10 in a maze wouldn’t be good. Too many crashes! LOL!
Nov 18, 2011 @ 19:37:41
Haha. In that case, you’re much better to stay at a slower speed!
Nov 18, 2011 @ 21:47:04
This is so like me. I often pledge to cut back on the tasks I want to complete but then I have to add another one…and oh, that one is shiny! Soon I’m running again. The plus side is that I appear to get much more done when I’m super busy. The down side is that I’m always tired and cranky and feeling like I’m just one step behind. I currently have four lizard babies. 😀 And I still require oxygen and water…although sleep is negotiable. 🙂
Nov 18, 2011 @ 22:03:18
Hehe. Oh, Karen, thank you for the laugh 🙂 Feeling one step behind is something I’m very familiar with. I think it might be why I struggle to take time off. Good luck with your lizard babies 😉 They have a great mom.
Nov 21, 2011 @ 19:58:19
I used to love Voyager, but I never saw that episode. All I know is when I go too fast and try to do too much, I burn out quickly and don’t end up accomplishing much of anything. And stress! No good! Thanks for the reminder that sometimes it’s OK to slow down and enjoy life!
Dec 08, 2011 @ 22:31:17
You’re welcome 🙂 I have the advantage of having all the episodes on DVD, so I know I haven’t missed any.
My husband claims he thrives on a tight deadline and under pressure, but I’ve also seen how tired and stressed that makes him. Sometimes slowing down really is best!