Why Living Systems Break When We Rush Them
- Alex Montgomery
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
The Problem Isn’t That We’re Doing the Wrong Things
It’s that we’re doing them too fast.
Across food, soil, health, and work, modern systems are built around acceleration. Faster production. Faster turnaround. Faster results. Faster fixes.
But living systems don’t speed up just because we want them to.
When we apply pressure instead of time, biology doesn’t cooperate. It compensates, collapses, or quietly degrades.
This is as true for soil as it is for people.
Soil Doesn’t Respond to Force
Healthy soil is not inert. It’s a living network of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, insects, roots, and chemical exchanges happening at different speeds.
When soil is rushed:
organic matter is burned off
microbial diversity collapses
structure breaks down
fertility becomes dependent on constant inputs
This is why degraded soil needs fertiliser, irrigation, and intervention just to function.
Living soil, by contrast, is slow to build but stable once established. It holds water. Buffers nutrients. Feeds plants through relationships rather than force.
The difference isn’t intelligence or technology.
It’s pace.
Composting Shows This Clearly
Compost made quickly can look finished.
When food waste is rushed, overheated, or stripped of microbial diversity, nutrients are lost and biology is simplified. The material may still feed plants short-term, but it doesn’t rebuild soil.
At Generation Soil, composting is not about disposal. It’s about fermentation, aeration, oxygen, carbon balance, and patience. We let bacteria and fungi do the work they’ve evolved to do, instead of trying to force an outcome.
This is the same logic behind bokashi fermentation. Stabilise first. Then transform.
Rushing straight to “finished” skips the most important work.
Burnout Is a Human Version of the Same Pattern
People break under the same conditions soils do.
When rest is removed, inputs increase. When recovery is skipped, output becomes brittle. When systems rely on constant stimulation rather than stored capacity, collapse isn’t a surprise.
Burnout isn’t a personal failure.
It’s what happens when living systems are treated like machines.
Soil degradation and human exhaustion share a root cause: extraction without recovery.
Listening Is a Skill, Not a Metaphor
One of the reasons we focus on listening in our work is because living systems communicate.
Soil tells you when it’s compacted. When it’s anaerobic. When biology is returning. When water is infiltrating properly again.
But listening requires slowness.
You can’t hear anything if you’re constantly intervening.
This is why our composting and soil workshops are hands-on. People learn faster when they touch, smell, feel, and observe rather than rush to conclusions.
Relationship precedes productivity.
Why This Matters Now
Modern systems are very good at producing volume.
They are less good at producing resilience.
As soil degrades globally, food becomes less nutritious, landscapes hold less water, and systems become more fragile. The response is often to accelerate again. More inputs. More fixes. More urgency.
But resilience doesn’t come from speed.
It comes from buffering, storage, and time.
What Working With Living Systems Actually Looks Like
It looks like:
compost that matures properly
soil that improves season by season
food grown in relationship with biology
systems that don’t collapse when inputs pause
people who are allowed to recover
None of this is fast.
All of it works.
From Insight to Practice
If this way of thinking resonates, there are practical ways to apply it:
Each step is small.
Together, they rebuild capacity.
A Different Kind of Progress
Living systems don’t reward urgency.
They reward care.
They don’t respond to pressure.
They respond to relationship.
And once you see that, it becomes very hard to unsee it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do we mean by living systems?
Living systems are networks of relationships rather than isolated parts. Soil, compost, ecosystems, and human bodies all function through interactions between organisms, energy, and time. They don’t respond well to force or shortcuts, but thrive when conditions allow relationships to develop.
Why do living systems break when they are rushed?
Rushing living systems removes recovery time. In soil, this collapses microbial diversity and structure. In compost, it strips nutrients and biology. In people, it leads to exhaustion and burnout. Speed replaces resilience with dependence on constant external inputs.
Why does compost need time to mature?
Compost is not just decomposed material. It is a living community of microorganisms. Time allows bacteria and fungi to stabilise nutrients, build complex relationships, and create compost that supports soil health long after it is applied.
What is the difference between normal compost and living compost?
Fast compost may look finished, but often lacks microbial diversity. Living compost is made with attention to fermentation, aeration, carbon balance, and maturation. It behaves differently in soil, supporting structure, water retention, and long-term fertility rather than short-term growth alone.
How is burnout connected to soil and composting?
Burnout follows the same pattern as soil degradation. When recovery is removed and output is prioritised, systems become brittle. Soil loses life and needs constant fertiliser. People lose capacity and rely on stimulation or pressure. Both recover through rest, buffering, and time.
How can I work with living systems rather than rushing them?
You can start small. Compost food waste using methods that prioritise biology, such as bokashi fermentation. Use living compost in gardens. Slow down growing practices. Spend time observing soil rather than constantly intervening. Learning to listen is often more effective than acting quickly.
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