By: Christine Wood
Last week we were shopping for a gift for a friend. Making conversation, the shop assistant asked, “Busy day?” as we paid for our box of chocolates.
“No. We don’t do busy days anymore,” we answered.
It is more than a year since I resigned from my busy job, packed up our city home, and became a travelling nomad, living in a caravan and travelling around Australia full-time. It is one of the best things I have ever done. But it took a while to feel comfortable with my new slow pace of life.
At first, I felt guilty for not being productive every day. I was used to a long to-do list to tick off each day and a weekly review to make sure I hit my goals. I had meetings to attend, work that needed to be completed, projects to manage, and people to appease. I used to be busy, and I felt uncomfortable and restless when I slowed down.
But now, I love my slow pace of life, and I have no desire to return to the hustle and stress of my previous way of life.
1. Articulate your why
I began my slow life with a clear sense of why. My husband and I had suffered the consequences of our demanding lives with illness. We were both dealing with stress-related health issues, and we knew we needed to make significant changes to our lives. The change wasn’t easy, but we knew it was for the better, so we pushed through the transition to embrace our new lives.
Why do you want to slow down? Do you deal with mental or physical health challenges caused by stress? Are you longing for more joy, more purpose or more time? It’s time to embrace a slow pace of life.
2. Eliminate the unnecessary
When we are in the rat race, every commitment seems important, every target needs to be met (or exceeded), and every project is crucial. But many of these obligations are an illusion. We find ourselves manipulated into a false sense of urgency by our hustle culture.
Not everything is urgent, important or necessary. Cast a critical eye over the obligations on your calendar over the next month and see what you can cut back on. It is possible to have too much of a good thing. We have to say no to the good to make room for the best. (And sometimes the best is time spent doing nothing much at all.)
3. Illuminate your passion
When we clear away the clutter from our lives, including physical, emotional and mental clutter, we can see and feel things more clearly. When we are in the hustle, running from one commitment to the next, we don’t have time to process our thoughts and feelings. It’s hard to know what we are passionate about when we don’t have any spare time. The best way to feed our creativity is boredom. It’s amazing what ideas we can dream up when we have time to daydream.
Give your heart, body and mind some dreaming time and discover the passions that fire up your heart. Go for long walks. Have long conversations with friends and strangers. Read interesting books, watch Ted talks and ask Google thought-provoking questions. Sometimes the rabbit hole leads us to wonderful places.
4. Embrace unhurried time
When COVID lockdowns began, many of us picked up slow crafts our grandmothers used to do. Knitting, crochet and macramé became popular again. We slowed down and found the joy of using our hands to create things the slow way. Until then, spending an afternoon sitting in the lounge, music playing in the background with knitting on our knees, was a waste of time. Or, more accurately, we didn’t have time for knitting before a global pandemic sent us all home.
As the pace of post-pandemic life speeds up again, we need to be intentional about protecting the space in our lives to go slow, bake bread, knit socks and do big jigsaw puzzles. Not because we have no other choice, but because we recognise the benefits of slowing down and allowing our thoughts to wander and our fingers to create.
5. Establish slow routines
I’m writing this on a precious morning at home alone. It doesn’t happen very often. Time home alone is a real treat. But I didn’t jump into productive time straight away. I don’t write well under pressure.
This morning I had a long shower and put the breakfast dishes in the dishwasher. I sipped a fresh cup of coffee and wrote in my journal. I rang my mum. I walked into my day slowly. As I sit down to write, my heart feels full and at peace.
We can’t always go slow. Family life is demanding, and we can’t always go at our own pace. But we can make choices to help us. We made the rather drastic decision to resign from our jobs and live in a caravan. I know families who have decided to continue home-schooling rather than go back to traditional schooling after COVID. I know young professionals who work four days a week, and only two days a week in the office, preferring to work from home. We don’t have to keep doing things the way they have always been done. We can create our own path, embrace a slower pace, and enjoy a healthier life.
It took me a while to feel comfortable with a slower pace, but now I love it, and I have no desire to ever be overly busy again. I am happier and healthier with a slow pace of life.
What is the one thing that hinders your stress management, and prevents you from embracing a slower life?
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The post How To Embrace Slow Living appeared first on Living With Margins and has been reproduced with permission.
