How To Start Slow Living In 3 Simple Steps?
Learn how to start slow living, no matter where you live and what your life looks like at the moment, with these 3 simple steps for making lasting changes in your lifestyle.
What is slow living?
Before we start, let's clarify what slow living even means. Slow living is both a way of life and a state of mind. In the face of hustle culture, climbing the corporate ladder is praised. Having a kaleidoscope of extracurricular activities for the children is encouraged. "I’m very busy" is the go-to phrase to impress people. Therefore, slow living is the movement that questions this way of working (and living).
More and more people feel called to reflect on the concept that being busy is a good thing. When we observe our world, we notice the increase of burnouts and the ramping of anxiety, stress and depression.
In the light of all of this, slow living simply means having a more gentle pace of life by being mindful of how we choose to spend your time. On social media, the rise of slow living is associated with moving to the countryside and living from scratch, but it's not necessary to do so.
Slow living is a way to become once again the master of your own time, and you can live in the heart of a big city while doing so. To me, even though my slow living dream is like many to go to the countryside, slowing down first and foremost is a way of taking back my sovereignty over my own life, and there are many ways of doing so.
3 reasons why to start slow living
Now that we have clarified what slow living means, let's dive into what it can concretely bring to you. In my opinion, there are 3 main, non-negligible advantages to this lifestyle.
1- You have more time to do what you really want
If slowing down involves lightening your agenda a little bit, it doesn't mean you will have to stare at the flies on the wall all day long. In fact, when you free up some time by removing certain activities, you leave more room to welcome the ones that you truly want to do, but never had the time for.
Most importantly, you can be more present physically and mentally for what is really important for you. For some it's enjoying their family life, for others it's finally spending more time on a hobby that makes them feel good.
No matter what you want to find time for, slow living can give you that.
2- It reduces drastically your stress level
When you have more room to breathe, it gives you the opportunity to take better care of yourself.
In the equation, if you have more time to relax and less stressful obligations on your plate, I guarantee you will be amazed to realize how stressed you actually were, once you allow your body to finally have this pressure off for a minute.
We know that stress it a very fertile terrain for the development of many illness and disease, let's cultivate our inner garden of health where we can.
3- You become sovereign of your time and of your life
As I mentioned previously, to me, slow living is a way to take back your power. Once you have more time on your hands, and you free yourself even a little bit from what makes you feel trapped in your life, you have much more room to make some changes.
Whether it is starting a side project that you can turn into a passive income to help you to quit your job eventually and get even more free; to give you room to nurture a new relationship into your life, or to simply have a better work-life balance by having longer weekends, you finally have access to more power in your own life, that is both freeing and amazing.
Know your why before embarking on the slow living journey
If you want to have more time to enjoy all those advantages, first, the most important thing you need to know is your why. This is an essential question because first, it will help you to make clear decisions like where to free up your time. And second, you would to make sure that what you want is really what you focus on during this journey.
Because it is very easy to indulge and forget what's important to you, to just pick up other things that are meaningless to fill up your time again, like binge-watching the new Netflix series instead of nourishing your life with the hobby you've been putting off for the past 10 years.
So ask yourself the right questions. Here are a few ones you can ponder on:
Why do I want to adopt a slow living lifestyle?
What do I want to do with my free time?
What is important to me that I haven't been prioritizing in my life?
How much time do I feel I have to free up to do all of that?
Once all of this is clarified, we can start our 3-steps plan for adopting slow living.
Step 1 - Analyze your agenda
Now that you are crystal clear on what you want, let's take a look at your schedule. What does a day in the life looks like for you? What about a week in the life? And a month?
Start to analyze how you usually furnish your time. How much of it is dedicated to your career? How much for your family? How much for your social life? Your love life? Your miscellaneous obligations? For your hobbies? And yourself?
If you never really reflected on it, this can be eye-opening. No matter how overwhelming it may feel, remember that at the end of the day, you have control over your life and you most definitely have a say on what you do with your time. No matter how tied up you *think* you are.
Step 2- Write down what you can get off your plate
It's time to get really honest with yourself. In the light of the agenda exercise, ask yourself a few more questions:
What are the things that are stressing me out the most in my current agenda?
What are the activities that don't bring me joy or fulfill me?
Is there a way for me to reduce, remove, or delegate some of those things?
What are the mandatory things that I really can't touch in my agenda?
If other people are involved in your life, like children, spouse or people you are obligated to care for, talk to them. Share with them how you feel and what you think you all can feel comfortable to change for you to slowing down.
At that point, things will get clearer and clearer, and you will be able to come up with a to-do list of actions to take. Like cancelling memberships to some activities or asking your boss to arrange your schedule to free up your Friday afternoons. And don't worry, if you end up missing some activities you cancelled, you can always add them back along the way if you want to.
Step 3- Start unloading your schedule one step at the time
It’s time to take action now! Grab your to-do list and start to unload your plate, one step at the time.
Some people will prefer to do it all at once and will feel immediate relief, but if you have a lot of responsibilities, especially if they involve other people, taking the slower road towards slow living would be a great idea...
Remember your why, your end goal, your intention behind all of this. It will help you to ride the wave of all those changes and to be brave to claim what you truly want: sovereignty over your own time.
No matter how social media makes slow living look, you need to do this for your own reasons. Focus on that and don't get lost in other people's carefully edited projections of their own lives.
For you, slow living may look messy at first, and it's ok. It may look more urban than some, and there is no problem with that. But in the end, it will look just like you, and that is the most important thing.
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With infinite love and gratitude,
- Anne 🧚♀️
***Let me know, what is your why? In which areas of your life do you feel called to unload? I would love to hear more about your slow living journey.***