Slow Living

Has anyone else noticed a real resurgence of interest in the slow living concept lately? I have, most notably (and perhaps ironically,) online.

If you’re unfamiliar with the term, it basically refers to living in a more mindful and meaningful way and encourages you to live life at a slower pace.

A conversation with a friend made me realise that this is pretty much the change that I’ve been chasing over the past year. The philosophy does not demand an all or nothing approach. This appeals to me as to do so would be unattainable. We each have responsibilities and sometimes we can't help being busy. But it flies in the face of living life at break neck speed all of the time. So ok. Slow living = slow down. Easy I thought.

Except that it’s not.

Or perhaps it is for some, but I’m struggling. While the message at the core of the slow living movement is a simple one, I’m finding that actually putting it into practice is not.

For example I divide my working week between looking after Alessi, working at an office job and running the business from home. There’s a level of busy there that simply doesn’t translate to slow! But I recognise that a change is needed as I've developed some really bad habits lately. I don’t eat properly unless I’m in the office, I’ve started to rely more and more on Cbeebies to keep Alessi amused whilst I do admin and I often end the day aching and feeling burnt out. It’s not healthy. For me or my family.

So here I am, jumping on the slow living bandwagon and offering no apologies for doing so. What comes next will be looking at ways that I can improve and simplify the problem areas I’ve already identified above. Essentially it will just be forming new habits and being smarter with my time I think. Without even realising what I was doing, I've already been taking steps towards this slow moving lark with the house de-clutter. Which is still ongoing. Freegle I’m finding can be a wonderful thing, but it can also be a source of extreme frustration at times.

But that’s a post for another day!