'Slow living' is all the rage now isn't it? In my opinion, the fact that it's a massive trend and seen as the 'in thing' is excellent because we always want to do the 'in thing' don't we so when said 'in thing' is something that's actually good for us that's a massive plus. Not sure whether I've ever started a blog post with a more nonsensical sentence, hellooo bad bounce rate.
Anyway, my point is that the slow living trend is excellent and one that I think we should all get on board with. However, that's much easier said than done because if you're more of a 'fast' (seriously how many things can I put in inverted commas in one post?) person like me, you're probably not very good at it. I've mentioned before that I'm the type of person who likes to keep busy; I like always having something to do and feeling productive. I don't think that's always a bad thing, but even fast people need to live slowly sometimes otherwise I think we'd run ourselves into the ground. So, these are some of the things I'm doing to try and make my fast self live a little slower:
Figure out what slow living means for me. When I think of slow living I conjure up an idealistic image of waking up to a bit of meditation followed by some perfectly executed yoga and some sort of super healthy acai bowl breakfast and then an evening spent surrounded by candles and blankets curled up with a good book. I've tried meditation and it's just not for me, yoga just gives me acid reflux (TMI?) and I definitely don't have time for a cosy evening every single night. Slow living is different for everyone and I'm still in the process of working out what it is for me, but it can be something as simple as a morning cup of coffee enjoyed in the garden with no distractions or a chapter of a book read in bed.
Ditch the guilt. It's rare that I enjoy some down time to myself without feeling guilty for not being productive and that's something I want to change. How, I'm not quite sure, but we need to stop feeling guilty for what is essentially taking care of ourselves.
Make time. It's very easy to start the day with a long to-do list then once you're on a roll just carry on until it's time for bed. And then repeat. The thing is, I'm never going to get to the end of a day having crossed everything off my to-do list so whether I take some time out of that day to myself or not, I'll never feel productive enough. My point being, I may as well take some time out of that day to live a little slower. So, living a little slower is going on my to-do list from now on to make sure it's something I consciously make time for.
Be consistent. My worst downfall is that I make all these grand promises to myself, I deliver on them for a couple of weeks and then I fall back into bad habits. Being consistent will be difficult, but hopefully as long as I continue putting down time on my to-do list, it'll get done.
Are you any good at slow living? Throw your tips my way if you are!
Amy x
