What is Slow Living?

Over the past few years, I have noticed the term ‘slow living’ becoming more mainstream and being used as more of a buzzword – but what actually is slow living?

To our family it’s not a quick fix to life’s problems, it’s a complete lifestyle that takes work and in some areas, massive changes. You don’t have to live in the countryside and have a big garden, or reside in a quaint cottage with a beautiful Instagramable sink, or buy all your food from a farmer’s market, to us it’s about:

Prioritising what makes you happy

Slow living is about designing and living a way of life that gives you peace, connection, contentment and inner fulfilment. It’s not a surface-level fix, where you can buy things to make you feel better, but rather it’s about prioritising what makes you (and your family) happy and then doing more of it.

Being present

Living in the present is key as it’s the journey that we will look back on and not the destination, so try to be aware of your everyday. Mothers look back and remember happy babies, giggling bath times, messy meals, toys spread across the floor and dens on the sofa. It’s the ‘mundane’ of every day that makes up life, not any sort of “I’ll be happy when” destination. Pausing to take in the everyday moments is key to happiness.

Everyday magic

Take joy in the small things like hanging the washing, wiping down the table after a good meal and splashing with your children at bath time. Finding joy in these moments is what brings us pure contentment and allows for presence in the moment. It’s being aware of these small things and not rushing on to the next that is the art of slow living, and this takes time and practice.

You don’t need a plan, a grand goal to achieve or a place to be by a certain date. What you need is to know what your priorities are, what is essential to you and where you want to focus your time and energy.

The aim in life (in my opinion) isn’t to be a busy little bee, always out and about doing something and being ‘productive’. Slow living is about enjoying your life. That’s it. And this will look completely different to everyone because we are all beautifully unique.

So where do you start?

I started by making a list of everything that was important to me and then changing my routine to prioritise those things. For example, I like slow mornings with no stress. I didn’t have that as my children wake up at 7am and are ready to GO. So I made the decision to go to bed earlier and get up an hour before them; I get my cup of tea, wake up slowly, sort the kitchen out and work out what to make for breakfast, so when they wake up we can enjoy morning cuddles together without anyone running around like a headless chicken.

Put purpose and intent behind your daily actions and see the changes. One big change won’t bring you consistent, daily contentment and joy, but I honestly think small changes like noticing the little things and finding beauty in what you have will make the biggest long term difference.

Do you choose to live slowly? In what ways have you changed to slow down your days?

Livvy and Summer