Why I Think Slow Living is Here to Stay

“The plain fact is that the planet does not need more successful people. But it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every kind. It needs people who live well in their places.”

David W. Orr

Over the pandemic, people have been forced to slow down, to spend time in their homes and with their families, having evenings and weekends together where perhaps they otherwise would not. While the separation from friends and family was definitely hard, I think it highlighted how much we are rushing out of the door to do the next thing; dance classes, coffee runs or dinner dates.

By being forced to stop I think a lot of people realised that ‘having it all’ doesn’t mean a high-powered job and lots of money. To lots of us, if not most of us, family and our connections with loved ones are our main priority (as well as the bills being paid!). Coming out the other side of lockdown and slowly going back to ‘normal’ is also showing people that burnout is very real.

We have realised the importance of the space we live in. Thousands of people – everyone I have spoken to – worked on their homes in one way or another to make them better for their family’s needs during at least one of the lockdowns. All the time at home opened our eyes to the importance of making our everyday lives beautiful and enjoying what we have. People started to notice that shops (and fast fashion in particular) are deliberately making us feel ‘less than’ in order to make us buy more, but that buying it doesn’t make us truly happy in the end.

The tides are turning.

We are now starting to prioritise our time and how we spend it, realising that busyness isn’t the same as happiness. By slowing down over the last two years we’ve had time to listen to ourselves, to be present with ourselves and with nature, and discover what is truly important to us. When you are still and at peace with yourself for long enough you can’t avoid asking the harder questions; ‘Does this make me truly happy?’, ‘Is this where I want to be?’ and so on.

The biggest joy we find from slow living is making everyday moments truly magical. Have an afternoon tea party with your fanciest crockery, make hot chocolates with all the trimmings, see the world through a child’s eyes, without thought of what needs cleaning or where else you need to be. Slow living allows us to live in the present and to see the beauty and magic in everything our wonderful planet has to offer.

I believe that for those really looking to make a change, slow living is a lifestyle adjustment that is able to help you achieve what you are yearning for. I think that as people move forward wanting to prioritise their family time, being present in the moment, spending time in nature and looking after our environment, slow living will become a natural part of everyday life for more and more people.

Do you try to implement a slow living lifestyle? We would love to hear about it either in the comments or over on Instagram.

Love and light,

Livvy and Summer