How To Slow Down When You Live Life in the Fast Lane
Although there isn’t a sole definition for the term ‘slow-living’, there is a concept to this movement, and that is the idea we need to slow down and adopt a leisurely pace while enjoying life’s simple pleasures, and bringing more peace and mindfulness to our lives.
Fast-living symptoms and the side effects
Busyness has suddenly become sexy, but the side effects are certainly not. This relentless sense of hustle, urgency and the need to constantly be on the go can be taxing, and if not dealt with, can have long-term consequences.
Symptoms of living a fast-paced lifestyle include:
Filling your schedule with social events and obligations at the expense of all your free time
Making decisions based on short-term enjoyment or efficiency instead of your values
Short and shallow breathing
Often feeling overwhelmed
Irritable
An over-consumption of junk food
Sugar cravings, weight gain
Minimal to no exercise
Late nights, irregular sleep patterns
Exhaustion
Dull skin, tired eyes, ageing faster than your years
The Principles of ‘Slow-Living’
The average lifestyle, particularly in Western culture is pretty fast. From the moment we wake up it’s go-go-go, and by the time you know it, the day is over.
Think about what your average day might consist of. Rushing to catch the train to work? Busy meetings? Office chatter? The odd scroll on social media during your lunchbreak as you wolf down your lunch before returning to your desk, then finally ending the day going home, usually during ‘rush hour’, before having a few hours of rest at home before doing it all over again.
And that’s just Monday to Friday. If your weekends are full, you are non-stop, every day. It’s as though you are racing through each day trying to get to the next thing, but what exactly are you racing towards?
There are many ways to practice slow-living, and each practice works differently for different people, and although you can’t completely step away from every-day commitments, you can incorporate daily habits which help you to move at an unhurried pace feeling calmer and more balanced.
Examples of slow-living
Journaling
Quietening your mind is a great way to disconnect from distraction, and focus inward to your thoughts and emotions.
As bizarre as it sounds, most people don’t know who they really are.
Every day is filled with outside noise from friends, family, partners and work colleagues, as a result of this, decisions are likely to be based on external influences. How can you know what you want if you don’t know who you are? If you don’t spend time with your own thoughts, how can you know the difference between which thoughts are your own and which are based upon the opinions you digest from the outside?
Journaling is used to free hand your thoughts and empty the chatter from your mind. Look out for journal prompts on the Coffee Moon Instagram feed, they’ll help you get started.
Gratitude
Practicing gratitude requires you to be thankful for what you have in your life, the people, your job, a roof over your head, access to clean water. Whatever it is, every day find something you can be grateful for.
Acceptance
Some things are out of your control, instead of walking around with pent up frustration, just let it go. Accept things for what they are, not what you want them to be.
Slow Exercise and Deep Breathing
Yoga and Pilates demand your body to slow down and focus on your breathing techniques which we rarely remember to do through moments which are usually chaotic.
Digital Detoxes
The digital world is fun, yet at the same time, demanding. With so much information and entertainment at our fingertips it’s hard to know when to pause. Don’t wait until you feel overwhelmed, take time out. Whether it’s social media, blogs, podcasts, or all three, give your mind a rest. In my personal opinion anywhere from a month minimum is the most effective, but you may feel the benefits after just a week away from the digital space. Use this time to read books, physical ones, try new recipes, write, paint, call a friend etc.
Schedule rest
Give yourself a break, a real one. And Sunday doesn’t count. Sunday doesn’t count because quite frankly by the time it gets to 5pm you’re already thinking about Monday morning. Schedule in free weekends where you have no plans, you don’t need to force yourself into finding something to do. Allow your body a full weekend of recovery before the week returns, it’s the least it deserves.
The Benefits of Slow- Living
A slow-living lifestyle comes with an abundance of benefits. Have you ever been on holiday to an exotic island and seen how the locals live? Notice they tend to be walking steadier, eating slower, and if you’ve been to Barbados, you will know it could take you half the day to be served by a cashier at the bank because to hurry is a myth. This is usually frustrating to us as Westerners, and at the same time when you think about the results of their lifestyles you can’t help but notice they look great for their age, due to lower-incomes they regularly cook meals from scratch reducing the chance of becoming overweight, and they are living much longer.
Practicing slow-living often brings:
Better health
Increased happiness
Improved mental clarity, making better decisions
Sustainable relationships and genuine friendships
A healthier body
More energy
Healthier looking appearance (skin, hair, nails)
Reduced stress and anxiety
Final thoughts
Today, rushing through life has become somewhat ‘normal’. It ‘s become ‘normal’ to suffer with headaches after work, it’s ‘normal’ to gain indigestion after every meal, it’s ‘normal’ to be busy every weekend, but it doesn’t have to be.
Listen to your body, feel for signals, look for signs of where your body is asking you to slow down.
If you spend most of your time rushing around from one thing to the other, the chances are you can’t even tell what your body wants because you haven’t taken a moment to tune in.
Study each area of your life, identify where needs attention, what needs to change, and how you can take a slower approach. Tune out the chaos and connect with yourself again, you’ll soon see the smaller details of which life has to offer.
More tips and advice
Other forms of slow living are to add sustainability to your lifestyle for example using less plastic, recycling, and low waste
