In a hectic world with regularly overbooked schedules, it’s normal to feel an urgent need to slow down. Have you heard about the slow living movement?
It’s a lifestyle that prioritizes simplicity, mindfulness, and quality over quantity. Here are some practical steps to incorporate slow living into your daily routines at home.
What Is Slow Living?
Slow living (or the art of adopting a calmer lifestyle) doesn’t mean doing less by slacking off and spending the day lounging in your pyjamas!
On the contrary, it’s a conscious decision to slow down to focus on what’s essential, to live more mindfully in a manner more aligned with your values.
It’s the opposite of performance culture, multitasking, and overconsumption. It prioritizes intentionally slowing down, simple pleasures, and connecting with the inner self, others, and one’s environment.
And guess what? The home is the best place to start this transition.
1. Craft a Calming Living Environment
Begin with your immediate environment. It’s hard to feel comfortable in an always messy, cluttered, or stressful home.
- Declutter: make room for what’s most important. This is more than following a trend: it’s a liberating experience!
- Bring in natural light, soft materials, and soothing colours.
- Create multiple relaxation zones: a reading nook, an armchair by a window, a hammock in the backyard—the idea is to have easy access to different areas where you can stop and take a moment.
2. Develop Daily Rituals
Slow living is also about paying attention to the small rituals of everyday life.
- Start the day off slowly: a coffee enjoyed in silence, some stretching, or a morning walk in the neighbourhood. This being said, we’re aware that this isn’t always feasible, especially for parents with young children.
- Prepare your meals with care: cooking fresh, locally sourced ingredients unhurriedly is a great way to slow down.
- Turn off your screens on a regular basis: dedicate one evening to taking a warm bath, playing a board game with the family, or meditating instead of watching Netflix.
- Remind yourself to do everything a little more thoughtfully: by practising mindfulness, for example, while doing errands, washing the dishes, applying makeup, mowing the lawn. Take your time!
3. Live Simply, Consume Less
Embracing the slow living movement likewise implies reassessing our consumer habits.
- Reduce the number of impulsive purchases: ask yourself if the item will actually serve a purpose or contribute to your wellbeing.
- Choose durable furnishings and accessories, locally made if possible.
- Fix before you throw out and learn to love what you already own. Upcycling is in fact very trendy right now!
4. Garden, Grow, Breathe
Connecting with nature is at the heart of this lifestyle. Make the most of your backyard. Even if you live in a condo, you can transform the tiniest balcony into a sanctuary!
- Plant herbs, vegetables, or a few flowers to reconnect with the rhythms of the seasons.
- Install a small rain garden or a bird feeder to encourage wildlife to stop by your home.
- Spend more time outdoors: read on the patio, walk barefoot on the lawn, watch the clouds with the kids.
5. Host Stress-Free Gatherings
Living at a slower pace also means a new approach to socializing. Forget Pinterest-style dinner parties that are exhausting to organize. Instead focus on
- low-key dinners with friends with real conversations;
- a lived-in home (even if it’s a little chaotic!) instead of a magazine-worthy one;
- the joy of spending time together without having to wear a mask.
Slow living isn’t a luxury reserved for those who live out in the woods, who are retired, or who are financially independent. Begin with small steps, such as creating a quiet corner, enjoying an activity-free weekend, or eating meals without screens.
It’s an accessible philosophy that you can gradually integrate into your life at your own pace… starting in the home. And in these fast-paced times, isn’t that what we all exactly need?