I have been trying to follow my own advice and walk the walk over these past few months by making a sustained effort to truly slow down. There is so much hype about the idea but clearly it is easier said than done. The main challenges to successfully slowing down that I have so far identified through my “research” are the following:
While anything is possible, anything is not ALWAYS possible and timing is an extremely important factor when contemplating change. Real change takes time because it must be fostered on many different levels under specific conditions, some of which may not be immediately under your control. If you have a young family for example, your responsibilities as a parent might require you to postpone your slow-living ambitions. (You can take advantage of this excellent opportunity to practice prevention however by starting now to strictly manage your portfolio of non-essential responsibilities.)
In your effort to slow things down you may at first need to become even busier. There is a maximum amount of responsibility (both real and perceived) that must not be surpassed in order to successfully achieve your slow-living goal. This could involve several new and time consuming projects in order to adjust your current level of responsibility accordingly, such as changing where you live, changing your job and most importantly, changing your expectations.
Behind door number three is the need to develop and reinforce your defences against the pervasive hustle culture that noisily proclaims busyness as directly proportional to productivity and personal importance. When I begin to succumb to this way of thinking I simply ask myself: Did Frodo allow “busyness” to keep him from returning the ring to Mordor? It works!
Even though most of us probably truly want to work less, it is an understandably terrifying prospect since working is how we pay the bills. What you will discover is that when you pare things down there is much more that falls away. This phenomenon is what makes slow-living not only achievable but also sustainable. For example, when I was more fully partaking in the consumption culture I felt that it was important to take one, if not two, exotic (and expensive) vacations a year. The weight of this expectation was enormous. Slow-living naturally fosters mindfulness which in turn magically unveils the many riches of the present moment that otherwise go undetected. My idea of a wonderful vacation now is primarily staying put and doing so-called mundane tasks without being subject to the omnipresent tyranny of time pressure. Therefore I can work less because I no longer have such expensive expectations to finance. I do not feel deprived; I feel alive.
More on fostering change and resisting the hustle culture soon. ❤️
While anything is possible, anything is not ALWAYS possible and timing is an extremely important factor when contemplating change. Real change takes time because it must be fostered on many different levels under specific conditions, some of which may not be immediately under your control. If you have a young family for example, your responsibilities as a parent might require you to postpone your slow-living ambitions. (You can take advantage of this excellent opportunity to practice prevention however by starting now to strictly manage your portfolio of non-essential responsibilities.)
In your effort to slow things down you may at first need to become even busier. There is a maximum amount of responsibility (both real and perceived) that must not be surpassed in order to successfully achieve your slow-living goal. This could involve several new and time consuming projects in order to adjust your current level of responsibility accordingly, such as changing where you live, changing your job and most importantly, changing your expectations.
Behind door number three is the need to develop and reinforce your defences against the pervasive hustle culture that noisily proclaims busyness as directly proportional to productivity and personal importance. When I begin to succumb to this way of thinking I simply ask myself: Did Frodo allow “busyness” to keep him from returning the ring to Mordor? It works!
Even though most of us probably truly want to work less, it is an understandably terrifying prospect since working is how we pay the bills. What you will discover is that when you pare things down there is much more that falls away. This phenomenon is what makes slow-living not only achievable but also sustainable. For example, when I was more fully partaking in the consumption culture I felt that it was important to take one, if not two, exotic (and expensive) vacations a year. The weight of this expectation was enormous. Slow-living naturally fosters mindfulness which in turn magically unveils the many riches of the present moment that otherwise go undetected. My idea of a wonderful vacation now is primarily staying put and doing so-called mundane tasks without being subject to the omnipresent tyranny of time pressure. Therefore I can work less because I no longer have such expensive expectations to finance. I do not feel deprived; I feel alive.
More on fostering change and resisting the hustle culture soon. ❤️