8 Reasons Why You Should Start Slow Living (and How to Practice It)
Is your life too fast-paced? Do you always feel like you are running out of time to do everything you want? If this describes your current situation, you are probably curious to know how to practice the art of slow living so you can slow down and enjoy your life more. You have come to the right place! In this post, we shall discuss reasons why you need to start slow living and how to practice the slow living lifestyle.
With the hectic nature of modern life, many of us live in the fast lane of life. We are always busy because various things demand our time and attention.
We fill our days with tasks we rush to complete and never have time to slow down and just enjoy life and its small pleasures. But a fast-paced life is not sustainable.
Over time, a busy lifestyle will most likely affect some areas of your life negatively, such as your health, relationships, and productivity.
Continue reading this article to find out some of the reasons why you should start slow living and enjoy your life more. But first, what does slow living mean? And how do you practice slow living? Read on…
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What Is Slow Living?
What does slow living mean? Is it ok to live a slow life if you are not successful yet? Before we define slow living, let’s start by stating what it is not.
Unlike the common misconceptions, living a slow-paced life is not about being lazy, dragging yourself around, and neglecting your responsibilities.
You also don’t have to move to some remote part of the world to practice slow living. You can start a slow living lifestyle wherever you are, though it will be easier to do if you live away from a busy city or street.
And IT IS OK for anyone to live a slow life if they want to!
Now that that is out of the way, what is the concept of slow living?
Slow living is a type of lifestyle that many people adopt when they want to live a happier, more meaningful, and more fulfilling life.
The slow living concept involves leading a more balanced lifestyle where you literally slow down the pace of your everyday life so you can enjoy it more and reap the other benefits of slow living discussed below.
Slow living is about gaining more time and energy by focusing on what matters most to you and letting go of what is unnecessary in your life.
In some ways, the art of slow living is similar to minimalism as they both emphasize living with less.
So, what does a slow life look like?
The main principles of slow living are gratitude, simplicity, sustainability, generosity, and mindfulness.
When you start slow living, you do things at a leisurely pace, become more intentional with your time, focus on quality over quantity, become more mindful, limit your screen time, and make a deeper connection with yourself, the people around you, and your environment.
A successful slow-paced life will require you to find a balance between ‘being’ and ‘doing’.
Keep reading to learn why you should start slow living and how to practice it.
8 Reasons Why You Should Start Slow Living
- To focus on yourself
When leading the busy lifestyles many of us do, it is easy to forget to spare some time for yourself. You always want to be doing some task, whether at work or home, and feel weird or guilty whenever you are idle.
But YOU are the most vital person or thing in YOUR life. Hence, it is important to learn how to practice slow living so you can focus more on yourself.
One of the benefits of slowing your life down is that you will have more time for yourself to spend however you like. You can dedicate your alone time to sleeping, doing a hobby, conducting self-reflection, practicing self-care, and having some quiet time to build a better relationship with yourself.
You should be a top priority in your life, and that is why you should start slow living right now.
- Slow living improves your mental health
If you always have too many things to do, it is not surprising that you feel overwhelmed and stressed. Improved mental health is one of the reasons why you should start slow living.
Taking a slower approach to your everyday life will help reduce the stress and anxiety you would have had when rushing to do things.
When leading a slow-paced life, you will also take your time when making important decisions and doing your tasks, and allow yourself to rest, relax and unwind whenever you need to.
Since you will be intentional when choosing what tasks to invest your energy and time in, your overall happiness will increase when you practice slow living because you will opt to do things that bring you joy.
By focusing on what is most important to you and things that make you happy, the trivial things you used to obsess about before you learned how to practice slow living will not stress you out anymore.
READ ALSO: 10 Habits You Should Adopt to Protect Your Mental Health
- To focus on other important things
Most people living a fast-paced life work too much and neglect other aspects of their life.
But although your career should be one of the top priorities in your life, it shouldn’t be the only area you focus on. Your hobbies, romantic partner, family, and friends are other crucial things you should prioritize in life.
One of the benefits of slow living is that it enables you to gain more time to focus on other areas of your life that matter, such as your relationships and the activities that make you happy.
A slow-paced life will enable you to strengthen your bond with those you love, allow you to form deeper connections with new people, and give you time to have fun.
If you adopt a slow living lifestyle and spend more time with your loved ones, it will be a way to show them you love them and that they are a vital part of your life.
The improved relationships with those who matter most are the reasons why you should start slow living today.
- Slow living boosts your creativity
Have you ever tried to come up with new ideas under pressure? It wasn’t easy, was it?
Living on the fast lane of life will most likely lead to you eventually running out of ideas. And unfortunately, it may not be easy to get your creative juices flowing again because you are stressed out and anxious. Therefore, one of the benefits of slow living is that it helps you become more creative.
Learning how to practice slow living boosts your creativity because you will have reduced pressure and a clear, well-rested brain.
It is easier to get new ideas when you aren’t forcing yourself to come up with them.
In fact, many people report that they mostly get their ‘aha’ moments when they slow down, look inwards, and let their minds wander. Enhanced creativity is one of the main reasons why you should start slow living now.
READ ALSO: 11 Bad Habits That Are Surprisingly Good For You
- A slow life improves your cognitive skills
Overworking and having too many things you need to do may result in brain fog. And just like clutter in your physical space, clutter in your mind affects your life negatively.
It will feel like you have too many tabs open in your brain, which could slow down your thinking process, confuse you, affect your memory, and even cause headaches. As such, one of the reasons why you should start slow living is that it will improve your cognitive skills.
When living a slow lifestyle, you will have fewer things burdening your brain and, therefore, you will think more clearly and logically.
Some benefits of slow living in improving your cognitive skills include better focus, memory, reasoning, decision-making, and problem-solving.
- To improve your physical health
Besides your mental health, creativity, and relationships, your physical health is another element of your life that is usually affected when you live a fast-paced life.
As you rush to do all the tasks on your to-do list, you may neglect your health, abuse substances, get into accidents, overwork yourself, become an insomniac, and develop unhealthy eating habits. Better physical health is one of the main reasons why you should start slow living.
When you allow yourself to live a slow-paced life, you will work less, make time to rest and get enough sleep, make healthier food choices, eat mindfully, prevent burnout, and reduce the chances of getting into accidents.
After starting a slow-paced lifestyle, you will also have more time to see the doctor when sick and go for regular medical checkups that will help you catch anything that could be ailing you early.
A slow living lifestyle is one way you can practice self-preservation.
READ ALSO: 10 Simple Ways to Live a Healthy Life
- Slow living enhances performance and productivity
One would think that doing more things would result in better performance and higher productivity. But, in most cases, it is just the opposite.
Multitasking can be overwhelming as you try to split your focus between all of the tasks you need to do. You will be more likely to make mistakes and experience burnout, thus influencing your performance and productivity.
When you learn how to practice slow living, you will not rush when doing things. Instead, you will focus on one task at a time and complete it with the least number of mistakes possible, hence getting better results.
Improved performance and productivity are some of the reasons why you should start slow living now.
- To notice and appreciate the little things
If you are constantly on the go, you may fail to notice and appreciate the little things around you and about yourself or others. You will only be thinking about your current task and the next thing on your to-do list.
Anything that doesn’t contribute to the achievement of your goals will just be background noise.
One of the reasons why you should start slow living is that it enables you to live in the moment. You can finally pause, notice, and appreciate the good things in your life.
By learning how to practice the slow living lifestyle, you will become a more thankful person as you start paying more attention and appreciating the little things in your life.
When you start slow living, you will have deeper, richer experiences because you will give yourself time to fully immerse and enjoy things instead of flitting from one activity to the next.
Being more present is one of the main benefits of slow living.
READ ALSO: 22 Things to Be Thankful for and Why
How to Practice Slow Living
- Determine the things that matter to you most
- Unplug or limit your screen time
- Be more present and notice the little details
- Take your time when doing any task
- Start a more sustainable routine
- Choose quality over quantity when it comes to activities and relationships
- Take some time off from work often, for yourself, your health, your relationships, your creativity, and more
- Focus on doing things right, not fast
- Say ‘No’ to things that don’t add value to your life
- Be patient and trust the process in your life
- Manage your self-expectations
- Live your life with purpose
READ ALSO: 10 Best Tips for Living Alone (Challenges, Solutions, and Benefits)
Wrapping Up
You now know what is slow living and how to practice it. And as you can see above, there are many benefits of slow living, including improved relationships, better health, enhanced productivity, increased creativity, and improved cognitive skills.
Knowing all these benefits, why would you want your life to be in the fast lane when it could be so much better if you learned how to practice slow living?
It is time for you to slow down and live your life at your own pace. Life is not a race, and it shouldn’t be. Learn how to practice slow living and make your life more meaningful, happier, and fulfilling.
Since you now know why you should start slow living, it is up to you to take the first step and adopt this lifestyle today!
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