Reasons Why I Live Slowly (And you should, too!)
Is it just me, or does the world seem to get a little crazier with each day that passes? In some ways, I consider myself a hermit. Now, I’m incredibly social and about as extroverted as they come, but there are a lot of ways I live my life differently from others. Out of my 32 years of life on this earth, I’ve only had a smartphone for about 5 of those. I don’t have cable and most nights don’t even turn on my TV. Sure, I partake in YouTube, but I don’t have any social media accounts beyond Pinterest. I use a typewriter and an old radio, and even on most days when I work from home, I get dressed in actual clothing, not just yoga pants and a sweatshirt. I have many reasons I live slowly and I’d like to show you why you should, too!
Biblical Wisdom
I’m from the United States and have only live here, so all my perspectives come from what I’ve witnessed in my own society. And boy, is my society obsessed with self and individualism. 2 Timothy 3:1-7 (ESV) says this: But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. 6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, 7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.
Rationale
Even those who are not followers of Jesus can agree, something is wrong in our country. There is just something “missing.” It seems that people are becoming more and more selfish and caring about their own needs instead of caring for others. They are constantly searching for and seeking something, but they just can’t figure out what. Those of us who are believers know that you can only be completely filled by acknowledging sin and subsequently being redeemed by Jesus Christ. In turn, others seek to fill this void by filling their lives with experiences and material items. Social media, lavish trips, TV, YouTube, clothes, appliances, money. It never ends.
I even think about the cycle that consumerism perpetuates. You grow up engaging in a consumer-driven culture. Go to college and go into debt for a degree that does not guarantee you stability, joy, or contentment. Work, work, work, climb the ladder to pay for your school debt and the possible other debt you’ve accumulated along the way. Slave your life away at a job you can’t stand so you can continue consuming. Now, I’m not against having material items, but I see what this cycle has done to so many people. It was after landing a job in the corporate sector that I realized how much I don’t want this life.
I’ve never been ultra materialistic. I’ve absolutely fallen into the trap of buying things unnecessarily, and I often regret those purchases. I realized this excess spending increased the more time I spent on YouTube and blogs. Something is always being promoted. There’s nothing wrong with this! However, when the stuff begins to rule your life, you should consider your reasons behind constantly purchasing so much stuff. I had to do the same for myself. I’m by no means a minimalist, but I don’t like clutter and I regularly try to take inventory of my belongings and determine if they are truly worth having.
Working a corporate job inspired me to start living slowly.
When I think about it, in some ways I’ve always lived slowly. My future husband jokes that I “putz” around too much, a Pennsylvania Dutch term for going about things slowly. I enjoy my morning and evening routines and often find myself paying attention to my surroundings more than I think I do. Even so, I’ve allowed busyness to take hold too often and stifle my true desires. Friends often noted how busy I was and over time, it began to bother me. There would be weeks when I had commitments every day, sometimes more than once in one day. My brain quickly turned to functioning on autopilot and I would wonder how time had escaped me.
It was when I began to view time differently that I started to change. I no longer allowed myself to use the phrase, “I don’t have enough time.” In actuality, I do. God knew exactly how much time we would need to accomplish tasks and even factored in rest! I started to see that time wasn’t the issue, I was. From there, I learned to say “no” quite a bit and discovered how to reprioritize my commitments. I no longer wanted to be a part of hustle culture. Gone were the days of cruising on autopilot. I wanted to actually live!
Early in 2023, I quit my teaching job for a job in the corporate world. I thought I’d be less stressed and that it would provide me what I wanted in life but I quickly learned this was not the case. I took a job at an insurance company in the training and development section of the human resources department. Certainly, my job is less stressful. A few months in though, I began to notice a few things. First, I noticed the fast pace at which the company, more specifically our directors and executives, functioned. They forwent breaks and would often work long hours. I also noticed something in me. Something was stirring and it took a while to figure out what. After a lot of prayer and “soul searching,” I decided that the last thing I wanted for myself was to become a “higher up.” In fact, I’m you may think I’m crazy, but I plan to stay home with children…and homeschool them.
Reasons why I live slowly (and you should, too!)
1. It’s brought me a lot of peace.
I hurry a lot less. It’s something that’s gone by the wayside as slow living has taken over. Unless I have a time commitment, I don’t rush any longer. Essentially, I’ve quit hustle culture. I’m not stressed or anxious very often and life moves the way that it’s supposed to. Now, I do live in a small town, so there’s already less of a tendency to rush, but it’s still easy to do if you’re not cognizant. As I’ve learned to embrace the moments that enter my life, I’ve realized how much more at peace I am. I don’t wrestle as much with myself. Life doesn’t scare me the way it used to. Instead of living for the future, I live for the moments God has put in front of me this very second.
2. I’m more observant.
This tends to happen when you begin to decrease technology usage and lessen unnecessary commitments. I started taking walks without wearing my headphones and I’ve noticed all sorts of things—The smell of smoke in the air, the nip of winter of the tip of my nose, dogs barking and birds chirping, the shape of the clouds. It’s not just nature I’ve noticed more of. I’ve begun to notice people more—how they function and interact, who engages in conversation or looks at their phone, who practices road rage. I take closer looks at the things in my world and appreciate what’s in front of me.
3. I feel like I’m embracing myself.
I’ve always been a little…different. Not in a super weird kind of way. I just have never been one to conform. I don’t have a desire to wear brand name clothes, I rarely wear makeup, and I got my first massage this year. The day after Christmas, I took my first trip outside the USA the week after Christmas and I have no idea what’s going on with celebrities. It’s rare that I consume much media and sometimes I sit in silence just to soak up the stillness around me just to enjoy it. Slow living has allowed me to be me. I don’t feel the need to “keep up with the Joneses” by buying new electronics or appliances. I can embrace choosing to play music or reading over scrolling through a social media app. It’s helped me normalize my differences.
4. It’s honoring to the Lord.
In Matthew 6, Jesus shares, “…do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
This passage is often a gut check for me. In the past, I’ve been a major worrier. It hit me hard when I learned that worrying is a sin. That’s not to say it will never happen, no matter how much you attempt to lessen stress and anxieties. However, by living slowly, I honor the Lord in so many ways, and this involves decreasing stress and anxiety. It’s honoring to the Lord because I’m more content with what I have instead of always wanting more. I also have made more space in my day to engage in the Word and make room for a better prayer life.
5. I can think clearly again.
This situation might sound familiar: You open up a social media app with the intention to look for just a few minutes. When you close out the app, you realize 30 minutes or even a few hours have passed. You think to yourself in a daze, “What the heck just happened?!” Most of us have been there. Along with canceling social media, I deleted unnecessary apps off my phone and turned off all notifications. It’s been a really healthy decision. Since intentionally practicing slow living, I’ve been more aware of my time in front of screens. I’ve worked to further decrease screen time. My hope is to limit TV to the weekends and read 50 books in 2024. It’s already made a difference in just a few weeks. My attention spanned has increased significantly and my screen time has been replace by reading.
6. I’ve become more frugal.
Slow living involves being more intentional with the various parts of your life, and this includes finances. While I’ve always lived within my means and am working to pay off debt, I’ve certainly spent more than I’d like to admit. As part of my slow living journey, I’ve started to become more frugal and I’ve notice there’s a lot more money to go around. This goes in hand with practicing contentment. The more content you are, the less you need. Even when I do spend, I try to do so with intentionality. I ask myself if this is something I really need to purchase and I tend to wait at least a day or two before revisiting the idea of purchasing the item. It’s amazing how much money I’ve begun to save.
7. I’ve learned healthy boundaries.
I’ll reiterate this statement: I’ve learned to say no. Part of slow living involves setting boundaries. If you say yes to all that comes your way, you will become overwhelmed and overcommitted. I no longer wanted to be either of these things. They always lead to increased stress levels. Saying no hurts because it means someone is usually disappointed. However, the more I realized that only God matters, the easier it was to say no. My grandfather used to say that you can’t make everyone happy, and he’s correct. There will be people who don’t like the decisions you make and you can’t change that. I am not here to make others happy. If I’m living for God’s glory, that’s sufficient for me.
8. I live more in the moment.
When you engage in consumerism and hustle culture, you don’t live for the moment. You live for a future that doesn’t exist in hopes that it will fulfill you in some way. I aim to break this cycle by living more in the moment. I still make plans and regularly use a planner, but I’ve stopped living for a world that doesn’t yet exist. All I am sure of is what’s in front of me this second. I no longer put my hope in the world of tomorrow. Instead, I appreciate what God has given me presently.
9. I’ve learned to be content with less.
You don’t have to consider yourself a minimalist to live with less. I truly began embracing the idea of living with less when I first saw the Minimalism documentary in 2015. It completely changed the idea of how I consume things. While I’m not a minimalist per se, I aim to make sure my belongings are regularly used and serve a purpose. For the first time in my adult life, I didn’t buy any new Christmas decorations (Unless you count the one strand of lights for my TV stand). This year, I’ve been truly content with what I already have and I even got rid of a few things.
While I enjoy having material items, they don’t bring me anything more than temporary happiness. Our consumer-driven, materialistic culture says otherwise. The amount of ads for different products can sometimes seem unbelievable and the pressure to engage in buying fancy, name brand items feels overwhelming. I’ve never been much for name brands and I find that buying a $50 cup with a certain name brand on it is a bit excessive, especially when I can buy the same item for half the price. The only difference is the company who produced the item. In any case, I’ve learned that I’m a lot more joyful and grateful when I appreciate what I already have. I don’t need stuff to bring me joy.
10. I’ve reprioritized activities that bring me joy.
For a long time, I felt like I was living in a fog. Wake up, get ready for work, go to work, get in a quick workout, come home and eat dinner, watch TV or go to some sort of social activity, go to bed. Repeat. Weekends weren’t much different. If you’ve ever read the book Fahrenheit 451, you may remember certain scenes where characters are immersed in watching TV. In fact, it’s to the point of obsession, where virtual life replaces reality. This is what it felt like my life was turning into. Over time though, it felt like the fog lifted. I remember thinking, What am I doing with my life? The sad reality is that so many people are living on autopilot – working jobs they despise and immersing themselves into virtual worlds to avoid the pain and discontentment in their real lives.
I wanted something different and I wanted to feel fulfilled. Now, the most important and best way to gain fulfillment in life is through a relationship with Jesus Christ. However, we are humans who desire earthly things and experiences. I’m heavily averse to the overuse and abuse of modern technology. Call me a Luddite if you will. There is so much more to life than watching TV and endlessly scrolling through social media apps. As a rather creative person, I enjoy so many activities: Cooking, baking, writing, reading, crafts, and playing a variety of instruments. Recently, I swapped out screen time for the activities I love. I have begun playing piano again and it’s like working a muscle that you haven’t in a long time. It’s been so much fun finding these activities again!
11. The idea of work has taken on a different meaning.
If you haven’t read the article, “Bull**** Jobs,” you need to. It will really turn your gears about the idea of work. I can’t say the idea of working a corporate office job has ever truly appealed to me. I did for about a year and a half after I left teaching the first time. However, due to life circumstances, I find myself in a corporate office job again. God has blessed me with this job and while it’s not at all what I’d truly like to be doing, it’s provided me a stable lifestyle for the interim. I’ve been able to keep my apartment and car and for that I’m grateful.
Even so, since taking this job, I’ve learned a lot about myself and the idea of work. Ever since starting it, I realized that I longed to be in the shoes of landscapers or cashiers. Even on some days, I was wishing to be back in the classroom. It took a lot of introspection to realize two things: I miss working with people and I can’t stand being on a computer all day. The idea of staring at a screen and doing computer work all day long is just not appealing. It never has been. I’m an extrovert and I need to work with others. It’s not enough to just talk to them in a cubicle or in the cafeteria. I need to be working and collaborating with others.
I also realized how much I miss working with my hands to actually create something. This is possibly why I get so much fulfillment out of making food, playing instruments, and doing crafts. I am producing, which is what God intended for us to do. When you clack away your day at a keyboard, it’s different. I’m not saying you can’t produce something digitally, but there’s a different feel when you have a product you can hold in your hands. Slow living has helped me realize that someday, hopefully sooner than later, I’ll get back to working a job where I can be with other people and/or make something with my hands.
12. It’s allowed me to rethink my career/job decisions.
This point goes off of the last one, which is why I put them right next to each other. When I took the corporate office job I currently have, I made many realizations. The first one was after I saw employees in “higher up” positions, like those who are directors and executive team members. I determined that I have no desire to ever have a job like that. The more I learned about Biblical womanhood and God’s design for women and mothers, the more I wanted to become a mother. Soon after, I made the realization that I want to stay at home with children if we’re blessed to have them. I would also love to homeschool someday. It makes sense that I love using my domestic skills and creative abilities. It dawned on me all of these paired with my teaching background could very well the Lord preparing me for a potential future.
In any case, just because I don’t want a corporate office job and I don’t want to be a “girl boss” does not mean I don’t want to or like to work. I just don’t want to do it in a cubicle while staring at a screen for eight hours a day. I love to write and that’s one of the main reasons I began this blog. I love to cook and bake and host other people. And I am really beginning to like cleaning! But, when you give your life to a job and you become a slave to a career, you can’t have both. You can’t prioritize home and family AND a career. Something always has to give. And for me, I’d gladly give up the career.
13. I embrace stillness and silence.
Think about this for a moment: When was the last time you chose to sit in silence and do nothing for more than two minutes? We don’t like silence. It makes us uncomfortable. In our society, stillness is also not something we are comfortable with. We always have to be going and moving or have some kind of noise in the background. My grandfather used to hunt and fish for hours a day with nothing but nature around him. No phone and no music accompanied him. In the evening, he would watch the 30-minute news segment and after that he would read the paper and then just relax in his chair. My grandparents never owned a computer or cell phones and they only had three small TVs in their house. They were the most content people I’ve ever known in my life.
When my grandfather passed away, I inherited some of his clothing. I took a shirt that he had for almost forty years and it still looked new. He didn’t need a lot of stuff. He lived a simple, quiet life and embraced life as it happened. In the same vein, I am choosing to embrace silence and stillness like he did. A practice I began recently involves eating without any distractions. At most, I have my radio softly playing music. Otherwise, all devices are put away and I focus on eating. In the evening, I read more and use screens less. I even have begun to watch the sunrise from my bedroom without having any devices near me. It’s blissful.
14. I’ve fallen in love with reading again.
From a young age I positively loved reading. I began learning to read around age 2 and after that I became entrenched in the world of books. I read all the time and part of the reason is because I didn’t spend a lot of time on screens. Instead, I played outside a lot and read. Even well into high school and college, I spent a lot of time reading. In college, I had a flip phone and a laptop that couldn’t connect to the Internet. Needless to say, I didn’t spend much time on screens. Even in class, no one was staring at devices. At least, it was rare.
In 2014, I had a flip phone, my same old laptop, and a TV. I didn’t have Internet and would travel to the local grocery store each day to work on the novel I was writing. It was the most creative I had ever been and I didn’t miss the electronic devices one bit. I tried a similar lifestyle when I moved into my apartment last March; however, it was much more difficult because I was in grad school. After starting my career as a teacher, the amount of leisurely reading I did declined the most it had in my entire life. I rarely picked up a book. I was constantly busy and always on the go. However, since I now have a less stressful time and I’m prioritizing slow living, reading has again become something I love doing.
From 2022 to 2023, I fewer than 15 books. Seeing that makes me sad and it makes me realize how much I’ve missed reading. With so much time spent on screens, our brains have a hard time settling down and focusing for more than a few minutes. Now spending less time on screens, I find it’s much easier to concentrate on a book. It’s also easier to read more difficult and nonfiction texts. My vocabulary is also growing and I’m again paying attention to grammar!
15. I spend way less time on screens.
This point deserves its own post and at some point, I’ll write a whole post about screen time. I’ve sprinkled my thoughts about technology usage and screen time throughout this post because I’m really passionate about it. Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for having a phone that allows me to listen to music as I run, provides me a boarding pass, and gives me directions to a location. However, it’s not impossible to find alternatives or live without a smartphone. I did it for many years and I often long to go back to a flip phone.
I think getting off social media has been a positive contributor to me spending less time on screens. I’ve also disabled all notifications from my phone except for text messages. On top of that, I’ve purged my phone of unnecessary applications. I think I use maybe 10 apps on my phone semi-regularly. After you get rid of them, you don’t miss them and your attention turns elsewhere. Even though I have a smartphone, I often get astonished reactions when someone finds out I don’t use social media. I deleted Facebook and Instagram in 2018 and haven’t looked back.
Now, I do have a confession to make: In my opinion, I spend WAY too much time on my phone. The main reason is because of my job. This is partly why I want a job where I’m not looking at a computer screen all day. During the day when I’m bored and my workload is light, I turn to using my phone, be it Pinterest or the Internet. Sure, call it what it is: An excuse. But, I’m human and imperfect and until my job situation changes, I’m working to find alternatives throughout the work day, like reading, writing, or doing puzzle books.
Slow living has caused me to examine many aspects of my life, including how much screen time I’m exposed to. I’m finding I don’t even enjoy it much anymore. I rarely watch TV and the only subscription I technically have is Amazon Prime Video because I have a Prime subscription. I get bored with TV easily and would rather have as a treat than a regular occurrence in my life. After reading books like Dr. Nicholas Kardaras’ Glow Kids, I continue to find reasons to stay off the tiny blue light, headache-inducing devices and find other, more productive hobbies to fulfill my time.
16. I’m more conscious about media consumption.
In 2021, I was engaged and about to get married. I was with someone who shared very few of my values, including media consumption. He was a gamer who would stay up until 2 a.m. some days and would watch anything and everything. There was no concern for what he was putting into his mind. So, when I told him I didn’t want to continue watching particular shows or movies because of their content, he was flabbergasted and actually got mad at me…for wanting to be more conscious of what I was feeding my mind and soul. Needless to say, less than a year later we broke up and I felt free.
I continued on my journey of filling my mind, heart, and soul with good content. I’m by no means perfect, but I consciously try to find media that’s worth my while. This includes everything from the radio to playlist, books to movies, and beyond. The most recent price increase on Netflix wasn’t the only reason I cancelled my subscription. There is so much filth and trash in the form of media and entertainment and I don’t want to be a part of it any longer. I have a choice to view the content I do and I want to fill my mind with things that glorify God as much as possible. I’m not against simply watching or listening to something for entertainment purposes. However, I feel that so many people are only consuming media for entertainment, as a way to avoid painful moments and to distract them from reality.
I want more for my life and it doesn’t involve staring at a screen all day.
17. It’s allowed me to build healthy routines.
I tend to be impulsive with my life. I find new hobbies and things I’m interested in, then try them out for a few weeks. After becoming bored, I give up quickly, so I’ve found the best way to combat this is by building routines. Especially with currently working a job that requires a minimum of 38.75 hours per week of my time, plus at least 3 hours of travel time, I need routines to keep me stable. Before truly practicing slow living, I didn’t have an evening routine. I’d find myself watching TV on the couch and even falling asleep. My sleep quality suffered and so did my brain and eyesight. Now, I turn off devices by 8 PM (I’m usually not on them anyway) and begin my evening routine. By 8:30/8:45, I’m in bed reading. To say my sleep quality has dramatically improved is an understatement. I also feel calmer throughout the day. Sure, this could be attributed to an overall minimization of stress in my life, thanks in part to leaving teaching; but, I like to think building healthy routines also has a part in this.
Well my friends, welcome to 2024! If you’re like me, you’re probably not setting New Year’s resolutions. I’m just happy to be alive and breathing. I hope you’ve found these ideas encouraging. Maybe, like me, you’ll even consider living a slower and simpler life. It has had an incredibly positive impact on my overall well-being and I recommend it to everyone. Cheers!
