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The Slow Living Movement: how to slow down this new year
January is often the quietest month of the year. The festivities have faded, and most people retreat inward, easing off social plans and resetting their budgets. Deep winter has arrived, bringing colder days, longer nights, and a natural invitation to slow down.
Slow living can feel essential at this time of year, helping to ground yourself in the rhythm of the seasons and gently prepare for fresh growth in spring. For some people, a slower way of living extends beyond the winter season. In recent years, the Slow Living Movement has emerged as an antidote to an increasingly fast-paced and overwhelming world, offering a more intentional and mindful way of life.
What is slow living?
The current Slow Living Movement is credited with having evolved from the slow food movement, which began in Italy in 1986. It has evolved into a global effort for sustainable and accessible food for communities.1https://climate-pact.europa.eu/meet-community/climate-pact-partners/slow-food_en Slow living has emerged from these ideas, with people combining aspects of minimalism and mindfulness to create a way of life that slows down the modern, fast-paced life we’re all used to.
There is no one exact way to define slow living, but many people follow similar principles of:
- Intentionality
- Balance
- Mindfulness
- Simplicity
- Quality over quantity
Journalist Carl Honoré is a prominent figure in the movement, with many people referencing his book, “In Praise of Slow”. He gave a TED talk on the topic, where he discussed the difficulty of slowing down; he was living in a state of constant, fast-paced activity, and even had trouble reading his son a bedtime story at a normal pace. Slowing down became important for his relationships and his everyday life.
Reducing stress (which is arguably a result of slowing down!) helps minimise activation of the sympathetic nervous system, also known as the fight-or-flight response. Staying activated in a chronic stress state can have negative impacts on your health and wellbeing. Read more about this here – The science of stress: signs, symptoms and strategies
Ways to incorporate slow living into your daily life
You don’t need to go full throttle and live an off-grid life in the woods (though there are times this sounds appealing) – slow living is about mindset more than anything else. Small shifts can go a long way in alleviating overwhelm, balancing busyness and staying present. You don’t need to commit perfectly, but the overarching principles can guide you towards a more aligned life.
Intentionality
Figure out what’s truly important. You can fall into the trap of thinking that you need to juggle all the balls, all the time. Prioritising what deserves your time and energy right now is the best way to cultivate intentionality, rather than trying to squeeze everything in.
Top tip – Choose three priorities each week; these aren’t tasks but areas of focus. Use these to guide your decisions and let everything else that isn’t urgent wait. You may find some tasks fall away naturally or can be tackled at a later date.
Balance
Leave space for rest. Balance can only exist when there is space for it. Busyness can often masquerade as productivity, but without balance, it’s easy to burn out. Create periods of space to rest, think, and feel.
Top tip – Try taking a technology break. Our modern lives are primarily spent on our devices,2https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c39prelx2mxo and the constant influx of information can be overwhelming, silently stealing time from other activities. Create times of day when you are screen-free, such as before going to bed, during meals, or in the mornings.
Mindfulness
Embrace the present moment. It’s easy to live in the past or the future, whether you’re focused on future goals, trauma or struggling to stay grounded in the present. You don’t need to be a meditation master to achieve this; you can start by simply noticing where you are and how you feel, and employ techniques to help clear your mind.
Top tip – Create a mindful practice, whether through breathwork or meditation. These are underrated tools for staying calm and reducing stress. Simple breathwork techniques can shift your nervous system.3https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00353/full You can find some here.
Simplicity
Simplify to clear your head. Simplicity invites us to slow down by removing what isn’t needed. It doesn’t mean boring – it’s intentional curation of your time, energy, space and attention. Curating what you need can create a sense of calm in your everyday life.
Top tip – Pick an area of your life to simplify. It might be your own secret Monica closet from Friends, your bathroom make-up drawer or your to-do list. Tackle one area at a time to reduce overwhelm, and do this periodically to help reduce clutter, both mental and physical.
Quality over quantity
Slow down decision-making to make better choices. Sometimes we react in the moment, causing us to say yes to things we wish we had thought about more deeply first. This means you may be saying yes to many things, instead of choosing the few you actually want. Pausing gives you time to think and ask yourself questions. You can slow down your decision-making to make choices that better align with your capacity and needs.
Top tip – Before making decisions, ask yourself, ‘Do I have the capacity? Does this align with my current priorities?’ Bonus if you give yourself a couple of days or weeks to think about it. This works for events, large and small purchases or bigger life changes.
Slow living is about choosing mindfulness, balance and simplicity, allowing space for what truly matters. Moving with intention helps you start the new year grounded and refreshed!
Looking for more support this New Year? Check out these articles –
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