Slow Living: Pros & Cons
[video transcript]
Have you ever felt like life is just too much? You want to slow down, but it feels overwhelming? Because you know that for all the photos of perfectly brewed coffee in earthenware mugs, simple and slow living isn’t so easy as it looks.
My name is Kat, welcome to episode 2 of the slow living guide, where I give you the A to Z on slow living, and hopefully provide a pocket of calm in your day. In episode 1 I chatted about the origins of slow living and how it links with simple living – I’ll leave a link for you to check out at the end of the video. This week I’m discussing the pros and cons of the slow living lifestyle. Make sure to subscribe and hit the notification bell, so you don’t miss the rest of the series. Let’s start with a con.
Con 1. It takes A LOT of practice
Slow living is simple, but it isn’t easy, at least not to begin with. It takes a lot of daily practice and can feel like an uphill battle against the modern world at times. At the start of the video, you may remember I said, “make sure you subscribe and hit the notification bell, so you don’t miss the rest of the series.” This could be considered an example of using the fear of missing out to get you to subscribe, and it’s exactly what much of the industry uses to try to get us to buy things we don’t need or do things that won’t bring us lasting joy.
Now, there is nothing wrong with marketing techniques if the item being advertised is one that will genuinely benefit you (such as this series) – as this is a win-win for both the consumer and the industry. The important thing is to slow down before acting, in order to maintain an awareness of when it’s happening so that you can make a rational decision based on your own choice, rather than out of compulsion. The thing about this practice of slowing however, is that the positive results can be, well, slow, in emerging. Willpower is enough to get started, but it’s daily habits and systems that keep it going. Slow living isn’t a quick fix to our fast-paced lives, but rather a daily practice of choosing not to get sucked into the noise.
Pro 1. It Gets Easier with Time
On the flip side, a big pro is that slow living practices feed into themselves. The more you slow down, the more natural it feels, until it disperses throughout your life and relationships. For example, if you cultivate the habit of only checking your social media at set times during the day, for limited time periods, you strengthen your muscles of self-discipline, which may then make it easier for you to stay focused on work tasks.
Con 2. Slowing Down Forces Us to Face Ourselves
Another potential con, though one with a silver lining, is that slowing down forces us to face ourselves, and that can be really hard. When we rush through our to do lists and keep ourselves busy with events, it’s easy to keep shoving down parts of ourselves that we would rather not face, as a kind of repression. Suppression is, of course, a healthy practice of putting issues temporarily in a box on a shelf, to deal with later in a safer space. Repression, however, is the act of continually putting problems in a box on a shelf and then ignoring it until it inevitably overflows and falls on your head. When we start saying no to busyness and taking space to be alone with ourselves, difficult emotions can come up. Unresolved grief, ignored fears, unfulfilled dreams. The fact that none of us are quite as perfect and “together” as we like to portray on social media. Many of us don’t even realize the extent of the pain that we carry, buried deep. I know I certainly didn’t until I slowed down.
However, when you find the pain of the past in those quiet moments, you have a choice whether to run away and launch back into a busy, numbing life, or to face it head on and find a way through.
Pro 2. It Decreases Anxiety
This brings us onto the next pro. Through slowing down to sit quietly and process my emotions in a healthy way, I’ve found a massive decrease in my anxiety levels. For myself, much of my healing has come through a combination of prayer, therapy, community, and creative practices. None of this would have been possible if I continued to rush about, prioritising my workload over my soul. Slowing down can also give a clearer perspective on life, which leads to wiser decision making, and an overall calmer sense of presence in the everyday.
Con 3. It’s a Drastic Lifestyle Change
Adopting a slower lifestyle can feel overwhelming at times, especially if it is a big change to the way that you currently live. Any lifestyle change can feel strange and different or even require a kind of rewiring of the mind. In light of this, there is a danger that an unrealistic approach to slow living can become just another failed goal for the inner critic to jump on your back about.
There’s a story where Jesus and his followers are walking through a field and a bunch of religious leaders start criticizing his friends, because they’re picking grain to eat on the Sabbath, the day of rest – an action which the religious leaders considered to be work, and therefore unlawful. Now Jesus’ response is this: “Sabbath is made for people, not people for the Sabbath”. In the same way, the concept of slow living was designed for the benefit of people, not to be yet another item on the To Do list.
If we start out by setting the bar too high or placing unfair expectations on ourselves, we may end up feeling more disheartened than when we began. If, however, we accept that the process of transitioning to a slower way of life will take time and practice, we will find more calm and peace in the end.
Pro 3. Increased Productivity
The other thing you may find through slow living is an increased level of productivity and efficiency, as you are working from a place of rest. This may seem counterintuitive but hear me out. Though it may be tempting to work longer hours to get more done, studies have shown that this can actually decrease our productivity. In one particular study, it was demonstrated that productivity levels are capped at about 55 hours per week – amongst participants, there was little difference between the amount of work they completed in 55 hours versus 70 hours in a week.
If you think of the body like a car, this makes a lot of sense. It isn’t logical to expect a car to keep running when all its fuel has been spent, so why do we expect it of ourselves, especially when we are so much more valuable than the vehicles we drive. Even Albert Einstein invested his time in what could be described as slow living practices – when his work started to feel too much, he would step away and relax by listening to some classical music or going for a walk to clear his head. If it’s good enough for Albert Einstein, it’s good enough for me.
I’d love to know what you do to unwind when life is getting a bit much – let me know in the comments below. Once you’ve left me your thoughts, make sure to like the video, share it with a friend who you think might benefit from the message, and subscribe to make sure that you don’t miss future content. Next episode, I will be chatting about Slow Food so come and join me for a bite. Until next time, it was lovely to have you here.
