Slow Living How To: Getting Ready for the Slowest Ride of my Life with these 4 Areas of Focus

I suppose at times I can be an over-thinker. As I ponder creating my slow living blog, I’m overwhelmed on where to begin. I will begin here. This is a journey and there is nothing I can do to magically switch from my current lifestyle to an instantly slow and simple one. It’s going to take a little time.

So let’s jump in! Below are four areas of my current lifestyle that I’m getting real intentional about:

1. Decrease work anxiety – I currently work for a start-up laboratory in a new and competitive field. During the pandemic, I was laid off from my job with a local marketing firm. I was thrilled because that meant I could be creative with what I would do next. I started selling ephemera on eBay and I found it to be a lot of fun. I went out treasure hunting at auctions and estate sales, and found a lot of interesting items that people were excited to purchase from me. I began making decent money with that business, but not quite enough to get by. So I decided I would supplement my income with an easy, mindless office job. 

I found an administrative position at a local laboratory, and it seemed perfect. What I didn’t realize when I signed on was that because this was a startup company, there was going to be a ton of stress, and the original easy, mindless position I started out with had slowly morphed into a stressful management role. I gave up my fun ebay work since I was now working 10-hour days and had no mental energy to go treasure hunting and list items on ebay. 

Now, two years later, I’m working in a job that I didn’t intend to do in the first place. I am not feeling fulfilled.  I would like to make a living from my own personal endeavors as opposed to working for a company in a 9-5 capacity. This feels almost insurmountable at the moment, but I must remember to simply travel one step at a time. 

2. Whip my finances into shape – Due to a few small emergencies that have come up for me this year, I have a couple thousand dollars in credit card debt that I would like to pay off. I didn’t have an emergency savings account for such purposes, so in addition to paying off my debt, I would also like to start an emergency savings fund. 

Additionally, I live in a relatively inexpensive but very old house (built in 1900!). I would love to have an aggressive plan to pay off this house and fix it up a bit, but that will come later. It is on my radar for the future. Again, this feels insurmountable, but I will have to take it one step at a time.

3. Read more books and spend less time online and watching tv – I absolutely adore reading, and over the years I have witnessed my attention span getting worse and worse. I have a beautiful library within walking distance to my home, and can have practically any book available at my fingertips through the inter-library loan. This summer I vowed to read more. It began as a struggle, but I have read three books over the past few months. That may not sound like much but for me it’s a huge accomplishment! Over the past 10 or so years I have abandoned so many books simply because I wasn’t able to pay attention to them. Getting back to reading feels wonderful, and it’s something I want to keep up with now that it’s back in my grasp. 

4. Move my body – Movement is a major component to staying healthy, and although my diet is healthy and full of fresh fruits and vegetables and mostly home-cooked whole foods, my movement has been lacking. I used to be an avid runner, hiker, and into hiit training. Now I’m lucky if I get out and take a walk around the neighborhood a few times a week. In addition to that, I am sitting all day at work and my lower back is starting to feel the effects. I would like to intentionally incorporate daily movement into my life. I don’t even care if it’s only to take a walk or do yard work. Gyms have never especially appealed to me. I find being outdoors more invigorating. Perhaps I will get back to running, but for now consistent daily movement will suffice. 

The four items above are a small part of the path that I intend to travel. If you are just getting started, your list might look different depending on where you are in your life. These things are not meant to be a ‘to-do list’, but instead they are part of the vision of what a simple lifestyle looks like to me. They have come about as part of my collection of personal values, and they are based on the current resources that I have available to me. Some people may start out with less than I have. And some may start out with more. I think the important part is to create your own vision and practice living it out bit by bit. Here’s to more peaceful, intentional days!