I started practising the idea of slow living just before we were thrust into an imposed quarantine because of you-know-what. During the pandemic I kept seeing snippets of slow living as I scrolled my social media feeds. People were sharing how they were living more ‘slowly’ now they weren’t doing their long daily commutes and working at full capacity. So, what is slow living and how can you bring more of it into your life?

Slow living isn’t about hard and fast rules. Different people live it in different ways, especially when you’re first giving it a go. I think it defeats the point trying to do everything at once, and it goes against the very nature of living slowly and becoming more conscious of the choices you make. Here are a few things I picked up from researching slow living and how I’ve started working it into my life.

Slow living isn’t about going ‘off-grid’

While I’ve made some changes to my usage of social media and the internet, living a slower life isn’t ultimately about leaving social sites, or reducing the time you spend online. For me, it’s more about choosing my time wisely. I could usually spend hours and hours scrolling endless content on various sites, especially now that loads of the best ex-Viners have now got TikTok accounts! But I’ve realised that while it was ok that I did that with my time, it wasn’t bringing me as much happiness as I thought. Now I try to make the best use of my time on my social accounts, like seeing only what my family and close friends are up to and sharing non-perfected/airbrushed photos on my accounts.

Of course I’m not perfect. There are times where I don’t get out of bed until 11.30am on a Sunday because I’ve watched Instagram Story after Story after Story and refreshed Twitter seventy million times. But it’s not happening as much as it used to, and I’m pretty pleased with that.

It doesn’t mean taking longer to do things

I wouldn’t say slow living is about taking your time with things either. Yes it could mean trying to complete tasks or projects without rushing or going too fast, but for me slow living is more about savouring the minutes and hours you put into things and trying to do things as best as you can. As an example, I used to complete cross stitch projects with the intention of getting them up on Instagram to show them off as quickly as possible. I didn’t want to spend weeks trying to finish it and then post it on my socials in three months time.

But slow living helped me change my mindset about that. Why was I so much more interested in the gratification of likes about my project than I was about actually enjoying doing it? Honestly, what is the point in that! I’m pleased to say I’ve been working on a simple pattern for over 12 months now and it’s been sitting in the corner of my bedroom on a stand for at least four of those. I’m really looking forward to sharing it with people, but I’m savouring the work I’m putting into it and honestly think it looks so much neater and careful than some of my previous projects.

Keeping my home tidy can slip into similar routines

A few years ago, amid the hype of the cleaning influencer on Instagram, I discovered The Organised Mum Method. Now, I’m not a mum and I’m not massively organised at home either, but I really liked how TOMM seemed to slip nicely into my new slow living way of thinking. The method comprises of 30 minutes cleaning from Monday to Friday, with a focus each day on a single room. I used to clean by way of getting so frustrated with how filthy and messy everything was I’d rage clean and end up having a horrible time of it. Now me and my husband do 30 minutes a day, and the method is so flexible you can change up the room focuses and the type of cleaning you want to do. Because we share it, we’re only really doing 15 minutes a day each.

Again however, I’m not perfect on this one! Some weeks I barely lift a finger (except to move dirty plates from one counter to another so I can create more mess) and that’s ok. But the good thing is I’m more conscious about how TOMM can support my slow living ethos. Little and often, considered and careful. I don’t frustrate myself as much as I used to over mess and clutter (which still exist in my home by the way) but if there’s a magic cat hair cleaner somewhere out there, it would make cleaning even easier!

So there you go, a few things I’ve learnt since researching slow living and introducing it, well, slowly. I’d be really interested to know if you’ve started living slowly and how you’ve brought it into your mindset, so tweet me @slowerliving and let me know!