I grew tired of the rat race and wanted to slow my life down.
These 5 slow living lifestyle lessons have been helping me to gradually change my life, one small step at a time.

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Chapters:

00:00 lockdowns in 2020
00:41 joy of missing out
02:12 ichi-go ichi-e
03:54 not perfect
05:56 we don’t need more than we think
07:00 not a competition

The lockdowns in 2020 changed our lives in so many ways.
Suddenly there's no time in the office, no school drop off, and almost no traveling.

Without the usual structure and transitions in our day to day, time seemed to slow down. And to a certain degree, whether we liked it or not, our life slowed down along with it.
The slow pace of life during the lockdown gave me time to reflect on things I never considered before. And four years later, these slow living lessons that made sense to me then still make sense to me now.

Joy of Missing Out

I've always been fond of making plans. My diary would be full of travel plans, social events and meetups. But during the pandemic, I had to put many of my plans on hold.

I had weeks where there was nothing going on. This triggered feelings of emptiness and fear of missing out, especially after getting used to being busy and going somewhere most of the time.

But as months went by and the dust began to settle, I slowly adapted to a slower and less busy lifestyle. From fear of missing out, I was starting to warm up to the joy of missing out.

The joy of missing out is a breath of fresh air in a culture that glorifies busyness. It's not about disengagement or isolation, rather it's about intentional living.

It's having the freedom to say no to activities that drain us and yes to experiences that nourish our being. It’s not about ‘what can I accomplish?’ but ‘what do I want to accomplish?

Living deeply

There is a Japanese proverb, ‘ichi-go ichi-e’ (一期一会), which literally means ‘one time, one meeting’.

This understanding extends to our daily life. Every experience and encounter we have can never be replicated or recreated in exactly the same way.

But it's easy to take some things for granted when we think we'll have them all the time. During the pandemic, we didn't know when things would go back to the way they were.

Ichigo ichie is an invitation to be fully present in the moment - no matter where we are, what we're doing or who we are with.

We may not pass this way again and the people we love won't always be around.

In the words of Nobuo Suzuki, author of the book Wabi Sabi,
"We are ephemeral, but if we learn to appreciate the moment, that moment can contain all of eternity."

It's not photogenic

Google searches for slow living increased 4 times more in 2020 versus in 2019. The lockdowns gave us more time to reflect and reassess what really matters to us.

However, slow living is often projected in the media as an idyllic cottage life, where everything looks pretty, perfect and stress free

But this is the romanticized version and not a realistic portrayal of what living slowly truly is.

Slow living is plain, simple, and ordinary. It's intentionally setting aside pockets of time to physically slow down, mentally wind down, be present and cherish the small moments.

So Instead of being fixated on aesthetics, we can create our own realistic and practical version of a slow life that works for us.

We don't need more than we think

We all yearn for a certain level of comfort for our well being. And it's perfectly normal to work towards securing our essentials

Yet once our basics are covered and then maybe some extras, acquiring more stuff won't necessarily make us happier.

As the saying goes, "Focus on what others have and you feel that you have so little.
Focus on what you do have and you realize that you have so much.” Contentment and not the acquisition of more stuff is key to happiness

No hurry, no worry

In some cultures and societies, being busy is often perceived as a notable thing as it makes the person seem important, accomplished, or successful.

But it’s ironic how we can be really busy, racing against time, only to realize we've spread ourselves too thin on the wrong things. Or even more ironic – thinking we're working on the right things, but still feeling unfulfilled in the end.

A slow life does not mean coming to a full stop but pacing ourselves to move through life with intentional clarity and at a tempo that resonates with us.

Thank you for watching this video. I hope it added value to you. Wishing you a wonderful day or night and I hope to see you again next time.

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