How to slow down and enjoy life: 4 questions to help you start
How to slow down and enjoy life
Do you know that heavy feeling that makes you feel behind before you even get out of bed? Too much to do, not enough time to do it, and the monotony of rush plagues us. It is time to draw a line in the sand and shift towards a life-modification that allows us to slow our roll.
818,000,000 people have searched for the term slow living, a movement that promotes a shift to an intentional lifestyle that allows breathing room.
Slow Living 101 defines slow living as “about well being and doing everything as well as possible instead of as fast as possible. Slow living is conscious, intentional, mindful, and living deeply. Slow living is an organic and natural way of living. Slow living is balance, ease, sanity, and low stress.”
Wait, don’t leave yet. Are you thinking this sounds like a pipe dream for people without real-life demands? I get it.
We don’t have to give up a full life to pursue a slower one! But if we aren’t careful, we miss the moments that make us sigh with delight.
Deep breaths that clear our heads and jumpstart our motivation. The reordered thinking that encourages us to find joy and gratitude in the unhurried moments.
A fast-paced life can steal all the slow if we don’t fight against it.
You can learn to balance realistically. To enjoy ease with margin. To find sanity in the midst. To alleviate stress you aren’t meant to carry.
4 questions to help you slow down and enjoy life
Pinpoint your top time- suck that demands you act urgently or things might fall apart?  It might be an authentic need, or, it might be an area that we can ask for help in. What is the small change you can make to alter that pattern that allows you room to breathe? Who can be asked to carry the load for you?
Perhaps it is giving the kids more responsibility, and holding them accountable. Letting a friend carry the load with you, instead of trying to power on because it seems easier than asking of help. Consider the primary roadblocks to a slower lifestyle so they can be fine-tuned to allow breathing room.
What are you willing to sacrifice to find margin? My pastor calls these kinds of questions “throat punches” in his sermons. The ones that make us cringe, even while we ask them. I have been guilty of taking on too many projects, saying yes to too many people, all in the desire to please everyone. All the time. That was the old me.
Are you in a space where you are willing to cut out the good, the important commitments…for the sake of soul peace? If not, don’t be hard on yourself. It isn’t always an option to sacrifice a lot in our seasons. Please do reflect though, on where you CAN let go of some to gain peace for yourself. It isn’t always our responsibility to fill the gaps. Margin requires us to make the hard choice to step back sometimes for a bit of soul care…and it is a wonderful feeling once we do!
Is it really about productivity, or filling an empty hole? This is a sensitive point, and I get it. There are seasons where we really DO need to get stuff done (i.e. homeschooling, parenting small children, a big project at work). However, there are also “heart” issues that can drive us to head into chaos just because it might feel like a “known” place.
We become complacent even in its discomfort because we don’t stop to investigate what drives us. I gently am compelled to say, as one former hole filler to another, is it about feeling “needed” as much as wanting to be a help? That, my friends, is a slippery slope.
Who says you need to do more…and why do you listen to that voice? I’m not saying you shouldn’t…but I am suggesting you really stop to evaluate the impact those voices have. And, if they are credible and encouraging, or condemning?
Why is slowing down important?
Pause to live intentionally, it forces us to consider how UNintentionally we’ve actually been living! Life has a way of dictating our time for us when we don’t pay attention.
When busy with marriage, or kids or jobs or anything that consumes our time…chaos can easily drive our patterns. This isn’t a faulty choice always on our parts, it is just a normal part of life. There is a simple way to combat that…
Reflection on how we really want to spend our time is a wonderful foundation to build a slower life upon. A few small shifts in our routine and those extra moments feel monumental in our peace of mind!
Questions that are so weighty, like the 4 above, can be uncomfortable to sit in. Yet, without the pause to decide how we want to live our lives? We risk just going with the flow. The fast-paced, rat-raced flow.
Slow living is an art form that simply says “enough”.
What does a slow life look like?
My parents live in the mountains, about a mile up from the hustle of SoCal. Up on the edge of a forested street, time seems to go slower.
We joke about “mountain time”, where the pressures slip away and suddenly our breathing seems slower. Our edges soften and our grit dissolves, while we breathe deeply. The clock almost feels irrelevant.
There, busy-ness is altered by fresh air and living in a town that is slow and quiet. Above and away from the rush of the masses.
We become aware of the simple beauty of ordinary things once again, without the chaos of the “musts”.
Contentment in slowing down
Most of us can’t escape up the hills, but we CAN find a similar peace by eking out the moments that restore us. In whatever unique ways that might be!
We want to embrace the moments of life and truly live them without wondering where all the time went. We want to choose a lifestyle that fulfills and allows us to live in a meaningful way.
Content in the moment, because we understand that it considered time, not just hurried time.
Your turn- what are your thoughts on implementing a slower life…even if only by a small shift? If this post encouraged you, please share with others! Thank you…
Resources to help you slow down:
The Art of Rest: Faith To Hit Pause In A World That Never Stops
Peace with the Psalms: 40 Readings to Relax Your Mind and Calm Your Heart
Find Peace: A 40-day Devotional Journey For Moms
Seeking Slow: Reclaim Moments of Calm in Your Day
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WOW! You feature our own home surroundings, yet see things so much deeper than I. It is intentional observation; something that takes effort. Thank you for bringing that around again! Love you!
Awwww, shucks. Yes, it IS a practice and one that continues to be worth every moment spent cultivating it!
You are so right! It took me many years to learn to slow down, but as I have, I have learned to connect better with God, build better relationships with my family and friends, and overall just be happier.
That is awesome to hear Julie! It really does pay off. Sometimes it needs a frequent reset, but it is such a worthwhile investment of effort 🙂
This is SO GOOD. Especially during this time of having the pressure to do all the things!
Thank you Ashley, there really IS so much pressure! Sometimes, do you find like I do, that I put a ton more on MYSELF that isn’t necessary?
I have become severely disabled the past few years, at a time when it should have been my time. I had been caring for my mother for the last 15 years of her life while raising a daughter as a single parent. I lost my father, and both stepparents, my son, my husband, both of my brothers and a sister. (My siblings died between 39-50). I lost my mother a couple of years ago and my daughter moved away a few months later. So, I basically lost them both as I was losing my health and my mobility.
I have always been the repairman, and ms fix-it. Now, I am basically confined to a wheelchair, but I still have all the responsibilities of homeownership, and now on a fixed income. I am still trying to do all repairs myself, including renovations due to hurricane damage. I also try to keep my house cleaned and the grass below knee high. Forget the flower beds!
There is always so much to do, and now that I work at a snails pace, for short periods of time, I am so disgusted with myself for not getting things done before more pile up.
As my health declined, so did my friends. All the people I helped, even the church “family” all turned to someone else, and I became irrelevant to them. I guess it’s human nature to cling to folks that you can depend on, but what happens when those folks need someone? I haven’t gotten the answer to that.
I know that I am hard on myself, but it seems that when I try to slow down and do things that I can do, that I enjoy doing, something else breaks or wears out.
I don’t know how to slow down my thoughts or expectations of myself. I don’t know how to postpone doing things for fear of the pile growing exponentially.
It seems that the mountain is getting taller and I can’t even enjoy the climb.
I have been praying about it and I have spoken to the mountain.
Oh Susie, what a painful and challenging road you have been on. I am so sorry for all of your loss! I pray that a strong and loving community rallies around you, and encourage you to not withdraw into yourself. I understand too well losing health, and my heart goes out to you. Please extend yourself tons of grace for not getting things done. Even if you do nothing but spend time in God’s presence, that is enough. YOU are enough ♥