In last week’s blog, we looked at “burnout”; how to prevent it, signs and symptoms, and treating it. So, this week, we are looking into a term that has been surfacing the internet the last couple of years that links extremely closely to stress: Slow Living.
“Slow Living” can be defined as,
A lifestyle which encourages a slower approach to aspects of everyday life, involving completing tasks at a leisurely pace.
Our society is extremely fast-paced, to the point where objects such as hoovers that do the job themselves, cars that practically drive themselves, and everything we need on a tiny little screen. Our lives are basically a stream of demands: work, family, time…
This means that we often feel ourselves getting stressed, and often reaching the point of burnout. We constantly feel like we need to be on-the-go, and this barely gives us any time to focus on ourselves and our mental health.
However, as we mentioned, slow living is a term that has been circulating the internet over the past couple of years, and there are many trends that we don’t hop on to, but this one… we like!
Slow living is all about going back to our roots of being present in the moment, reducing screen time, and reducing the pressure to be on-the-go all the time. It is often associated with leisure-time and all of the things that we don’t give ourselves enough time to do or push to the side because we feel guilty when we don’t do what we “should” be doing.
It is often associated with and takes inspiration from the Danish and Norwegian lifestyle, Hygge (Hoo-ga)…
Hygge can be defined by the Oxford Dictionary as,
A quality of cosiness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being.
To give you more of an idea, some words that are associated with slow living are:
Wholesome
Cosy
Calm
Relax
Connection
Intention
Harmony
Joy
Natural
Because of the fast-paced world that we live in today, we lose our connection with the things that matter most to us, whether that may be family, self, mental health, physical health, and happiness.
Therefore, slow living allows us to re-connect with these things and reduce stress.
When we face trauma or suffer from mental health problems, we often either completely shut down and feel no motivation to do the things we love, or we go-go-go so that we don’t have to think about it.
However, slow living is a lifestyle that aims to help you not have to face both of these issues because they can be damaging.
No one is saying you have to live everyday “slowly”, although it would be lovely its not always possible… but having one day a week or every evening after work to dedicate yourself to slow living can ultimately rejuvenate you and reduce your stress levels.
Here are some ways that you can implement slow living into your life:
Cooking
Reading
Gardening
Reduce screen time
Take your time getting ready/unready
Baking
Painting
Drawing
Walking in nature
Cleaning
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