Slow life, slow living... You may have read about these terms in the press, but do you really know what they mean?
It's an invitation to slow down, to go against the grain of our fast-paced lifestyles, in a world where busy-ness is valued.
Easier said than done, you may say... And yet... Whether in the professional or personal sphere, it is possible to learn to slow down. We explain it all in this article!
What is the slow life?
It's about putting on the brake, slowing down the frenetic pace that sometimes drags us along in spite of ourselves.
For its proponents, slow life is an art of living: it means taking back time, living in harmony with our environment. It is an awareness, a refusal to continue to live a frantic pace. It also means leaving the virtual to live in the real. It is to recreate the human link with the others but also ourselves.
Why slow down?
Have you noticed how much we hate to wait anymore? We want everything now, even if it means getting delivery on Sunday or eating strawberries in the middle of winter.
With speed, we may know what we have gained, especially in time and money, but we don't yet know how much we have lost.
Franck MICHEL (Journey to the end of the night)
This disruption of the relationship with time deeply affects us all and every day we see the ecological and ethical problems... But what about us, our psychological health? Burn-out, depression, chronic anxiety... Diseases and symptoms that seem to be almost commonplace now. It is urgent to slow down, isn't it?
What are the benefits of the slow life?
Slowing down is putting flavor back into our daily lives. Pascale d'ERM, author of the book "Vivre plus lentement, un nouvel art de vie "* shares experiences of radical and... happy changes of pace. For isn't this our ultimate quest? Happiness? Knowing how to appreciate small precious moments captured in the space of a moment, we just have to learn to see them by slowing down.
How to slow down in everyday life?
Slowing down will be done at your own pace :). Depending on your personal and professional situations, you will not have the same priorities. Choose an expected benefit and take a step that will allow you to reach it slowly. Sudden changes are difficult to sustain over time but small steps are!
Here are some examples to help you:
- Define each morning your three priorities for the day: for yourself, your family and/or your work
- Turn off notifications and accept that you are not always available. Have you looked at your screen time on your phone? Do so and you'll see that you'll have time for that famous workout 🙂
- Take breaks. According to Illich's Law, no one is productive and efficient all day (I'll give you our article on the laws of time management). Breaks help boost productivity and concentration. To help you, the Pomodoro method is very interesting, try it(https://pomofocus.io/).
- Take time for yourself. You are your priority. No one else can do it but you :). A few months ago, I shared with you some tips on how to get into a wellness routine. A few minutes a day already offers benefits.
And for an even more in-depth work, try our SOPHRO-COSMETIC sessions and our SOPHRO CURES. In 30 minutes, you will discover the benefits of the mask for your skin and the sophrology session for your mind.
As we all know intimately, we need to learn to decelerate. Start with simple and easy actions. Experiment and adopt what suits YOU. Moreover, many initiatives are emerging and from now on, we talk about slow food, slow management, slow city or slow travel. But do we really need Anglo-Saxon terms to make some obvious things trendy?
*Ulmer, coll. Les Nouvelles Utopies.
