How Slow and Simple Living Helped Me Find Joy in Less

We all know that we live in a world that is constantly pushing us to more, do more, have more, go faster, more is better. But what I've learned is that true joy and happiness is not through seeking more, but it's in appreciating what I already have now. But in order to appreciate it, I must first slow down so that I can actually see it and receive it. Today I'm talking about a few ways that you can slow down, practice slow living and intentional living to bring more joy, peace, and happiness into your life. The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. What slow living actually means? Well, it doesn't mean moving slowly. It doesn't mean not having goals or ambitions. It doesn't mean that to live slowly you have to live in the middle of a beautiful countryside or to be retired. It's about being intentional. Intentional with your time. Intentional with your energy. Intentional with your appreciation for the world around you. Slow living is about intentionally choosing to do less, but choosing to be present with whatever it is that you are doing. It's about giving yourself permission to honor your own pace and nurture your well-being. It's about creating pause in between all of our busy schedules. Instead of rushing from one thing to the next, pause and noticing and creating an ending and a beginning to each activity so that things don't just blend together. It's about slowing down enough that we don't miss the things that make life worth living. I have not always been a practitioner of slow living. I've been the opposite for most of my life. I had a packed schedule that was color-coded on the fridge and all of my family members had one in 15-minute increments. I wore being busy like I think many of us do, like a badge of honor, that our only worthiness is to be busy. And if we're not being busy, then somehow we're being less than or lazy maybe even. But in all of that scheduling and being busy and running kids from one thing to the next, I missed the most important thing, my kids' life. I was so busy making sure that homework was done and lunches were packed and my kids even had a packed, packed schedule. From right after school until bedtime, they had so many activities scheduled. So not only in my busyness and my pace of life or what I thought it should look like, I was robbing myself of this precious time with my kids and I was also robbing them of the precious time that they had to just be children. I had to learn how to do less, but to do it much better. And to achieve this, I had to slow down. I had to look at my schedule and decide what were the things that didn't really matter that much. What were some things I could eliminate from my schedule in order to open up actual time, like hours on the clock, time that I could be more present instead of just rushing all of the time. If you are someone who has a really busy schedule, you may need to practice saying no, especially if that word makes you uncomfortable. You definitely need to practice saying it a little bit more often before you commit to anything and adding it in your schedule and having it impact your quality of life. Ask yourself, is this something that I even actually care about? Is it something I even want to do? Or am I just doing it out of a feeling of obligation or worry that if you say no, they may feel bad or you're taking their problems on? These are all of the questions that you may consider asking yourself before you pack your schedule. And when you do commit to something, be present. Be fully present. Whether it's a conversation with a friend or something you're doing for work or a charity event, whatever it is, be in that moment. Instead of doing 10 things halfway, well, slow down, maybe just do 5 and see how you feel about that. I know in that time of my life when I was so busy, much busier than I actually needed to be, I thought that I was doing a great job at all these things and I was multitasking, getting it all done. And the truth is, I wasn't. I was doing everything just kind of, yeah, you know, mediocre, halfway, but definitely not my best. In slowing down, we really have the chance to embrace simple pleasures and joy in life. I think in our modern culture, we have lost sight of finding joy in simple pleasures. We think that joy is somehow summed up in a huge purchase or bigger house or a big vacation, when actually, joy is in the tiniest moments. It's noticing the laughter in someone that you care about. Joy is found in a delicious simple meal that you baked from scratch. Joy is found in the smell of fresh flowers. It is found in all of these tiny, tiny moments that make life beautiful. Asking yourself, when was the last time I actually paused to smell the flowers? Or was silent long enough to notice the birds singing? When was the last time you went outside on purpose to enjoy the sunset? These are the little moments that you will hold on to. These will be the things that you remember. Let go of comparisons and the hustle culture. Recognizing that what we see on social media is not the entire story. That is people's highlight reels. And that everyone has a life, and it's not always picture perfect. And it's definitely not what they're usually putting on their social media. So, choose wisely. If you are following a platform or a person that brings up a lot of anxiety or maybe even animosity within you, unfollow them. Because bringing in that kind of heaviness or self-doubt or anxiousness within you is simply just not worth it. I wish that I would have recognized in my younger years that being busy and that being productive is what I thought productive should be, was busy, was not my self-worth. I wish I didn't wear it like a badge of honor. I wish when someone asked me how I was, I had something to say other than busy. So, trying not to buy into the entire hustle culture. Instead, just being your unique self. We are not all meant to be go-getters. We are not all meant to wake up in the morning at 5am and just rush from one thing to the next until our heads hit the pillows at midnight. I want you to know that your value is not determined by your productivity or your accomplishments. You are valuable because you exist and that is enough. Give yourself permission to move at your own pace but also to rest and to replenish guilt-free. Slow down without feeling guilty about it. Slow living is not about doing nothing. It doesn't mean you need to be retired or to live out in the middle of the countryside. It is accessible for you every day by living more intentionally, pausing long enough to see the beauty and the life around you. You deserve to be happy. You deserve joy. You deserve to pause long enough to see the beauty in the world. Thank you so much for being with me today. Have a beautiful day, my friends.