7 Practical Steps to Start Slow Living Today

Slow living is not an online aesthetic or a fantasy. You can create a life of calm and joy within your current means and circumstances if you are ready to put in some work. Yes, you read this right. Slow living doesn’t mean unemployment and idleness; rather, it means directing your energy and time towards the right things.

Ironically, the fast world offers you quick fixes and instant gratification with very little effort, but the overall price you pay is much higher than most people realise. The ready-made, highly processed food delivered straight to your door might be delicious and perfectly fine here and there, but in the long run, it will cost your health. The must-have, trending clothes don’t just cost money; they also cost the time you spend earning them in an often stressful job. The entertainment you are supposed to get from scrolling through social media takes away your peace of mind and precious hours from your day.

My online spaces have welcomed a lot of new faces in recent months, so I thought I owed you a back-to-basics post with very real, down-to-earth advice on how to start your slow-living journey right now and feel the changes pretty quickly. I know that when you start, motivation runs high, and you want to get going and feel that something is shifting, it’s perfectly normal! But it’s important to remember that slow living is not a quick fix or a one-size-fits-all solution.

Slow living isn’t a performance; it’s a lifelong practice. You might fall in and out of good habits, and not every day will be perfect, but what I need you to take from this blog post is that our lives are built on small choices. Every day, try to make as many of them as possible. Even if you fall out, forget, or get impatient, that’s ok. Slow living will always welcome you back with open arms. Just keep coming back to the small, good choices, and over time, picking them will be easier and will eventually become second nature. When you look back in a year, you’ll see that you’ve made more good choices than bad ones, and that life feels easier and more peaceful.

Below are the very first, basic steps to simplify your life and get started on your slow living journey today. My regular readers or seasoned slow living practitioners might be familiar with all of this, but I think there is no harm in repeating it - after all, slow living teaches us that the simple things usually work best. 

7 steps to start slow living today, building a life that feels good and meaningful, on your own terms.

1. Change your mindset

Start by naming the main difficulties in your life. Is it work-related stress, or self-inflicted, like comparing yourself to people online or spending money to feel better? Or maybe a bit of both? The truth is that life will never be perfect, and you can feel like a victim for the rest of your life, or choose to make the most of your days. Slow living is not the absence of inconvenience (that’s impossible in life) but finding joy and beauty in this one imperfect life we have on this earth. Stop expecting life to become a dream; instead, search for the small, dreamy moments in your everyday life.

2. Limit phone usage

It is interesting that a device smaller than an hour hand has taken over the lives of millions of people worldwide. Scrolling and checking your phone are addictions, and the majority of my readers agree that limiting phone use was a game-changer on their slow-living journey. When you are constantly online, you start comparing yourself to people you will never meet and spending money on things you absolutely don’t need. This stops today. Of course, you are not a monk, and you are welcome to scroll a little, but be in control of how much time you spend on those tiny apps on your phone. Real life happens offline, and when you put the phone down, you will have more time to actually enjoy it.

3. Delutter your home

This might feel like a catharsis, a cleansing in preparation for a new beginning. The visual clutter adds to mental chaos, so start with the main areas of the house and move to hidden corners and cupboards. From now on, be picky about what you bring into your home and shop only for items that are meaningful and bring you lasting joy.

4. Calm your (overactive) mind.

The most common disturbers of the peace (is not Gandalf :D) are opinions and interactions with others. It’s natural - personalities clash, things get said, and our brains love to overthink tiny details. This can ruin your entire day, so from now on, instead of adding fuel to your already busy brain, you will start working to calm it. When someone upsets you, give yourself time to think it through, reach a conclusion, and move on. Stop your brain from going over and over it for hours, because it can suck joy from even the most beautiful and peaceful day. Sometimes the best you can do is accept that some people cannot be changed, and it’s not your responsibility to do so anyway. 

5. Tune in with nature

From now on, nature is becoming your favourite influencer. Instead of shopping for trendy clothes, you’ll look up what trendy (aka in-season) meals you can cook from scratch. Instead of scrolling away your time, put on your walking boots and go into the woods. Hug a tree, touch the grass, smell the soil. The benefits are incredible. If those multibillionaires could, they would bottle it up and sell it to us, but thankfully, nature is available to all of us for free. Observe the seasons and moon phases, get to know your local birds and the names of flowers. Once you tune in with nature and the seasons, you’ll be able to look at the things you once chased from outside and see how unimportant so much of it is in the grand scheme of things.

6. Practice gratitude

Real, deep gratitude for the people, things and possibilities in your life. I don’t want you to mindlessly recite what your rational brain knows you should be grateful for, but to look within and feel it in your body. Your children, that wonderful person you get to wake up to each morning, healthy hands that allow you to turn the pages of books, cook and create art. We are surrounded by the most precious thing, without which our lives would often fall apart, and yet we stress about getting a new handbag or whether our home is Instagram-worthy. Be grateful for what is already present in your life before you reach for more.

7. Turn consuming into creating

This is the secret to slow living. The modern world wants us to consume - food, content, fashion, holidays. You are supposed to consume it and quickly move on to the next thing. The remedy is creating. Instead of takeaway, cook from scratch. Instead of scrolling on your phone, paint, bake or embroider. Creating keeps you rooted in the present moment and in reality. It gives you a feeling of satisfaction and achievement. It keeps you sharp and younger for longer. But most importantly, it makes you immune to mass culture, working only to spend and dreaming about a perfect life, while your own perfectly fine life passes you by.

I hope these points give you a clear direction on where to start your slow living journey. Some things might come easily, like tuning in with nature, while others, like breaking phone addiction, might be harder. The point is that you can start acting on each of these things today, beginning your journey to a calmer, happier life without further delay. 

If you'd like to be inspired weekly about slow, seasonal living, sign up for my newsletter - I'd love to see you there. I send an email every Saturday morning with musings about life, the seasons of the English countryside, and our small business updates. Each email includes a slow-living prompt designed to help you see the joys and beauty already present in your life.

Thank you for reading,

Adriana x