What does it really mean to live in the present? Living here and now. Doing what you've always dreamed of doing. It's not always just a dream, but can become a reality with the Slow Living or Simple Living lifestyle as it's also called.
Living in the present is about taking in all your impressions and having time to reflect on them. Having time to catch the birds chirping in the morning. Having time to see the flowers on the way to the bus. Having time to stop at the grocery store and choose ingredients with care and not just running through the store and taking what you need.
It's also about enjoying the moments you get. For example, in the grocery store in line at the checkout. Instead of getting irritated, you can see it as a time when you can stop, breathe and have time to reflect on the day.
That you then have time at home to enjoy the food, feel every bite you take and have time to sit down and eat in peace and quiet without stressing yourself through the meal.
Most people today do not live this way. We are raised in a society today with stress. Where time counts and where time just goes faster and faster and the faster time goes the more we want to get done. The fact is that the more we stress, the less time we actually have. All work is done half-heartedly because we have such a great focus on so many things at the same time. Significantly more than what the brain is built for. Multitasking came about x number of years ago and it was thought then that if you have time to be more productive, everyone benefits from it. We are treated like machines at work and we are expected to perform at our best all the time but of course we do not.
Although breaks are recommended to give the brain time to recover, it is common in today's society that we also work during our breaks, our free time and our holidays. Today, many people are expected to check both their phone and computer during their free time. This benefits neither companies nor private individuals as rest is needed for recovery and processing. Never getting that rest leads to stress and if you also have a lot both at home and at work, negative stress that lasts for more than 6 months can make you sick. Fatigue syndrome, difficulty sleeping, problems eating are just some of the symptoms of stress in a negative form. Our fear-based escape behavior is in high gear all the time if we never get recovery.
And what can you do about this? First and foremost, it's about putting a value on yourself. Do I want to live this way? Do I want to be stressed and sick all the time? No, I didn't think so. Slow living offers a countersubstitute to this stressful everyday life that many people have today. Slow living makes life a little easier. This may seem far-fetched if you feel overwhelmed, but I can promise you that it's worth the effort if you're still prepared to invest in living a simpler life with less stress.
Many people say, I don't have time to… No matter what it is that you feel you don't have time for, you should reflect on what it is that makes you not have time. Is it that you go straight from work to shopping, or do you sit at home in front of the computer and click home goods? Are you too tired because you stayed up late and didn't get between 7 and 9 hours of sleep that an adult should have? Is it that… You can probably fill in what you spend your time on yourself, but I can say this. Most people spend far too much time acquiring and maintaining their things. A serious declutter is what is needed to get a handle on your time. I'm talking both actual things you can do and things on your computer and phone as well as in your own psyche. Friends who drain you, things you do that you don't really want to do but do anyway because they are expected of you. If you have a family that pulls you in different directions, you may need to have a family meeting where you go over what is expected of everyone and what needs to happen to make everyone feel good.
I can only take myself as an example. I have always liked shopping and working a lot. I have worked as a manager for several years and spent both evenings and weekends unpaid working, a manager is 24/7 just like you are a mother 24/7. I spent my income on new things, shopping, clothes, shoes, home furnishings. I worked hard to maintain society's standards until one day my body gave out and I became seriously ill. I had no choice but to slow down, stop working, stop shopping. I began to realize that my life was no longer sustainable, I needed to change myself and my own pattern. I stopped shopping for unnecessary things and started decluttering more intensively. One day I stood there and realized that thanks to changing my pattern, I could afford to live on my sick pay, I could take time to get well.I reflected and came to the conclusion that although I love being a leader and would love to be again someday, I needed a career change so I started studying healthcare to be able to help other people like I used to be, an overworking mother whose body was telling me off. I'm not saying it's easy, but I'm saying that by changing your pattern, you can change your situation. I can afford to study without savings because I've changed my buying pattern and live a simpler life outside of society's norms about owning the latest.
I don't want to push you into something you don't want, but with my words I want to bring hope that it is possible to change if you really want it. It is possible to live simpler and stop following society's norms. Will people frown on it, absolutely. Will there be people who don't believe in you, absolutely. Do you need to care about it, absolutely not. Follow your own path and your own heart and you will experience the benefits of this simpler lifestyle. And it doesn't end there. Once you have simplified your home, more changes will want to be implemented. Thinking about time and working more efficiently and reducing working hours, not filling your body with bad food but filling it with good energy that lasts a long time, seeing the world with new eyes. The benefits are many and living simpler definitely has its advantages, the fact is that I have only found advantages and not disadvantages of slow living/simple living. Do you also want to see all the advantages? Start living a simpler, richer life where people you love take your time instead of your things. Good luck. I believe in you, now you just have to believe in yourself.
