Is living a slow & magical life with a 9-5 possible?

Practical tips for bringing magic into everyday life

Slow living.

When you read those words, what kind of image forms in your mind? Perhaps it is a clean, minimal, white and grey apartment where someone reclines with a book and sips on a cup of tea as they intermittently gaze out of the window. Perhaps it’s a beautiful woman in a floaty cottagecore-style dress carrying a woven basket of flowers through her garden. Or perhaps it’s a man who has given up all of his furniture to sleep in a hammock and has reduced his wardrobe to just fifteen items of clothing in an effort to live more simply.

Slow living has exploded in popularity in recent years, with more and more online creators promoting this way of living as something to aspire to. When I think of living slowly, those are certainly the images that come to my mind, because it doesn’t take much searching on YouTube or Instagram to see that image over and over. Beautiful homes, aspirational lifestyles, and seemingly unattainable amounts of free time seem to be the common denominator amongst this movement.

So for all of the ‘normal’ folk - the ones working shifts or office jobs, the ones with care responsibilities, or the ones with stacks of washing piled high and their email inbox overflowing, is this kind of lifestyle possible?

This is the question I have been coming back to again and again over the last couple of years, and experimenting with how to live this way whilst still having all of the responsibilities of a regular old life.

In this post we’re going to explore the question of what slow living actually is, why it’s popular, some considerations, and then practical tips for how you can try it in your life.

If you prefer video, you can watch the YouTube video here:

What is slow living?

If you do a simple Google search, Wikipedia tells us that, “Slow living is a lifestyle which encourages a slower approach to aspects of everyday life, involving completing tasks at a leisurely pace.”

From all of my research and own consumption of this type of content, I’ve pinned it down to these three core tenets - the laws of slow living, if you will:

• Being present in everything you do

  • Not rushing through every single task at break-neck speed, but really engaging in each one and revelling in the present moment

• Being intentional

  • Being intentional with your time - putting more thought into the things you do and focusing on each activity 100%, not letting your focus be elsewhere

  • Being intentional with the things you own - ensuring that you are not indulging in overconsumption, but instead owning things that bring you joy or are practical

• Simplifying your life

  • Saying no to more things instead of pushing yourself too hard, giving yourself more free time

  • Digitally decluttering your life of all of the online noise

  • Physically decluttering your space - including things like your home and your wardrobe

I’m keen to note that there are actually no hard and fast rules around slow living, these are just observations I have made of some common threads in all of the content I have seen.

Photo by Charlotte Thomas on Unsplash

Why is it growing in popularity?

As a society, we are tired. This much is clear from the continual rising levels of mental health issues such as anxiety and depression, the over-stimulation from online media, the pressures of modern-day working culture, and the break-neck speed at which life seems to be hurtling nowadays.

Being a human has never been easy by any stretch of the imagination, but we are living in a unique time where we are each facing challenges that are unprecedented and we quite simply have no idea how to deal with them.

I think Covid-19 also has a big role to play in the slow-living movement. Despite the many horrific and tragic circumstances of this time, we also had a strange occurrence that took place in the form of lockdowns, furlough from work, and the world around us essentially shutting down. For some people who had gone straight from school into work and never looked back, this was the first time in their life that they had simply nothing to do. They baked banana bread, experimented with new hobbies, read more books than they had in decades, and saw a glimpse into another life that could have been. Yes, it was a terrible time and none of us wish to be back in that situation, but for many folk, it was an eye-opening experience into a lifestyle that could have been.

Add to that the explosion of social media (especially through the form of short-form video content) constantly hammering in thousands of conflicting or stressful messages per day into our minds, the ever-growing cost of living crisis and financial worries, work and family life stresses, and global tensions and issues worldwide, and you’ve got a recipe for a society of people who feel utterly burnt out and fed up.

Is it any wonder people are flocking to watch videos of creators in beautiful homes with huge gardens baking sourdough bread and picking herbs for their cups of tea? Is it any wonder they are deeply craving a life that will bring them more stillness, more intentionality, and more meaning?

This aspirational content is wonderful and enjoyable to watch, but we need to remember to distance ourselves from it somewhat otherwise we fall into the trap of wishing our lives to be like that and feeling down on ourselves as we look around our own messy homes and rising debt.

Photo by Victoire Joncheray on Unsplash

Considerations

Before we get into practical tips and ideas on how to live a little more slowly, I want to take some time to talk about some considerations first, as I think it’s important to bear these things in mind and acknowledge the challenges of slow living.

• Everyone’s work is different

  • Some people work 9-5 jobs in an office in a relatively low-stress environment, others work remotely in their own home, others work in high-stress corporate situations, have long commutes, and others still may work long, ever-changing shifts in a medical profession

  • The job you have is going to significantly affect the way you choose to live slowly, and that is okay

• Everyone’s health is different

  • Some folk struggle with mental or physical illnesses or disabilities, this means that slow living will look different for them

  • This is okay - be kind to yourself

• Everyone’s lifestyle is different

  • Some people have caring responsibilities for children or other family members, giving them less free time

I think it’s important to bear these things in mind because often you can compare yourself to these influencers who literally create slow-living videos for a living. They will face their own challenges, yes, (and may choose to share or keep these private so that you would never know), but they ultimately have more control over their schedules and lifestyles.

When it’s your full-time job to look pretty and create a beautifully-curated environment, that makes things significantly easier.

Photo by Camille Brodard on Unsplash

Practical tips

So now let’s get into the good stuff. From experimenting over the years, these are the key things I would suggest if you’d like to start giving this a go and living more slowly.

1. Routines and rituals

Humans love routines and rituals. This much is true and has been proven time and time again throughout human history. There is something deep within us that tells us to create ceremonies in our lives, and in the modern day, this is easily lost.

Some ideas of how you can add mini rituals into your life and carve out special moments are through things like tea rituals, meal times, walks, and morning or evening routines. I love indulging in ‘tea rituals’, which quite simply means I take a little bit of time to really pay attention to my cup of tea and be present with it at that moment. I start with choosing the herbs, listening to my body and mind on what it needs support with at that moment, letting it steep and breathing in the scent, and then sipping on it slowly, focusing on the flavours and the nourishment of the plants.

I’m not huge on elaborate morning routines as I find my mind focuses very well in the morning so I prefer to get straight into work, but there are some small things you could do to centre yourself in the mornings. Perhaps you want to spend a few minutes outside (which is also great for your circadian rhythm), take a short walk, work out, read a book or journal.

This depends on where you work, but maybe you can take a little bit of time where you're not stimulated by your phone or work and can go and get lunch with a colleague or by yourself and create a little bit of breathing room in your day. You could take a walk, go outside and find a little bit of grass or a bench to sit on and try to focus on the meal.

Photo by Content Pixie on Unsplas

Getting dressed could also be a ritual for you if you like doing makeup or hair, or even if you don't do those things, just take time for yourself to wash your face, brush your hair and get ready for the day, choosing the things that are going to make you feel good to wear and just taking a few moments to focus on yourself.

However you choose to do it, the key thing is that you are intentional, focused and present in your time. Carving out time for ritual and creating little routines throughout the day where you really focus on being present and engaging with something can add so much value to everyday life.

2. Within your job

It’s easy to compare ourselves to folk online who don’t work in a traditional job, and perhaps are even content creators in the slow living space. Remember that they often have a lot of control over their schedule in a way that you may not, and they can choose to push things to another day if needed or create more space in their day. Of course, I’m not saying that their lives are easy and they’re never busy, but controlling your schedule is a major benefit of this kind of job.

I work in a traditional 9-5 marketing role, with the added benefit that I work remotely, which does allow me more time which would usually be spent commuting. I find it really difficult to foster any sort of feeling of slow living if my job is a mess and I am feeling disorganised at work. Of course, this is often out of my control and I deal with that as it comes, but there are some things I’ve found that help with this.

The first is getting really organised at work and making sure you’re on top of things. If you let work pile up, leave the to-do list and email inbox until they are unmanageable, and allow projects to get away from you, this can leak into normal life as well and cause you issues. I often have a lot of in-depth projects on the go, tons of meetings and lots of standard tasks that happen each week, so I need to be really on top of things. I like to have processes where I map out the larger projects and break them down into smaller, more manageable tasks, and then have things like Google Tasks and Google Calendar where I arrange what I’m doing each day. This means I’m in control as much as I can be of the work I’m doing and I won’t be getting overwhelmed as much.

Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash

I try as much as I can (though it’s often not always possible), to space out my meetings a little bit as well so I can get a little bit of breathing room in my days and I’m not back to back constantly. I mark out ‘focus time’ and block time on my calendar so other colleagues can see that I’m busy and hopefully not book me into meetings.

If you have to commute, perhaps you could start to view this as a time you can make the most out of, listening to a podcast, journalling on the bus, or even singing in the car are all little things that can enrich daily life.

3. An attitude of gratitude

It feels like everyone is talking about gratitude these days, and therefore it’s really easy to let this just wash over you and not really implement it, but gratitude and actively seeking out things to be happy about can make a big impact on everyday life.

I’ve seen a new word thrown about at the minute - glimmers. A glimmer is the opposite of a negative trigger, it’s something that brings positivity to your day instead. It could be worth starting a glimmer journal or even just on the notes app on your phone where you note down every time something makes you smile or every time you experience something you are grateful for.

Glimmers are the key to finding everyday magic and embracing it, which ultimately is what makes life worth living.

4. Embrace your free time

To follow on from the above point about saying no to things, I would say that you should still try and do things intentionally and have new experiences in your free time. We’re used to seeing a lot of the slow lifestyle shown through staying in, cosy nights alone and doing things at home, but we want to be careful not to get stuck inside forever.

It’s hard to have magical experiences if you don’t go out and experience things. Perhaps there’s a new hobby you have always wanted to try, or you could go to a new place you’ve never seen before. You can be soft and slow whilst still pushing yourself out of your comfort zone to expand your skills and knowledge.

Whilst working a full-time job, you can optimise days off such as weekends and evenings after work to explore new things and not just see them as a write-off while you wait for work to start again. Make sure you’re always looking for those glimmers!

Photo by Daniel Pintilei on Unsplash

5. Simplify your life

Simplifying your life can be anything but simple, but perhaps there are ways you could implement some quick changes right away. Simplifying your life can come in three ways: decluttering your possessions, decluttering your digital spaces, and opening up more time in your schedule.

I’m far from a minimalist, but a key theme that comes through time and time again in slow living is living more simply. If you’re constantly unable to find things because you’re wading through piles of mess, it can be hard to do this easily. Starting with one room at a time, see if you can start to clear things out and leave yourself only with things that are practical or beautiful.

Digital spaces are just as bad, and we’re constantly overstimulated enough these days when going online and on our phones, that anything we can do to reduce this should help. Perhaps you set some time aside each month to clear out your folders, organise your apps, and remove as much noise as possible.

Simplifying your life means that often you may say no to things. You should definitely push yourself and try new things, but maybe there are things in your day-to-day schedule that aren’t useful and enjoyable. Can you say no to more things and open up a bit of free space in your life?

6. Consider social media limits

I truly think it’s incredibly challenging to live a slow and magical life if you are constantly on social media. My journey with social media has been a tough one (and deserves its own post as some point), but I’ve found that limiting my time on there helps so much. Our minds are so overstimulated constantly by the world around us, and consuming so much content makes it really tough to slow down.

Again, this comes back to intentionality - if you are setting aside some time to read an article, watch a YouTube video or catch up with friends on Instagram, that can bring many positives into your life. But if you are getting absorbed in reels and TikTok for hours, this is not relaxing to your brain. The brain is being forced to process so much information, and it can result in feeling really burnt out. The addictive nature of short-form video is truly shocking, and if I let myself be sucked in, I always feel fuzzy and over-stimulated afterwards.

Photo by Thomas Park on Unsplash

We don’t often let ourselves just be totally unstimulated these days. The mind should be wandering, it should be bored, so try and resist the temptation to constantly grab your phone and scroll in the downtime throughout the day when you’re waiting in a queue or have some time to kill.

It’s useful to curate your feed as much as possible and make sure it’s positive for you, but you still may see things you don’t want to see or things that make you insecure. Try and limit yourself on social media and I promise you, you will be shocked at the impact it has on your mind.

Final thoughts

We may not all be able to frolic in our vegetable gardens and spend four hours baking sourdough, but this doesn’t mean that we can’t bring moments of slowness and magic into our lives. Don’t let yourself get overwhelmed, but maybe pick a few things that you could implement right away and see if they have an impact.

Seek out and record the magic and whimsy of the every day and see how much more you recognise as a result. Let me know if you have any thoughts on this in the comments. Thank you for reading!