Slowing down

2026-03-04 17:44

I'm trying to be a bit more mindful in my activities lately as a means to reduce stress, and perform better physically and mentally, with clarity, in the things that are important to me. I'm finding a lot of what I'm doing could be attributed to slow living. Slow living can mean a lot of things, though this is what it looks like for me right now. I wrote it as a reminder to myself trying to capture my likes and dislikes which I feel have opposite stress impacts on me.

• Slow errands - Get on my bike. Avoid the traffic. Enjoy the trails. Enjoy the fitness. Enjoy the smiling trail users.

• Slow food - Grow veg. Spend time in the garden. Feel and smell the soil. Observe. Feed the soil. Cook from the garden. Seasonal foods. Take that knowledge to the supermarket. Don't overpay for out-of-season produce from across the world. Preserve and freeze excess. Avoid processed food. Try new recipes.

• Slow web - Consume with intent. Avoid services that are designed to lure and trap. Enjoy the indie web, smol web, small web, gemini and gopher. Consume with intent!! Use RSS. Be OK to "mark all as read". Cull, mute, or filter where necessary. Don't put pressure on myself to write blog posts. Do a challenge, but don't be afraid to stop. Weeknotes can be missed, late, or substituted with a weaknote. Write wherever or whatever I want. Don't let expectations of others dictate what or when I write.

• Slow communication - More email, less comments.

• Slow coding - Enjoy the process. Be OK that I can't do a thing. It's not my job. Look for alternative methods. Avoid AI. Use forums for help if it gets to that point. Keep it as a hobby, there is no urgency. It is all nice-to-do, not a necessity. Tidy old code. Focus on structure. Use git.

• Slow computing - Use what I have. Save and restore hardware. Look after my equipment. Secure it digitally and physically. Make measured purchases if I really need to.

• Slow purchases - Utilise my @to-buy.md table. Review wishlist against my personal areas of responsibilities. Avoid impulse-purchases. Use dedicated savings bucket. Prioritise second-hand and local products.

• Slow mornings - Give myself time. Stretch, read and feel the morning air outside. Sit with my thoughts. Go to bed early to give myself the best opportunity.

• Slow fitness - Increase steadily. Listen to the body. Do strengthening exercises. Stretch. Have rest days. Track progress. Avoid hard workouts after strenuous non-fitness activities like a 10 hour day at work, or a weekend of gardening. Load is constant.

• Slow appointments - Don't over-commit. Utilise the calendar. Be early. Plan for delays. Plan for costs.

• Slow work - Don't let urgency and negativity from others affect me. Be methodical and professional. Don't take unnecessary risks. Continue a work journal for reflection and collation of questions for my seniors.

• Slow projects - Plan them out. Define scope boundaries, objectives and outcomes in my Project Initiation Documents. Keep the PID updated. Don't overcommit.

There's other little obscure things like walking my foodscraps down to my allotment compost bay. Picking up rubbish on my routes, so next time I pass, or someone else passes, it doesn't exist. Mindful polishing of cutlery. Washing one window at a time so I don't get exhausted. Cutting my lawn edges with a manual trimmer, one pavement length at a time.

I feel like some of this is becoming second nature. I wonder if others purposely live a "slow lifestyle", or it just comes natural. Slow cafes sound nice for folk into cafes. I'm not big on meditation (though I feel like some of these are a form of meditation). Just remembered I do like my shakti mat! I fall asleep on it every time, instantly. I'll get that out tonight. File that one under slow evenings.