Slow life slow down to save time

What are the advantages of slow living?

The concept of “slow life”, also called “slow movement” or “slow attitude” (“gentle movement” in French) appeared for the first time in 1986 when the journalist and gastronomic critic Carlo Petrini launched the concept of slow in Italy. food in reaction to the opening of a fast-food restaurant in Rome. 

Since then, slow life has become an art of living that has extended to many areas of life: urban planning, travel, fashion, etc. Practicing slow life means slowing down the pace to be present in what you are doing and favoring quality over quantity. But why choose a slow life? What are the advantages? We take stock in detail in this article! 

What is a slow attitude and slow life?

Keeping up work meetings, keeping schedules for personal activities, planning the next vacation and family outings: our schedule is never empty. Many people feel like they are always chasing time and do not see it passing. 

Indeed, our current way of life is based on fast living: a life at 200 per hour where we complete daily to-do lists, sometimes even if it means doing too much. Very often, the simple act of taking a break during the weekend or a day off makes us feel guilty. Conversely, the slow life movement invites us to slow down the pace to let go and take the time to live. 

Why start slow living and become more zen?

We tend to carry out our daily tasks on autopilot: driving without thinking, eating without chewing, etc. However, slowing down your lifestyle allows you to focus on the present moment and appreciate all the benefits. For example, being aware of what we eat allows us to appreciate each bite and send signals of satiety to our body. By putting awareness into our daily actions, we learn not to let time slip away and enjoy every moment. Slow life is a philosophy of life that praises slowness.

1 Adopt it to improve your quality of life

By listening to our emotions, we gain quality of life, because we choose to take full advantage of the activities available to us. It's no longer the quantity of things we accomplish that matters, but those that have meaning for us. For example, instead of saying yes to all invitations, at the risk of adding stress to an already busy daily life, we can allow ourselves to say no and stay at home to carry out an activity that does us good and simply take some time to rest. 

2 Adopt it to preserve and improve your health

She invites us to listen to our bodies. Indeed, on the one hand, doing things at our own pace allows us to be more vigilant and therefore helps us avoid injuries. On the other hand, slowing down helps us gain serenity by paying attention to our breathing regularly throughout the day. We also learn to recognize the signals that our body sends us daily. For example, we know that it is time for us to go to bed when we start to yawn or our body temperature drops, instead of staying up until late in the evening, at the risk of missing the correct sleep cycle. 

3 Slow life promotes concentration

Doing one thing at a time helps limit the risk of errors. Indeed, concentrating on one action at a time allows us to mobilize all of our senses on a task. In short, avoid doing several things at once if you want to gain productivity and efficiency! 

You can do the test: focus only on one task for an hour for example, then take stock. By leaving emails and telephone aside, you will surely notice that you have moved faster on your report because you have not encountered any distractions. 

4 Consume more responsibly thanks to slow living 

Slow life also means paying attention to your consumption patterns. Indeed, we choose to carefully select our foods by shopping at the market or from local producers. This is about slow consumption: favoring short circuits which go against ultra-fast transport methods. 

Making this choice also means avoiding consuming fast-fashion clothing and choosing to pay the price for quality pieces rather than constantly repurchasing according to fashion. Slow cosmetics also make it possible to resort to more ecological and responsible consumption of beauty products.

Consuming responsibly also means paying attention to your modes of transport and choosing the train rather than the plane or opting for the bicycle rather than the car. Of course, this means allowing more time in front of yourself: the perfect opportunity to savor the present moment by being a full participant in your life.