Slow Sunday: Ramen

I chose Slow Sunday for the alliteration. With my husband’s career it’s not always an option to have every Sunday together as a family, and this is true of any day of the week. What this means is that some Sundays are slower than others. Regardless, I designate this as my slow day because it’s my weekly chance to connect to my slow living values and my goals.

Productivity

Productivity is not the antithesis of slow living; I am merely fighting productivity for productivity’s sake. Slow living cannot be equated with laziness because if anything laziness is a result of an over saturated schedule and burnout- the opposite of slow living. I feel my laziest when I am stretched too thin. It is then that I am frantically juggling and start to drop balls. Cooking becomes a chore, exercise becomes a luxury. We order takeaway dinner for convenience and a night off from the dishes.

The To Do List

Slow Living doesn’t sound realistic or approachable if you look at is as slowing down your current life. There are barely enough hours in the day for what you are already doing; you’re going to have to double your caffeine intake if you want to start your day with an hour of yoga and meditating to the sunrise before school drop off and an eight hour work day. You actually don’t have the same amount of time in a day as <insert celebrity here> because <insert celebrity here> has resources you could only dream of. The rest of us don’t have a full time staff of housekeepers, assistants, and private chefs. To slow it down you’re going to have to edit down your to do list. You need to ruthlessly protect your free time. You’re going to have to unlearn agreeing to things out of obligation and you’re going to have to overcome some guilt. Will that little voice in your head telling you that you could be doing something productive ever go away? I like to think so. 

Busy Days

Today is a busy day for me. We don’t have a staff to run errands for us unfortunately. My son needs pull ups more than I need to read a book and drink tea. We want to spend the afternoon outside and tonight I’m making ramen for dinner. My husband questioned if I really wanted to make something so labour intensive and the answer is yes. I like being industrious, and I like ramen. I don’t know what balls I’m dropping today by hand rolling noodles but I’m starting to think some of them aren’t very important anyway. Slow Living does not excuse me from ever having busy days, but it does allow me to choose my busy.

Challenge: The next time you take on a big project give yourself permission to focus on it without worrying about everything else that you need to do. You should feel good about your accomplishments, not guilty that you’re neglecting the laundry.