The Art of Being Slow in a Fast World
"Slow down, you're doing fine."
I’m a productive worker; not because I move fast, but because I spend long hours on my work. And yes, that often leads to burnout. People like to say “work smart, not hard,” but that’s never been me. I can’t skim pages to get the gist. I have to read every word, slowly, carefully, to absorb it all. It’s time-consuming and often seen as impractical. The common advice is “take what you need and discard the rest.” But what if the sentence I skip over is the one that gives me a new poem? What if the pages we skim are the ones that would’ve lit something inside us?
I don’t live, or read, for the outcome. For me, it’s always about the journey.
I’m learning to accept that I’m just a little slower than some others. I make space for that in my schedule as a doctoral researcher, carving out more time so I can move with a sense of calm. I can’t read Being and Nothingness in a few days and feel like I truly understood it. Or maybe I could, but I don’t want to. If you’re lucky enough to be able to slow down, even just a little, I think you should. It lets your nervous system rest. You’re sitting at your desk; you shouldn’t feel like a gazelle running for its life.
Slow living is something I love; the eternal dream. Of course, there are seasons when it’s not possible. And if you have kids or heavy responsibilities, that’s a whole another story. But for those of us living mostly for ourselves, there are still small ways to slow down. Often, it’s about intentionality. About sitting fully in the moment. When my dog was still with me, I would spend hours lying on the floor, watching him sleep. It was wonderful. Honestly, the best thing in my life. Without him, it’s been harder to find that stillness again.
Usually, nature is where the promise of rest lives. I can watch a bunny take cover from the rain and never get bored. I go on walks past honeysuckle bushes just to breathe them in. I’ve crouched on the sidewalk to meet a blackbird hopping toward me with a worm in its beak. These everyday moments are magic, if we let them be.
Here are a few things I do to access that slower mindset:
Put the phone away. Let the battery die. Unless you need to stay alert for someone, you won’t miss anything. Even scrolling while brushing your teeth can flood your brain with other people’s successes and possessions. It stirs up restlessness and longing for things that might not even be your true wants in life.
Read books; especially longer ones. Try a classic. Reading a dense book might take a while but that’s the point. It deepens your ability to focus, to dwell, to be with something that doesn’t immediately reward you. Your brain will thank you.
Go for a walk. Bonus points if you don’t have your headphones on. I try to walk outside at least once a day for 45 minutes, often longer. At first, I’m full of anxious thoughts. But eventually, I ease into the rhythm. I start to notice the world: pink chalk drawings on the sidewalk, swallows cutting across the sky, a church tower peeking through the trees. And sometimes, I’ll stop at a bakery and bring something sweet home for coffee. That is luxury.
Try a new recipe. Mundane tasks become softer when done with care. Notice the new flavors, the sounds of kitchen. Chopping, boiling, the clink of spatula on the pot. These little things create rhythm, almost like music.
Count things. When I’m overwhelmed, I count objects in my home; books, vases, candles. It serves no purpose. But that’s the point. Not everything needs to be useful. Sometimes, it’s enough to just be where you are.
Do absolutely nothing. Lie on the floor. Stare at the ceiling. Listen to your neighbor make their smoothies. Watch a spider on the lamp. Feel your body against the ground. I often fall asleep when I do this. To be honest, whenever I just stop and do nothing, I fall asleep, haha. That’s probably a sign of something…
If you’re looking for something slow to read, these are my recommendations:
This is a story where not much happens, but a whole life happens. It will make you think about what is actually important in life. Is it the accolades, or is it actually being a part of your own life? Being present, being real to yourself. This one will make you tear up. At least it did it for me.
Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout
Amy and Isabelle are a mother and daughter living in a small town. They are finding it hard to understand each other. And yet they are spending all their days sharing the space and the work place. A story of a family. That’s it.
This one loosely follows the classic Howard’s End by E. M. Forster. It’s a story of two families, academia, and relationships. It talks about the mixed-race identity and finding your own voice. The story will hook you but the pace is not too fast.
An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
A long book of a person trying to reach the American Dream only to get familiar with its darker underbelly. This a classic that I don’t see many people talk about. If anything, it will make you feel a ton of things and perhaps examine your own ideals and morals. This is for you if you want to spend some time with a bigger book and have already read many of the more famous ones.
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
This is slow living at its finest. Sophia and her grandma spending a summer together on their family villa on a Finnish island. Grandma gets a bit grumpy at times and Sophia is trying to understand the big and the small about the life. What is its purpose? Why do we all eventually die? This is a tender read.
Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton
May writes about her life depicting the daily activities, the mundanities and also the “bigger things” of life like relationships to other people. This feels like it could be written by somebody you know and it makes it feel very comforting.
Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity by David Lynch
I mean, I love David Lynch, it’s not a secret. It’s not an overstatement to say his art once saved my life. But that’s a story for another time. Lynch loves transcendental meditation and this is a short read about that. Adding meditation in your life is a wonderful way to slow down your thoughts, breathing and reactivity.
Patti Smith has an eye for beauty. She knows how to find meaning in the big and the small, and that makes it easier to be grateful for so many things in life. Gratitude is an important gift. It can help us through darker times, and it can feel like it’s keeping your soul clean even if everything else seems to be going wrong.
Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
Baldwin writes with such detail that if you read this paying attention to all those little things he describes to you, I have no doubt you’ll begin to look at your own life with the same precision. Authors who know how to do this are a gift. There’s nothing better than a book altering the way you look at life. Slowly, with care.
I love this one. It’s a bit lighter but yet so deep. A story about someone in solitude, still appreciating art and nature, because it is valuable even when it has no purpose. Isn’t that what we all need to hear? That we, too, have value even when we are not producing anything.
And if you want something slow to watch:
My Brilliant Friend (2018)
Adapted from the Neapolitan quartet by Elena Ferrante. This is a beautifully done tv show. Highly recommend. The visuals are stunning and the story moves in waves where at times feels like not much is happening and then suddenly everything has changed. Exactly like in real life.
My Dinner with Andre (1981)
A film completely built on a conversation. I love this type of film; watching human beings interact. Follow their train of thought and their emotions, triggers and reactions. Mirroring my own self against theirs and seeing where we differ, and where we think the same.
In the Mood for Love (2000)
A type of love story that feel pure and honest. Not the usual Hollywood script, but something way more magical and realistic. At least at the level of an emotion. A friend recommended me this a couple of years ago and I immediately knew I’ve found another favorite.
Lost in Translation (2003)
Not much happens. And everything happens. Yet another film about the human connection in amidst of solitude. These beings are lost and found and lost again. Sometimes we find people who fill a void we didn’t know we had.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
Absolutely beautiful. Like watching a painting come alive. A love story between two women, where their connection reveals new aspects of their own souls to themselves. So, the most beautiful type of love affair, in my opinion. Looking at your lover as art, as a mirror, as a complex person. And loving what you see.
The Straight Story (1999)
I love Lynch. I love Sissy Spacek. This is very different to the rest of Lynch films. Here is a story about a man traveling on his lawn mower. Nothing much happens, and yet you feel so moved. I couldn’t look away. The frames are beautiful and emotions real.
Her (2013)
A man falling in love with AI. I find this one so tender. Us humans, we can be so incredibly lonely, and not know where to reach to find real connection. What is more human than to be so afraid of abandonment that we try to rule it out by loving someone we feel we have some control over, like AI? But is there really a way to protect yourself from your own loneliness?
Let us play some jazz and feel the breath go in and out. That is the base of a life. Let us appreciate it for a moment.
<3 Jonna
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love this post. the book and film recommendations are so great, putting a bunch of them on my list for slow summer days <3