How to Slow Down Even in Our Fast-Paced Society
Too often the demands of our daily lives outweigh and overtake our craving for peace. The question is: how do you prioritize peace and slow down when your life has other plans?
Your desire for slow living isn’t bizarre, no matter how counter culture it may be. We were originally designed for slow living. Genesis 3:8 tells that Adam walked with God in the cool of the day. His everyday experience was spending his time wandering the Garden with The Father. Long leisurely strolls and conversations were a daily occurrence. His lifestyle was slow and peaceful.
This is the same as your design. You may not be living in the Garden of Eden but your soul still craves long leisurely strolls with The Father, where time doesn’t matter and you have nothing demanding your attention. You still long for a day without demands and plenty of time to just be.
This isn’t laziness. It’s intention. Laziness is rooted in an unwillingness to do what needs to be done. Your craving for peace and a slower pace is rooted in your desire to be present and not rushing through life. They are not the same. Working towards creating a slower lifestyle and prioritizing peace is a valuable and worthy effort.
The Culture Clash
Obviously and unfortunately our world isn’t designed to fit a slow-paced lifestyle, in most cases it’s exactly the opposite. Your desire is counter-cultural and oftentimes it feels unattainable because of the demands on your time, this is why you will need to define your priorities. What is most important to you?
Priorities should be simple, clear, and written down. They shift and change depending on your season of life and should be regularly re-evaluated. When defining your priorities, start with auditing your commitments.
What do you currently put your time to and why? For example: you have a 40 hour a week job because you need money to pay your bills. You spend 2 hours in church every week because you want to feed your spirit. You sit in the sun for 3 hours at sporting events every Saturday because you love your kids and they love soccer.
List out all of your commitments and ask yourself: What would I move or adjust for something else? Would you skip church for a soccer game? Or would you skip the soccer game? Would you adjust your work schedule to go to coffee with a friend? There are no right or wrong answers, just be honest. If you try to get the “right” answer you won’t truly understand your priorities.
Your answers will show you your priorities in action. This is how you are already living and prioritizing. Now the question is: Are these the priorities I want? Would you rather prioritize your career or friendships right now? Is church or family more important in this season?
Remember; priorities shift. What’s most important right now may or may not be most important in 3 months. After you’ve chosen your priorities, write them down. Write them clearly and don’t forget your why. Why is family your top priority right now? What is so important about your health this season? Your why is the grounding force behind your priorities. It will keep you motivated and reinforce your decisions when they are hard.
Journey Notes
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How to Slow Down
Having your priorities in order means you can better prioritize peace because you know where it belongs in your life. If you have 3 kids in 3 different sports, and your weekly schedule is a bit of a juggling act it may be pretty challenging to live a slow paced life. However, the demands of your life don’t have to determine everything about your schedule.
This is where Peace Pockets come in. They are small, scheduled, appointments with yourself where you can slow down, be present, rest and enjoy some peace. When I first started scheduling peace I was highly skeptical. It felt counter intuitive to schedule my slower pace but what I’ve learned is that more often than not if it’s not on my calendar it doesn’t happen.
Between events, appointments, commitments, and work most of us live or die by our calendars. What’s written (or typed) is what happens. This is why adding Peace Pockets to your calendar is so effective. You are adding peace to your weekly schedule and making space for it ahead of time, ensuring nothing has the opportunity to steal that time later on.
The key is to honor these appointments the same as you would any other. How many you schedule is dependent on your priorities and available time. The important part is that peace lives on your calendar.
Peace Pockets
What do these Peace Pockets look like? What are you doing during these appointments with yourself? Whatever fills you up. These are your times to fulfill your desire to slow down and prioritize peace.
- Sit in silence for 5 minutes
- Paint your nails
- Go on a hike
- Create a vision board
- Read all afternoon
- Take a long walk
- Spend a quiet weekend at an airbnb
- Take a nap
Become Undistractable
Learn to identify and overcome distractions, free your time, and enhance your focus.
- Go to bed early on purpose
- Visit a botanical garden
- Listen to calming music
- Pray
- Get a massage
- Have a “do nothing day”
- Grab breakfast with a friend
- Doodle
- Journal
- Hand write a letter or card
You should be scheduling at least 1 Peace Pocket per week but depending on the length or size you could do multiple in a day. I like to sip a mug of tea in silence each night before but, and I enjoy some Bible time in the early morning. These 2 Peace Pockets happen everyday as part of my Bookend Rhythms (for more on setting up daily rhythms check out this article) but I don’t stop with just these 2. I also sprinkle in 2 or 3 bigger Peace Pockets each week.
Make Space
You can’t control everything but you can make space. Your life isn’t going to completely shift overnight, and honestly that’s a good thing. To be able to create lasting change and build consistency you have to start small. Little improvements add up and the more you show up and reinforce your priorities the more trust you will build with yourself. This trust pays off in continued achievement and greater consistency.
Ultimately the life you live is your choice. You can allow the world around you to determine your pace and priorities or you can slow down and choose peace. If you’re ready to do that, to prioritize peace and live at a slower pace start with my free guide The Practical Rest Plan. In it you will find a self-assessment, complete Peace Pocket idea list, and planning worksheet to bring your desire for slow living to life.
