From my community service experience, I witnessed how minimalism and slow living manifest in daily life especially the weekend. They don't even call it " minimalism" nor "slow living" the people simply call it "living". Each Sunday, the host family will sit down and spend time together cultivating their garden and catch up with everyone else. They do not have lists on their hands, nor even plan things but they just do it. On the other hand, as someone who enjoys planning and organizing, my Sunday as a minimalist was quite different. It was always packed with list. Little did I know, it really removes the idea of minimalism. It was over-complicating life.
In retrospect, my activity during Sunday used to look something like:
- Wake up early.
- Going outside.
- Organizing drawers and living space.
- Catching up on news and market.
These activities alone gives an impression that life is always on the rush. Despite already having more time to enjoy things, I was not happy. I was still dictated with lists and things to do. Then, the idea of slow living was introduced to me. I found it through watching several youtube videos and blog posts. Minimalism and slow living seems to interconnect with each other yet bears differences. Slow living emphasizes on the act of living whilst minimalism emphasizes on how one should react with possession.
Minimalism and Slow Living can be linked together. Both ways of living is a way to create more time, to be more mindful about the surrounding, to nurture long term relationship. The things that have been missing from the modern society. For instance, slow living is not advocating anti-technology, it teaches us how to use technology to our benefits and needs neither minimalism,it helps us being more aware of our gadgets that we use.
The lifestyle is not for everyone. Yet if you get tired of constantly meeting deadline, rushing from one place to another, taking tasks more than you can chew, this may be the answer. A combination of minimalism and slow living may help with feeling of overwhelmed and the idea that life is always on the rush. Now, every Sunday, I just let things flow. I don't have lists as I used to. Instead, I try to find what's interesting and something new to try.
Picture courtesy : pexels.com.