JOURNAL

We forget that the only condition attached to us slowing down and resting, is our existence. Just as bees exist, they deserve to rest, they are a part of the whole. The whole crumbles without them. The same is true for us. We are not the leaders sitting outside of the ecosystem. We are not separate to nature. Or above nature.

That’s what an exploration date is to me. It’s this ability to choose to see the familiar with fresh eyes or to find the unexplored parts of where you live. Be it village, town, city or country. This isn’t a prescriptive how-to guide, use your intuition, there are no steps to follow or recommendations. It’s a choice. To get out and just take things in and let yourself discover. Especially when we start to believe that we can only find joy elsewhere, remember it is everywhere. It is in the small things and quiet joys.

I waited until the age of sixteen for a Disney princess to be called Giselle, only for princess Giselle in Disney’s Enchanted to not actually be an official princess. Which feels incredibly close to home as I believe Disney has a whole lot to answer for when it comes to cultural norms around gender, beauty and relationships; so y’all can keep your princesses. Nevertheless, I was ridiculously excited when the film first came out, so people would actually know how to spell my name correctly.

I guess you could say that slow living is the glass and The Philosophy of Doing Less, Being Present, and Feeling More is the non-alcoholic wine poured into it. Well, insert any beverage of your choice here. It’s how I approach life and also what all of my work is focused on. So, I thought I’d expand on the manifesto here and share with you how I define slow living. It’s such a personal definition, as slow living is by no means new. It’s a term that we often see floating around lifestyle magazines or the topic of festival talks.

Life is complicated enough; we don’t need our wellbeing to be too. For me, Quiet Joys are something we can all access, we just need to be witnesses of life to experience and enjoy them. Noticing them and being present with them is such a gorgeous way to reconnect to ourselves, others, nature and just…life.