Ah, a slow life, a life lived intentionally, naturally and authentically, isn’t that the dream? If you can dream it, you can make it happen, but it can be quite challenging to achieve it when you’re stuck in a 9-5 job and with company employers making so much money from the workers that make only a fraction of what they’re worth. We need to take our power back and create a living for ourselves that aligns with our values. This philosophy of life embraces time to do things slowly and conscientiously and even time for blissful idleness, time for daydreaming, to practice our hobbies and to do all the things that we don’t outsource. It would be lovely if we didn’t need money at all but although it needs less than the average lifestyle we still need some income. Living a slow life doesn’t mean we’re doing a vow of poverty, therefore, how can we finance this lifestyle?
’’If you can dream it, you can make it happen.’’
Well, for starters, we need to look at why we want to live the way we do, is it more time, freedom and less stress? A lack of financial resources also creates stress and lack of freedom and choices, so what we want is to do something that we enjoy and fits in with our lifestyle, perhaps taking into consideration our own background and our interests. Some people start something completely new, something they dreamed of but it’s not their area of expertise. It is very important though, to consider our values when choosing what to do to generate an income. It’s about sustainability, peace of mind and playing the long game.
Working remotely for a company is a choice that people living away in the countryside opt for, but it can be unsustainable because sometimes short deadlines can suck the life out of our lives depending on the person and situation.
Living intentionally is a long game, it’s not so much just where we live but how we live, and sometimes just moving to a nice peaceful village doesn’t provide us with the peace and calm we so crave. When we take the leap into a renatured life from a synthetic one, like every big transition, it can be though, specially when people judge us or criticises us for it.
But we need to remain with an unwavering determination. There has to be some sort of planning ahead so that it’s sustainable because we’re in it in the long haul. When we feel the urge to live an intentional nature-centred life, ignoring it doesn’t work, distractions don’t work, , as the call tends to becomes louder. In the long run what works is to move towards the lifestyle our soul craves, even if gradually.
One option is a cottage industry business, that’s a small manufacturing business owned and operated by an individual or a family usually from the home. There are many things we can do to provide people with good quality homemade products. Here are some examples:
- Dried flower bouquets and art
- Jams, preserves and chutneys as well as fermented food.
- Textile products such as homewares, clothing and accessories
- Baskets
- Teas
- Essential oils, and flower and herb distilled infused waters such as rose water or skincare
- Wooden or textile toys
- Mats, rugs and doormats
- Macramé items, such as bags, wall hangings and even jewllery and baskets
- And of course the usual suspects, jewllery, ceramics, soaps and art work such as paintings.
’’We can create the life we want, instead of living the life society created for us.’’
A good option as well is to work online by creating content. Video content, long form, short form, photography, writing on a blog or copy writing. Creating digital products and courses or mentorship, anything that can be done remotely. Sometimes, we can even combine a handicraft and a blog or content creation. It’s important no matter the field that there is some variety in income streams so that if one fails to meet expectations the others are still producing funds.
It depends on a case to case basis but some people like getting involved in the community they’re in and open a craft shop, a coffee shop or a bakery, or something that they feel is needed in their area. Some people have some land so they grow produce and sell at the market or produce cheese or baked goods like pies and cakes in small batches to local businesses. It’s important to study options, make a decision and plan execution to make things run somewhat smoothly. After all we believe that we can create the life we want instead of living the life society created for us.
And of course there’s always services we can do for people that we can combine with other activities, like cleaning, ironing, keeping gardens and houses when the owners live away, helping out in farms or perhaps in construction or home improvements.
Final Word
A slow life is a mindset and can’t be achieved only by moving to the countryside, in fact, many people in the country don’t practice slow living and many in the city or suburbs do. The main thing with slow living is to simplify life, to get rid of unnecessary burdens and do things well instead of fast. Being present, intentional and self-aware making time for reflection in an increasingly frantic and chaotic world. It embraces sustainability, frugality and self-sufficiency.
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