Stephanie O’Dea used to write top-selling slow cooker cookbooks.
That was until speedy multicookers hit shelves.
“I got fired,” O’Dea said with a chuckle. “Then I had this out-of-body voice say, ‘Hey, Steph, just because you can do something fast, doesn’t mean you should.’”
So, she started doing more slow living.
It’s a fast-growing movement that promotes a slower, attentive approach to life and decision making.
Her new book Slow Living: Cultivating a Life of Purpose in a Hustle-Driven World, details how to get started.
“‘Go, go, go’ doesn’t mean you’re actually being more productive,” she said. “But when you take the time to slow down and purposefully plan your day, and your life, you’ll end up meeting and even exceeding your goals. But in a sustainable way.”
She said beginning slow living starts with decluttering. That includes the decision to say “no” to the greedy demands of a stuffed calendar.
“Cut out what isn’t working,” she told WTOP. “This could be the physical clutter in the house because the more you have the more anxious you are because you’re always trying to mentally inventory your things. Really decide what’s feeding your soul.”
Slow living picked up steam during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the pace of life had suddenly slowed down, forcing many people to scrutinize nearly everything, including relationships, careers and health goals.
The push to live slowly hasn’t stopped.
O’Dea’s book is filled with acronyms to help people easily practice the lifestyle, she said.
For instance, many people struggle with slow living as the anxiety linked to missing an interesting event also called fear of missing out, or FOMO for short, kicks in.
O’Dea has a creative way to encourage people who choose slow living.
“I rewrote FOMO. So, it’s not fear of missing out. It’s ‘Figure Only Myself Out,’” she said. “It’s really going within and asking, ‘Is this serving me? Is this really what I want?’ It’s OK to say ‘no’ and feel uncomfortable.”
But slow living isn’t living slow every day. The lifestyle can help with some time management strategies when life moves at a faster clip, O’Dea said.
Two tips that work well for her are preparing for events the night before and using timers in the moment.
“I’m a huge fan of timers and setting yourself up for the next day,” she said. “It’s doing things that you know from experience work and consistently following through. It equals success.”
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