What is "Slow Living" and Why Should You Consider it?

Technology has slowly crept into our lives and people are getting sick of it.

May 04, 2023

In 2020 my new wife and I decided to look for a house. It needed to have the following:

Land - at LEAST a few acres
3 bedrooms
Nice Neighbors

We wanted a place to call our own but also room to manifest our Homestead. We had the idea to create a small raised bed garden with water collection systems. This would give us food, water, and community and make us less dependent on “the system”.

Fast forward a few years and we are working remotely in our beautiful house that we made our own. We tend to the garden daily and maintain the land for hunting and for future livestock (chickens will come first).

We also started building our family.

My Experience in a “Fast-Paced” Lifestyle: Mobile Apps and Startups

In 2016 I got my first smartphone. I also got an office job at a startup... So screens were a large portion of my day…No TV at home though or else I would surely be far-sighted by now.

There was a certain stress that came with a startup. Part of it was what I thought I wanted. They sell the “Fast Pace” as a good thing. It’s definitely a unique experience. There are plenty of times when it's great and you can work from home and you get to help make decisions that affect the company's direction.

But along with that you are taking a risk that you may not have a job next year or even next month.

Not long after getting a smartphone, I downloaded popular apps. I started an Instagram page and had a lot of fun posting there. I also started going pretty hard on Linkedin. After a few months, I realized 2 things:

Big Tech has mastered the art of keeping us engaged by using a combo of timely notifications, data collection, and content feeds. No one is impervious to their grasp.
Deleting these apps off of my phone was all it took to keep them out of my life.

I felt like these apps had a hold of me. After a while, I tried deleting them off my phone to try to regain some of my headspace.

These apps, and more importantly the PHONES these apps reside on, are in many cases draining our dopamine, keeping us from interacting with others, AND keeping us from being alone with our own thoughts. When looking into this feeling further it seems I wasn't alone and that many of us are turning into phone addicts.

Slow Living Begins

Slow living from what I understand it, is life before all this technology and “grindset” bullshit. Living intentionally. Spending time making life higher quality, not just “faster”.

Putting family, friends, and community relationships OVER financial gain, promotions, nice stuff and “keeping-up-with-the-Jones’s”. Slowing down to enjoy each day vs. being busy all the time rushing from one moment in time to the next and all of a sudden you’re 60 and wondering where the time has gone.

It seems Slow Living is a popular growing trend that many people find themselves in the last few years. With Illegal government shutdowns pushing many companies to offer remote work, many people have learned what it means to be BORED again.

While at home many traded an alarm clock and commute to the city for a home office with a drip coffee pot and a yard to maintain.

This is how I started living slower and more intentionally:

2019

Working at a Startup - Commuting 30 mins living on the outskirts of major city.
Stopped watching the “News” aka “American Propaganda”
Got a dog (pic below)
2020
Bought a property with acreage that needed to be FLIPPED (tons of work)
Planned and had our wedding in our backyard vs. a big extravagant event space (it was great)
The company I worked at moved to a new office resulting longer commute (45 minutes each way on a good day!)
Deleted Instagram and other apps from my phone
Focused on creating my own long-form content (Blog and video) and growing my YouTube Channel.

Once I deleted these apps from my phone in 2020, I saw a change in how I interacted with social media which lead to eventually deleting them for good. I still love using text and video based social media for entertainment (mostly memes) to stay in touch with friends, and build communities of like-minded people. Currently on Substack, YouTube, Rumble, and Linkedin.

I also focused on creating content that is funny and helpful. Not Just CONSUMING.

2021

Gardening gets Serious
We get another dog (found her in the woods)
My Wife and I make a baby

2022

Garden Explodes
Remote Work = More time AND More Money
Baby is born, God is good.

To Wrap this Rant up…

Cherish each day. Slow down. Try deleting apps from your phone and see what happens. Try to focus on your life and family vs. what the “news” is telling you to care about. Get more involved in your own life.

Doing this has helped me focus on what matters. Hopefully, it can help you do the same.