slow living feels like it prioritizes living for enjoyment rather than for accomplishments, there is a time and place for big goals and productivity but it shouldn’t be all we live for
As a recently disabled person (about 3 years) this is how I had to change and adapt to stay alive without well killing myself. Without being able to physically move as fast and realizing how much of the world's seemed to demand me to work or die literally wanting me dead for not only just being me now but for being disabled psychically. Now I just embraced my poor nature with my little amount of things and try to enjoy the sun. I have no more goal. I have no more plans. I just have life. And sadness. And happiness. My humanity.
In these times I always think of Ursula K Le Guin's quote: 'We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable - but then, so did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art.'
Her whole national book award speech is amazing. I particularly like the closing line: We who live by writing and publishing want and should demand our fair share of the proceeds; but the name of our beautiful reward isn’t profit. Its name is freedom.
I just had the worst shift at my job and I'm starting to feel like a failure. Thanks to this video and this comment especially, I realize I've tied my sense of value to being a capitalist, but I'm really more of a slow living person. I have an autoimmune disease and it makes living in capitalism impossible. I hope things get better.
That is very interesting, I have been slow living for years now. All of my friends and family denigrate me for my laissez-faire attitude, taking long walks in the woods, living in the moment, rather than keeping up with their expectations of me killing myself by climbing the corporate ladder and becoming rich. Never liked Capitalism, never liked Hustle culture, never felt that money and productivity made me happy. People spend their entire lives killing time to get to a point when they are old and grey before finally slowing down and appreciating all the things they missed, I dont want to do that, I want to experience life here and now
Ugh. I work in a corporate environment and there is so much emphasis on "what do you want to do next, what role are you going to aim for" -- I enjoy the role I am in and I earn enough to pay for the things I enjoy (sewing, baking, growing plants). Does everybody *have * to be ambitious, grind, hustle hustle hustle?
Living that right now, and searching the balance between fullfiling those expectesions of being succesfull for the society and enjoying the experience of being alive, I've been thinking all my life about having the enonomical means to aford living in a peaceful place.
Yep, most everyday people really are just stupid brainwashed sheep... Good on you for waking up! Remember, you may be too far ahead of your time for normies around you to wrap their minds around, but more and more people will keep getting hip 😎
I went to a business university, but it actually made me more anti-capitalist instead of more bussiness-man. The worst concept I was interoduced to was "creating needs". So you don't need something, but marketing experts trick you into thinking otherwise and bang - you just bought a product. The positive is now when I learned that I'm much less prone to such manipulations.
@@majkel2720 I've definitely heard this concept from other youtubers. But yeah, people have their own take on it and it would interesting hearing more about business education from a anti-capitalist perspective.
@@zeffery101 It felt like I was taught by Elon Musk fans posing as serious adults. Productivity obsession, scheduling every single minute of your day, working hard - hustle culture. Great way to become a hollow shell of a human being. Everyone can become rich type of vibe. Older professors were more professional and down to earth.
I hated corporate ethics subject in Business school because at end of lesson we would be told ethics are not always about legal stuff and not about morals••• so yeah we know what ethics is!!
A couple weeks ago I saw a tumblr post about how much work living off the land is. I grew up in poverty with eight siblings in the country. Every spring we would plant a garden and tend to it until winter. We’d can and freeze as many vegetables as we could. We also raised chickens and turkeys and we’d butcher them and freeze that as well. We had berry bushes, grapes, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries. Keeping up on all of this was a lot of work. Every day we picked strawberries, peas, tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, or berries depending on what was in season. Everyday we fed the chickens and turkeys twice. My dad still had ten hours work days, most times six days a week. On top of this we had the normal housework which, if you have more than two siblings, you know is a fucking lot to keep after. I am grateful to have grown up gardening and living with lots of space to play in when I had time. My point is that slow living is not a countryside lifestyle. Slow living is community lifestyle, or a lifestyle where you plenty of make money easily. Living off the land is fucking hard work and making enough money to provide for a family is fucking hard work. We need communities that support everyone inside the community in every way, not just weekly gatherings. Where we share land and food and watch over each others’ loved ones and work together. Reading the book Work by James Suzman really helped me see community and work in a whole new light
I loved your comment! It is very true. My mom is an immigrant that grew up in a poor farmer family and had to basically do child labor for all the work to be done. Farm life is heavily romanticised nowadays and influencers are not transparent about the fact that NOT everyone can do that. You need to have passive income or at least a home office side hustle so that you can do your gardening for fun and not full time. Also you have no chance living on the countryside when you are ill/disabled and have no family or community to support you there. It is nice to want to connect to nature and to do meaningful work with your bare hands but it does not mesh well with our individualistic and lone wolf mindset + lifestyles.
@@TheFarebanksTroll I am child-free by choice and still think your comment is uncalled for. Children are a lot of work and all parents struggle in some way, even if it isn't obvious to outsiders, but obviously if the human race wishes to self perpetuate (which it obviously does), what alternative is there? Do you have any pity for your own parents' struggles?
As a Canadian who lives out in a basement in the suburbs I feel this. Their aren’t enough open community spaces it’s been designed that we live in a box to get into a box to drive to a box to work, shop for food or things, to visit someone else box but outside of this their isn’t much open active community. The monetary privilege to afford to enter another space outside of your home is high that many don’t and so we sit in our little boxes in north America trying to find some meaning.
The system was designed that way for a reason: to get people more involved with sin. The "box" doesn't want to be there either. We should be thanking God for what He's done.
That's baffling to me, because you've got so much space over there. I live on a 9x5 island with 120000 people on it, and nowhere is more than 100m from a house. Me and my mates still find spots where we won't be disturbed for a fire and some beers in the woods. I expected Canada to be perfect for that, especially with the legal weed.
I was raised in small village in a farming family. I used to joke when I lived abroad and in big cities that when I finally snap I will move to the countryside again. Now at 24 I have returned not because I snapped per say but realised I just never fit in to the busy competitive environment. I spent a good chunk of my life envying the ones who naturally thrive there and felt like a complete isolated loser. I had the choice during the pandemic to reevaluate and start new. I up and left and feel immense gratitude. I feel at home in a small community helping elderly and kids, studying for a higher level of education so I can give back more. I never would have had this energy and motivation in the wrong environment to better myself for others.
I recently read about a sociology theory called "the third place" which argues that humans need 3 places: A workplace, a home and a third place to relax and socialize. The third should be distinct from your home. While i was reading about it, i realized that, at least in my home country, Greece, the third place is always a local coffee shop for men and the mini market or the hairdressers for women. This is mostly true for older generations, nowadays most people meet, socialize, discuss, relax at the central square or some nearby coffee shop where they take life easy and relax. In my home city cofee shops near the sea are also popular. If you ask me, this carelessness is what i miss from my culture here in Germany.
Wow, and someone probably got a degree for writing about that """groundbreaking revelation""". Man, contemporary sociology is one of the biggest grifts I've ever seen. Y'know what, I have a sociology theory too. I call it "the fourth place" which argues that people need a fourth place to dream and construct ideals or goals, typically located in one's beds. Now, where's my PhD in griftology?
I literally live in an area that has no third place. the actual history of my town was that it was originally built just outside the city for commuters to have a place to live so they could travel to work easily. All I have is a whole bunch of shops. it's depressing, it costs me a lot to pay for a train ticket to london to go into a third place which is itself expensive because it's in the inner city.
I think what is missing from a lot of the slow living videos like Leah’s is that it is easy to parachute into places like an organic farm and sort of cosplay working the land. I am not doubting that helping with daily tasks is not challenging but it doesn’t show the full picture of how financially stressful it is to keep a small agricultural business afloat and how much time and work it takes to get to the point of bountiful production.
@@ArcadiasPlanet Or can afford good growing land. Or not have the rain pattern change because someone quarried some hills 10km away. Or fit in with the local community. Or stop their idiot neighbour upstream from dumping their irrigation runoff into the creek. Or be a good enough shot with a rifle to get rid of the wild hogs. Or have the guts to kill the cats that eat the seed-spreading birds. A lot of these people who fantasise about moving to the country don't realise that nature is completely apathetic to their existence and will flatten them, seemingly at random.
I'm so happy that you've eloquently explained this. 'The left' isn't about being lazy. It's largely about ensuring a *balance* between work and everything else: family, community, leisure, etc. It's about working for those things, rather than just working to make billionaires richer.
@@KarlSnarks I agree. Sort of. It's still useful to have the word 'laziness' with its negative connotations, for different contexts. In this context, it's not the right word. Words with similar meaning but more positive connotations would be more appropriate here.
When I was in university, I read a book called "Travailler deux heures par jour" (working two hours a day), from the 70s. It calculated that if we shared equally the necessary and unpleasant toil, we could all "work" only 2 hours a day. Then do whatever we want the rest of the time, including unconstrained productive stuff. I probably read it just at the right time, being lost as a student, having no idea where my life was going. Then I discovered the whole "décroissance" (degrowth) movement, which confirmed that our work-centered society was neither good nor sustainable. The "slow" trend never clicked with me, though. I think it seemes more centered on individual choices, and much less political, while the décroissance aimed to question our whole unsustainable way of life in a rich country, exhausting ressources, disturbing the climate, and making us depressed on the way. Since then I've tried to find the right balance between work and freedom. It seems that people are questionning work more and more, and as the government tries to postpone the age of retirement, the topic is hotter than ever.
On the flip side, what would happen to the GDP if this change were made? How would this impact your country's national security in the long run? Would such a lifestyle be sustainable with malicious foreign actors in the long run? Probably not, your country would probably just get crushed and you'd all get forced to work in even harsher conditions by some foreign despot in the end anyway. These kinds of ideologies tend to be so concerned about sustainability in terms of natural forces but the more immediate and significant threat to a sustainable way of life will always be other people.
@@GenSignups All those questions need to be adressed anyway. If we keep things the way are right now, we'll soon have to deal with a huge climate problem, with areas of the globe becoming unlivable, entire populations forced to move, ecological, social, economical and political unstability, etc. Doing nothing against climate change will just make every single problem worse.
@@aggagg I don't think the long-term consequences of climate change are very clear right now but for now, let's just assume it will be as bad as you say. It won't be 'soon' and I'm pretty sure the aforementioned unnamed 'other people' could ruin your country and way of life much faster than climate change so that still takes priority. I also don't think that 'nothing' is being done right now about climate change. Compare now to 1980, for example, and you'll see how many more innovations were made precisely to cater to climate-conscious consumers. At the end of the day, capitalism is the best system for identifying demands and then supplying them in the most efficient way possible. Then people vote with their wallets on how much should be done about certain issues which I think is the most morally just method of action as opposed to, for example, government-forced action. These innovations, perhaps, may not have even been possible if everyone worked 2 days a week and lived a 'slow life'. Most likely, you would be conquered militarily or economically by some other party that simply works harder. It's just the prisoner's dilemma repackaged on a global scale with the added spice of the existence of ('functional') psychopaths in the mix.
@@GenSignups I think you’re really underestimating the upcoming ravages of climate change in a near future, and are completely wrong about capitalism being a possible solution while it actually is the root of the problem. But I guess we’ll find out for ourselves soon enough.
@@aggagg Capitalism can be the root of the problem or the solution, it depends on consumer demand; capitalism is simply a tool that is steered by the people. We'll be long dead before we'd get a chance to find out the end result of all this anyway.
When I lived the slow-life in the city, I felt like I couldn't talk about it. People would actually get a little angry when they found-out I only worked three days a week and wasn't looking for more.
Not only our souls needs us to embrace slow living so does Mother Earth. Our capitalist way of life is killing us and the planet. I’m making slow living more and more a priority each year 🌻
Neat. My soul wants to embrace a new sport car (Toyota Supra). So, I'm going to raise enough money to buy one and make burning fuel on the race tracks a priority this year.
I often have the conversation with my housemates about how we don't like Work, like 8-5 sit at a desk and do tasks that are often very intangible and be micro-managed by a nosy boss, but we enjoy other types of work, cleaning the home, helping a friend put together furniture, woodworking, sewing, planting a tree. Even if it's more physically demanding than a desk job, doing this kind of work is immediately rewarding because you see the results immediately and see the benefits to you or your community much more clearly than sending off a report or an email you don't even know will be read.
And then you switch to one of those physical jobs and after a couple of months you're wishing to come back to your desk 😅 After experiencing this my conclusion is that humans are never happy with whatever they have at the moment. We're always dreaming about achieving something else, and I think that's not bad, it's what push us to experiment, create new stuff and dare to get out of our comfort zone.
Yes yes, and eating chocolate immediately makes you feel good compared to eating a dry chicken breast. Our perceptions and our instincts are wired shortsighted; best we don't rely on it. In the same way, being an infinitesimal cog in a behemoth machine doesn't seem like much but the behemoth accomplishes much more than anyone could ever dream to on their own.
@@GenSignups agreed. There are plenty of non-work related items that are not that fulfilling in the moment but you just have to stick with it. Two examples that immediately come to mind for me are exercise and learning a new language.
@@CgirlAJGM I think that's because once you monetize something you enjoy, it slowly becomes less and less enjoyable and more of a chore because instead of doing it for the enjoyment or the benefit it has on your community, you're now doing it for the money. Also, if you rely on that money to survive then you are technically required to do that work or else you wouldn't have a place to live, food to eat, etc. So you've now turned something you did whenever you wanted solely for enjoyment into something you are forced to do to survive. I've noticed that when we feel forced to do something, it becomes a LOT less enjoyable. Naturally, this isn't always the case, as a lot of people monetize the things they enjoy and are still able to find enjoyment in them despite being "forced" to do them now, but I think this usually comes from having the ability/luxury to balance how much you work (as in work you do to make money) so as to avoid feeling burnt out, which most people may not have.
I feel like capitalism really can try to enter every part of your life when you aren't looking and it can ruin things that may have been intentional activities that helped center your mind. I mostly say this because I come from a family that is very focused on how hobbies can be used for financial gain, everytime I pick up a new hobby my family encourages me to start selling the item I'm making. This takes away from a low stress hobby and makes it back into a stressful job, taking away the pleasure of the hobby. It has been realizing this that has helped me to better intentionally live more slowly, putting a barrier between work for money and hobbies for fun.
Yes! It can Happen so quickly, calling a Creative Hobby „work“ may help you prioritize it or it misses the point and the joyful activity needs to have a productive value, „how to monetize all your hobbies!!!“
I work as a software administrator and recently did a certification course for that. I also struggle with getting distracted, but the one thing that helps me listen and not drift away mentally is drawing, so I spent all the lessons doodling away. I've been drawing all my life and my art skills show it. The people in my course kept asking why I don't work in an art job, but I know that would ruin art for me. I don't want to draw anything because I am being paid for it. I want to draw because it makes me happy, and I couldn't bear losing that creative outlet. Software admin may not be my passion, but I refuse to twist my passion into a job and lose control over it.
I always hear about how work culture should not be changed because poor and middle class people will be lazy. But when CEOs get paid $20M salaries, I never hear anyone say "they don't deserve it because they'll just waste it on yachts and private jets."
i personally differentiate between money work versus life work. i want to do things, be creative, help others. the problem is that money work often does not align with these goals. if i could just volunteer for political organizations and campaigns forever i would work 50+ hrs a week, but that doesn't pay the bills because it is not considered valued by capitalism. really loved this video!!
Well yeah, politics is not a profitable business. No one wants to do business that involves politics and serving society. That's what governments are for.
There will always be toil that is sometimes tedious, even when we're producing things and ideas we greatly believe in. I edited a leftist newspaper for 21 years and loved the results of each issue getting out. It was done purely for aesthetics and to further leftist views the corporate media ignored. Nonetheless, it could be very burdensome and at times frustrating. I kept my mind on the end product, a monthly permanent chronicling of radical progressive interpreting of events.
It's all work but only part of it is paid labour. And it's only the last one that is (at the moment) visible to governments en businesses. And when you make your decisions with only part of your total value visible, it's obvious there will be some weird choices made by those in charge of organising things.
I don't live to work. Two years ago I reduced my working hours to 3 days. I was mentally exhausted, I felt like I'm constantly at work. Come Sunday afternoon, I was already thinking that the next day I will be back at work. I understand people are ambitious and want to have a successful career, but this is not for me. Yes, I earn less, but mental comfort has no price.
@@unexaminedlife6130 I personally went from teaching full-time to being a substitute teacher assistant. Less stress than being the lead teacher. Stress flares my disease. And i get to work 4 hour shifts instead of 8 when needed (half days). I choose my own days and hours I work. Its perfect.
I was a university professor for 5+ years, quit when I got pregnant. Became a freelance writer when my daughter was about a year old. I hustled. Worked with as many clients as I could. Published a book. Created a course. I lived that CEO life where I woke up at 4am, read a book, did my exercise... All of these while taking care of my daughter. It was financially rewarding but so incredibly physically draining. I broke down one day. Told my husband I needed to slow down. Let go of my clients except for one. Slept in until 10am. Lived a laid back lifestyle. I got pregnant with my second child and now have a 5 month old. I love my life. The hustle culture took me away from motherhood, which is really the one thing I genuinely enjoy.
@@jdmecarr Would make more sense for you to stay working and him be the house husband but im guessing you prefer him to work whilst you are looked after
Well said about the disappearance of public gardens. I am grateful that I was able to even find a community garden plot! There really is nothing else like it.
I have a sneaking suspicion that the disappearance of gardens has a lot to do with the syringes and crazy ex-con disease-ridden homeless druggies that usually roam around in them.
I used to always think that I’m lazy, up until recently, but ist actually not true. I like work! Physical - I like building, constructing, crafting and repairing; intellectual - I absolutely love researching and systematizing information for others, educating others, writing and translating. Even emotional - I like supporting and comforting others in their time of need. I just don’t earn money with my work, which automatically means that it is irrelevant
As someone from a developing country with political crisis and civil wars going on in rural, slow living seems like a privilege to me.The social infrastructure of the country is so disputed and I see so many people have lost the awareness to embrace the little things in life. I will have to say Self-care, slow living, such things are not an individual concept but it’s rather related enormously to political aspects and the infrastructure of the society being created over time. I wish someday I could help the community in my country to at least be aware of this concept. Such a inspiring video.
I'm a farmer and homesteader, but I fully embrace what is called slow living now. I work for myself, I don't "hustle" on anyone else's time, and I'm allowing myself to have a quiet routine in both the morning and the evening (especially in the evening, when I take some time to sit on my porch with a hot cup of herbal tea and just enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells of evening time in whatever season it is). But remember, I'm a farmer and homesteader. That often means long days in whatever weather we're dealing with doing a LOT of walking and manual labor. Farmers are some of the hardest-working people in existence, because what we're able to harvest is directly tied to the amount of physical effort we put in, no matter the season or weather. So saying that folks who adopt slow living are lazy absolutely doesn't make sense in my situation, and probably doesn't make sense in lots of other situations either. I just refuse to dance to someone else's music at this point. I work harder with longer hours now than I ever did when I had a job and worked for someone else, but the difference now is that I don't experience burnout. I look forward to the work I have to do each day, I actually feel accomplished when I look at what I've done, my work actually has a significant positive impact on my family and community, and I still have time to rest, rejuvenate, and appreciate the beauty and life around me. Sending a big hello from the U.S.! 👋🏾
I keep trying to remind myself of this but as a uni student in one of the most academically competitive countries in the world, is some difficult, but having friends who want to live slower with you, is always helpful
Also remember that life comes with seasons. Just because you're busy now doesn't mean you aren't valuing slow living principles. Even steady slow trees can push themselves and grow fervently in the spring. Hopefully your work now can pave the way to a gentler life later. In the meantime, I wish you all the support you need to survive and thrive.
The school system and competition is so incredibly draining. I wish you the best of luck! I wish we could change the way schools worked, maybe our new generation will make changes
"Being depressed as a kid --- why am I getting emotional?" Oh my dear. Because of course you are. It's a heavy memory and it is so human to respond with a welling up of emotion. I'm sending you a hug. It's okay. Be emotional. We all internalised that "getting emotional" is weak, feminine and thus silly and unnecessary and none of it is true. It's very much a work in progress for me as well. Much love! Let's be emotional together! Many others have written more on the actual subject on the video, and of course it was stellar work as always.
It's crazy that partaking in slow living is pretty much rebellion. At university studying landscape architecture, I had to fight so hard to enforce boundaries on my time and energy just to be able to cook dinner, get enough sleep, and enjoy a little bit of downtime to read (reading? in university? the audacity) at the end of my day cranking out drawings and models in studio. I'm not going to get into the horrible things I've experienced in the workplace, suffice to say that achieving a life of slow living has become my ultimate goal. I just want to be left in peace! You're so right about the importance of inviting public spaces and gardens as places where people can come together and make things happen outside of commercial imperatives. That is part of the reason why I chose my field of study. But the reality is that the vast majority of built projects are funded by people and institutions who have no interest in helping 'people' who are not also their clients. More often than not the priority is reducing construction costs, which means fewer amenities, which means more sterile utilitarian spaces where nothing happens. In both domains the problem is money, or the lack of it.
This was a very insightful video! I love the idea of shifting the ideas around work to the necessary tasks that don't make money. Caretaking of the elderly, children or ill. Making art. Making food. Making space for quiet so we can think thoughts. The lack of rush really gets denigrated by the more conservative leaning people. It doesn't have to be this way. You are right, it is about infrastructure.
I have seen slow living videos associated with the Minimalist movement, yet slow living seems like an improvement on Minimalism. Slow living is a more accessible and attainable ideal for the average person. It relies less on banishing material goods but rather focuses on being attentive to your values. The old adage "Everything in Moderation" seems like common sense, but it is very difficult to enact in the modern world
In many ways minimalism is a philosophy for rich people, who can afford to just get rid of everything and buy it again if they need it later, for the sake of cleaning their room.
@@ffwast is this due to the idea that people had to be “rich” in the first place to accumulate any excess material goods that they would inevitably declutter? Or is it that after decluttering they realize that they want their things back, thus buying them all over again? Or that rich people sell all their existing items to redecorate in a “minimalist aesthetic”?
This is the lifestyle I've been feeling in my core that brings me peace. Our value shouldn't be how much money we make from working. You're right that creating art/music, caretaking, volunteering to garden or cook or take care of animals is all value we can also bring to the world. What you said at the end about being social creatures & showing the people in your town on tables was quite interesting. It got me thinking of how growing cities/towns only build what makes profit - malls, stores, houses, apartments. Parks are like 1 per city. It would be nice to have more courtyards like the ones in Mexico where people just hangout outdoors eating ice cream, drinking coffee, sometimes watching local performers.
That’s why my husband and I recently moved to Mexico, we love the culture here and just returned home after sitting in a small cafe with one of his artist friends, talking about sculptures, paintings and sharing creative ideas
I am quite hopeful now, because at least here in Germany this subject has gained a Bit of attention After the Lockdowns when people craved spaces to connect and you Could See where small Independent Shops werde able to survive because They Were part of a neighbourhood community!
I recently lived in Veracruz, Mexico for about two months, and it was incredibly eye-opening. I lived in Mexico’s coffee growing capital, Coatepec, and spent a lot of time in the capital of Veracruz, Xalapa. It was the best I’ve ever felt in my life. The town square parks was the key to that. Whether I was busy running errands or feeling low and wanting some socialization and scenery, I walked or took a taxi to the central park to rest, chat, and maybe wander into a nearby coffee shop. I got more sleep, ate better (often in the homes of the people I met in the town square!), and even had fewer symptoms of a chronic illness I have. I also stopped paying much attention to the mirror. It was really a culture shock coming back to the US, which feels soulless in comparison.
one of the things i hate with hustl culture, on a personal level, is that now i even see my hobby as something that has to be productive. I really love to draw, and i'm shaming myself when i don't do it and play video games instead because "it's not productive". I'd like to learn music and i discourage myself telling me i would be bad, and it wouldn't be profitable. I know those kind of thoughts are stupid but it's so engraved in my brain ; i wish i could live slowly. It's really complicated when capitalism is everywhere and you base your worth on it, especially for people like me who aren't tailored to live this way : i hate work, i just want to do art and be with the people i love all my life. This has so much grasp on the way we view ourself - the productivity thing i mean. I wish we could be nicer to ourselves, and other (as in content creators for a start ? idk we just seem to expect so much of them). Thank you for the video ♥ i kind of want to take thing slow from now.
I agree. For my part, my very limited and personal definition of slow living seems to spit in the face of everything that the world demands of people. One's worth being tied to a job that would replace a person the second they die. Everyone is replaceable, no job is secure, honestly. .. And yet - people will tie themselves in knots and throw themselves away for things like that - chasing through the entryway that is college. There's a kind of integrity to slow living - almost like an outer and deeper awareness that something truly is wrong with society and to not be apart of it. I've been quite depressed all my life, thinking I had no worth because what worth was I making? What was I contributing? I'm creative, too .. and the whole selling art and commissions is also a sour taste in my mouth. I think a lot of creative people forget why they're creative in the first place - and it isn't to make money. .. One's worth is never based on a job or what they can do. It's sad that people don't even know how to rest properly. I don't think these feelings are an accident. There's a lot I still need to think about, but, I really do need to be honest and authentic with myself - and this hustle life, chasing a job and everything goes against my internal makeup and natural energy level. It is a direct adversary to things that are good and honest, calm, and peaceful - things that I need in my life. People try to live life and yet, let it steal life away from them. I wish you luck. :) May we both live life at our own pace instead of anyone else's.
Slow living really changed my outlook on life and helped me connect with my artistic self in a way I always dreamed of. It has been about 2 years and now I working on a poetry book :) Slowing down helped me see life in all its beautiful shades; I regret nothing! 🌿 (also would totally go over bird species with you Alice! Thank you for your work
This is actually exactly what I've been doing with my life for several years now, I first started realizing that living slowly and for the enjoyment of life would be MY most productive choice when I found out that I could never earn enough to live 'normally' because of my chronic health conditions. Despite my conditions people regularly ask me what my 'plans' are, if I'm going to try studying again or if I'll try my hand at a regular job. I have explained to people around me that it would not be good for me, I know it's an expectation from society and especially so because I am living on government benefits but in reality I would never be able to work enough in a week to no longer be on benefits, my physical and mental health would suffer in the process. Because of these factors I have chosen to focus on my friendships, passions (I do a lot of art and handcrafting), I make things for people around me, I travel somewhere when I'm able (which is every couple years usually). My life is slow and quiet in comparison to that of most people but I'm happy and I truly hope that other people start to understand that it's not realistic to expect everyone to work beyond their means with the aim of a reward that might never come.
So true, plus with many workforces are reportedly have been sufferring from long covid which is a chronic health condition, society will have no choice but to slow down and change.
@@healwithlaurennicole Absolutely! I love that you made a channel about this topic, I wish there was more general awareness about how helpful this lifestyle and movement is to people like us.
I've been working fulltime whilst having chronic pain/fatigue etc. because of expectations and people around me not blieving me. It's brutal. I have no energy to do anything in my spare time. I will be quiting this job soon and live more slowly this summer and enjoy myself. Also working is so pointless if you can't even get a house and build a normal life.
After a long time in academics, I worked for three years in a different country. The jobs themselves were alright and they did have a somewhat noble end goal (medical biotech) but I had to leave the most recent one due to work visa related issues. But in a way, it's been a blessing. I had managed to save up a decent amount of money and now that I've moved back home, I am planning on doing all the things I wanted to do but did not have the time to before. I'm going to do this until I can pursue other opportunities that will interest me and I feel the need to have a steady income. I call it temporary retirement. It certainly is a privilege but unless people who are in a position to do so take breaks from capitalistic careers or whatever else promotes slow living, it will not be normalized.
I think this video is important to tell us our work in life is not just limited to our "professional work". I have ADHD and since I've entered the workforce I have struggled to find my place. Everything feels so restraining. It mostly consists of opening my laptop and writing and reading a bunch of text. Which is incredebly boring. I want to approach it differently. However in my personal life I've been alot more fulfilled. There is a communal park just 100m from my house. There I walk my dog out and I've met soo many other dog owners. We exchanged and shared many of our live's story. In the end we kinda formed (it was kinda spontaneous) our own community. And honestly I feel that I can help in that way talking about my experiences and listening to other people. I feel much more useful there, than at my job. This is more the kind of work I would want to carry out and , in my opinion, many others.
Have you thought that boredom can be ok too? Boredom is part of life and not everything has to be comfortable, the art is to find satisfaction and gratitude even in boredom and discomfort, to appreciate the depth of reality, the gift of existence.
That kind of work really is awful with ADHD, I was good at it but I was losing my mind. Instant uptick in my mental health after switching out of "sit at a desk all day every day"
I have ADHD too and cannot climb the “career ladder” no matter how hard I try. I keep hopping job to job and struggle to maintain my employment, not through being fired or anything, just from having to quit due to stress or having too many interests and not being able to choose. Lately I have had some support for the ADHD that I did not have before, and have been encouraged to understand that I am not built for full time jobs or fast paced lifestyle. I can relax and not feel so guilty now :)
Aparna Sen, the veteran actor and director, once said that in order to be creative, you have to be in a state of free flotation. Living slowly really puts things into perspective.
I grew up in the country side. Studied in a big city. Country side life is naturally slower -albeit not easier. But there’s something more…mindful of living that you don’t get in the city. And I truly believe there’s an innate human desire to experience that. And every time I read comments saying “only the rich can do that”. No. Most people aren’t rich here, they simply don’t expect the same materialistic accessibility city people expect to have.
This video made me emotional, i truly wish more people(myself included) had the opportunity to do slow-living. Most of us are just trying to survive these days, slow-living unfortunately isn't really a choice when you can barely survive.
My son and his fiancé have taken up slow living and it is hard as it goes against ALL society preaches. I'm doing all I can to support him and am working on shifting to "living small" as I prefer to call it...
I feel this in my soul. Humans were never meant to endlessly work and be productive. Even sitting too much is dangerous. We need those third places to come together. We need to feel alive! Cottagefairy is my *ahem* second favourite UA-camr :) Do you have links to the channels of the other youtubers you mentioned?
huMANs wEre NevER meanT to ENDLeSslY work And Be PRoDUCTIVe... leT'S aLL rEtURN To MONke anD DIE oF PnEuMONIA instEaD! i CAN feeL IT in My mOnKE SoUL THAT THIs Is A gOoD ideA!
This video hit me hard. I've been trying to become a screenwriter for years, without success. I wrote script after script, but none sold. Recently I decided I would never make it and became depressed. In my mind, if I wasn't making a living from my art, I was a failure. But this made me think art can be valuable without the need to profit off of it. Art for arts sake. I'm realizing maybe I can be a screenwriter even if I never make a dollar from it. Maybe I've been one for awhile.
One way I’ve implemented slow living into my life is focusing on my religion and spiritual focus more. Since then I’ve found that I’m more grateful and enjoy the little moments even more than when I tried my hand at the typical self-care practices like gratitude journaling. I realized that I didn’t need to buy a notebook, stickers, fancy pens and markers in order to have gratitude in my daily existence. Living prayerfully has helped me feel less guilty for taking time to help other people rather than prioritizing time efficiency when working. Taking time to absorb the lessons of Christ (which I’ve found are super anti-capitalist and anti-consumerist) and find value and love my life even when things are hard has done wonders for my mental health. I’m in college and I changed my major, now I’m doing a degree (animal science) I really want and enjoy rather than sacrificing my mental clarity pursuing what everyone expected of me. I wouldn’t have made that change had I not started focusing on what I felt was right for me, and that began with my religion.
Me too! Sadly I can't change my degree (Classics) but I've picked up as many environmental science opportunities as possible and tbh knowing more about the world Jesus lived in makes him seem even more radical.
As you are describing your way of being from childhood on, I remember when I learned that I am a high sensation seeker, a person who needs new and novel experiences. I am also highly sensitive, so my optimal level of arousal is narrow - too little stimuli and I am bored, too much and I am overwhelmed. But give me a slow living activity like gardening, writing, or volunteering and I will be deeply engaged without exhaustion. I actually find this type of ‘productivity’ to be energizing, rather than many of the useless tasks I was asked to complete when I previously worked a corporate, capitalist job. Glad you are out here, spreading the word, they more of us who advocate for, and choose this type of lifestyle, the quicker things will change💜
One of the things I have found in my exploration of slow living is that one of the most powerful things I can do as a person pushing back against an extractive economy is doing the work of reducing my income dependence (things like growing food for my family and community or making my own cloth or clothing or furniture as a way to slow my rate of consumption). It has been an incredible antidote to hustle culture, because the processes there are inherently slow, steady, and responsive to the world around me, and because it is in many ways pursuing the same ends by inverse means, and when I have the two to compare, the 'fast track' of hustle culture seems impersonal, disconnected, and abhorrent, by comparison.
You've put my thoughts into words. I've always advocated for a slow life, I come from a rural area where life isn't rushed and you basically live in the present. I moved to a big city to attend uni and started suffering from mental health issues. I'm currently doing a PhD and life feels like a never-ending marathon. Achievement after achievement... I've stopped doing things I want to do only because I feel like doing them. Everything needs to have a purpose. That has made me reconsider my future. Thanks for your videos and for keeping us thinking. (PS: OMG you are in Barcelona!!!! Let's do a meet up PLEASE!)
I am constantly feeling guilty for not getting more things done. But it's not just at my job - I frequently take days off work so I can catch up on personal projects. I love the idea of expanding the definition of work, but also I think there's value in truly doing nothing at all. Whether that means meditation, resting, taking breaks or naps, or taking time to enjoy a meal or chat with friends, there's incredible restorative power that can help us heal. If you want to put a "work" spin on it you can point to how rest and meditation can increase productivity, but I want to emphasize that it has value in itself. I also tend to be hard on myself for spending too much time watching UA-cam or Netflix, but on the other hand, as I grow older I've been coming to understand the incredible value of listening. I was feeling bad that I hadn't practiced the saxophone last week, but I realized I'd spent hours every day thinking about the music I was learning and listening to examples. Even when I think I'm totally "wasting time," I often realize that the way I spent my time was still very valuable. The most important thing for me is that I have the choice about how I spend my time. "8 [hours] for what we will" is a good start, but I want more!
I live in the middle of nowhere in the countryside and it frustrates me seeing it so romanticised especially by Leah but I still enjoyed her countryside content but this slow life is heavily romanticised and from someone in their 20’s living in the middle of nowhere it’s pretty lonely, hard to meet people and have a community especially in the rural countryside and even if you do these gentle habits you’re still faced with isolation of the rural. Anyways that’s my point of view from someone who lives in the rural country that’s always romanticised and it definitely doesn’t look like the cottagefairy or Leahfieldsnotes version, if that makes sense. Even being a UA-camr, I have to use my 4G hotspot to upload and many other things that aren’t in the cottage core aesthetic and slow living etx
This video paved a bridge in my mind closer to BALANCE. A type of balance where we still do the work we enjoy and serve the community by fulfilling a role in a healthy way but at the same time not reducing our value to that and also building a life around the things that truly matter to our happiness and wellbeing (other than out work ofc). Love it!!
I was your typical over-achiever when I realised two years ago that I probably don't have to work as hard as I did to reach my dreams (living with animals and children in the countryside while working in my dream field) and just stopped stressing as much. Funnyly enough, my academic performance has actually not dragged as much as I thought, I just don't spend more time then neccessary on topics I don't enjoy and in term study my favourite fields more. And most of all, I really enjoy studying now that I don't force myself to! :)
While I was in Copenhagen, I actually saw a lot of cafés where laptops were prohibited during all days of the week. This slow living lifestyle is sth that feels very scandinavian to me
@@ffwast It's to encourage people to just enjoy the moment. If you want to sit for hours and watch youtube videos, do that at home. It's quite selfish to take up a coffee shop table for hours even to work, especially if you're just playing games/watching videos etc.
This video really struck a chord with me, I was getting emotional right along with you! I constantly struggle to balance growth vs mindless productivity. You've helped me better grasp that slowing down can help me remember why I'm seeking productivity in the first place. Thanks for all that you do, Alice!
oh my god, slow living is what i was looking for, ive been really tired out about the "grindset" i have committed myself to, because of the exprectations ive mentally set myself. Id love nothing more than to wake up and pick what i want to do that day without stuff getting in the way.
The thing with capitalistic work it's that it's never just 9-5. I wish it was just 9-5 for me. It's not 9-5 for a lot of people I know. I generally work 10-14 hours a day on a 8h contract. I'm pushed to deliver projects on tighter and tighter deadlines so the company can grab more clients and make more money. They don't pay overtime. They make you feel like it's your fault you're not fast enough even if the work volume multiplied by 5 in 3 years. If you refuse to deliver no matter the impact on your persobal time they don't give you a raise in the context that food and everything is more expensive and you essentially get a pay cut. They don't hire enough people because "economic crisis, inflation etc.". If I though the 9-5 to letf me tired with little time to do anything on the personal side, this 9 to 9 or sometimes more leaves me feeling like a zombie. I've gained a lot of weight, I never have time to exercize, cook, do anything personal, the only life I live is during weekends and I'm too tired to do much. I clean my home, I cook, I watch some show on Netflix with my partner. Tell me if that's a life worth living. At the beginning the of year I told them it's enough with the unpaid overtime for me. I can't continue working like I'm a piece of machinery, I'm a human being. This is what hustle culture promoted by pro capitalists does. They make you into a cog that can't take any breaks, that is worthless in their eyes unless they're constantly producing something. It's a sick society. You can call me lazy, I'm not going to an early grave to make more money for a company that would replace me any second. I can't grow as a person if I don't have time to read, learn new skills, rest. When I talk to people about having the right to do those things they like at me like I'm asking for handouts.
This video has really helped me articulate the thoughts and confusion i've been having with having to do with slow living lately. I am currently on a gap year and am in a fortunate position to be able to be working in hospitality and then having a fair amount of time off in between that. I've sensed in myself a desire to want to go outside more, go for walks, practise my guitar, shape up on my reading both sociology related and also to just finally finish that Zadie Smith on my bedside table. But i've felt this mental block; partially owed to the fact i am struggling with a short attention span and phone addiction. But also partly because I've felt a resistance and confusion as someone who identifies as a leftist to take that time for myself both physically, politically, and emotionally. I don't think i've fully been able to reason with myself why taking that time is so important, and why there isn't any shame in it, and moreover how it actually empowers what I believe in and have always told myself I believe in. This whole discourse just feels so important. This video on top of the Elliot Sang I have been watching lately has brought me so much clarity about what I've been feeling lately and in turn so creatively inspired. So thanks for the video i really appreciated it :)
Aurora's the seed is definitely a gem that everyone needs to listen to and learn from. I've been slow living all of my life and everyone around me has tried to "wake me up", in vain. It's a nice way to live and I recommend it to anyone and everyone. My life is happy and fulfilling. Both my husband and I work part time, which gives us time to be with our children, grow our own food and meet up for coffee and conversations with each other and with family and friends. We also live within walking distance from our places of work, so there is no commute and we know the people living in our neighbourhood, which is quite rare when living in a metropolis. Living more intentionally has also made me better at my job, so it's definitely a plus for society to work less and be less stressed.
You are terrifying the people who attend the Davos meetings. They are campaigning to raise the retirement age so that they win several more years of our lives to extract wealth from. Pointless wealth that they will add to their hoard and in their lifetimes never spend.
I strive to live like this. I noticed I disliked the lifestyle of capitalism a few years ago. I was so depressed and felt so left behind I wasn’t “achieving” anything career wise. Then I realized it’s because of capitalism. I noticed this idea of slow living when I watched studio ghibli movies. The “slice of life” type anime. Enjoying and romanticizing your life the way it is. Just stopping and watching and enjoying this moment in time. I am an artist and the idea of not working a traditional job and just working on art and going on hikes, walks, enjoying nature, and architecture. I want to read and just relax. Capitalism wants us to be workers and will call us lazy because they don’t want us to stop working our life away for them. Laziness does not exist. We just want to enjoy our lives. Wonderful video it makes me feel more certain about my beliefs and who I am and being happy!!
Also I want to add I want to move out of America because of the community and architecture and public transit in other countries it’s much more enjoyable for me.
It seems when 'lazy' is used as a pejorative it usually means "unwilling to engage in profit generating activities". Lots of people that the mainstream ideology accuse of laziness are actually engaged in laborious activities all the time, they're just not engaged in laborious activities that capitalists can exploit, so they don't get approval.
finally a word that describes the kind life i love to live. I just graduated from uni and am job hi ting and it’s kinda depressing but im not to stressed bc thankfully i live w my family which has its ups and downs, but im taking it as a chance to nap and read and cook. Just taking the time where i have nothing g going on to love as i’ve always wanted and not putting myself down for it.
I'm just settling in Mexico City now and am picking up skateboarding again, cruising through the city exploring the endless beauty here... that's my casual magic and I love it.
@Ulises Martínez heartbreaking to hear that but there is no doubt there is often beauty and magic even in the most dangerous places. And I’ve been to a number of places in Mexico and while there are of course problems I’ve also encountered a lot of beauty and magic in the people from here
Keep it real Alice! I'm a big fan of the channel ever since I came across the videos and make it a point to recommend it to people. The fact you kept the moment at 8 minutes says a lot. You got this. :')
After a breakup a month ago I quit my big city life and went to a Greek island and it just been so good for me that I started thinking maybe that is where I belong from now on, even though I've been always dependent on living in crowded areas
Alice, I found your channel quite recently and I just want to thank you, all I've seen is quite enlightening and enriching. I'll watch the channels you've recommended, and to the extent possible, I'll try to prioritise a slow living life style and ideals. regards from Chile!!
I work as a software engineer, and find the work itself to be engaging, challenging, and fun...I like the puzzle-solving part of the job. Unfortunately, in the United States, it is improbable find work like mine without being forced to work for a corporation and do 40hrs minimum a week and with little vacation time. The power structures are set up in a way where it is discouraged to anything different than the norm. Although I can find fulfillment in doing the work, I want the power to choose flexibility and incorporate more "slow living" habits into my life. Maybe that would mean starting out with a 4day work week or 30hrs a week. Although I would like more vacation time, I think we currently have so little that even moderate increases wouldn't change the typical week to week hustle of the pace the corporation wants us to work at.
I have been thinking something like this for weeks now but was unsure of how to word it. I am an American living in Seoul, South Korea. Both places in which capitalism THRIVE but I found The Cottage Fairy and I have been slowly thinking of things quite differently. I absolutely love Seoul, but as a person with ADHD I am always needing a freaking break from internally and externally going a million miles an hour. I am and will continue to make slow living more of a priority and staple to my everyday life. Thank you Alice.
I've always viewed you as a genuine person but at 8:13 I teared up because that was such an endearing and wholesome moment. Great video as always, Alice.
Just the "I'm actually getting emotional... why am I getting emotional?" is really cool to hear. I haven't watched your stuff in a while but I've noticed the quality increase, good on ya.
This is the sort of movement that I've always felt like I've gravitated towards. I'm in my first year of college, and during the first few months I'd walk alone into the small town close to campus, and just explore the shops, antiques, alleys, and farmers market. I'd always find something new and interesting each trip, like a funky mural, or a good restaurant. When I did start making friends and invite them to go off campus with me, I was surprised when I realized that most hadn't been in town yet, even on the weekends, and often stayed in their dorm rooms. At the same time, I was able to spend a lot of time in the wilderness and observing/exploring my surroundings while growing up. I spend a lot of time researching little interests of mine, particularly transcendentalism and the journals of John Muir and the writing of Ralph .W. Emerson and Walt Whitman. Currently I'm studying horticulture, with a focus on sustainability and permaculture with the hope that one day I can live a slower life. I think that I'm still very idealistic in many ways and aspire to make a positive impact, although, I don't think that is necessarily contrary to "slow living". Perhaps if we all lived a little slower, we'd feel more inclined to help those in our communities and elderly family members through general reciprocity!
This was such an interesting video. I found myself nodding my head all throughout it. And then to top it of you mentioned Aurora. I think the fact that artists like her are getting more and more popular, and the fact that we are discussing the topics you usually discuss in your videos, serve as proof that many of us want the same. We long for a community in where everyone lifts each other, and where living a life where stress is not the main motor is actually attainable. We deserve to live peacefully, we really do. We deserve to be the owners of our own life.
I always thought about myself as unambitious and even bad people around me used to call me lazy. It took me long time to reframe ambition in other sense than in money terms. Ambitious used to mean for me someone on path to more money and more career power. But I realised that I'm ambitious too, but in a different sense. I'd like to understand philosophy on the complex level, go as much deep as my intellect would let me, I would like to be able to analyse cinematography across the 20th and 21st century with analytical skills that I will hone across the years and decades. I now know that those are valid ambitions, real as any other, worth of living them. Yes, there is little money in it, but that's not argument to diminish it. And to spent four hours reading and writing down notes is as tiring as when I worked in warehouse for seven hours.
Me and my husband is slow living again and we try to do fun activities outdoors mostly somewhere else, work somewhere else and create in certain rooms only and do nothing else there. 4 days of our vacation we do nothing but creativity and rest and read and people think we are crazy. We go for daily walks and sit still for at least 4 hours and do not answer calls and dont use internet, we also take naps.
All my co workers were confused when i said id refuse a "salary" position... its considered the best you can get,... but the problem with it is... the work never ends when youre on salary. I love my job, could do without overtime though, and i have no intention to "move up" in the company Im young (mid 20s) and everyone of my coworkers finds this odd The thing is! The higher you move up the more work consumes you. Id rather do a good job at what im doing now than worry about what opportunities i can get in the future. Sure theres some positions in the company that if i got the chance to id go to(mainly bc other areas dont have as much overtime, my goal would be to work less so i can work more on other things if that makes sense? I have a lot of stuff i want to do with my life not just my paid job), but im not worried about it one bit. Im happy with where i am and i make the most of the time i DO have I often end up spending my breaks at work working on my personal projects lmao.
So true! I learned this working my way up from sandwich maker to manager. Should have stuck to the sandwich making, that was the best job I ever had with the nicest customers and co-workers.
As a graduate student, I relate to the concept of mentally expanding what "work" means so much -- I find that many activities like organizing seminars, mentoring, building community within my academic field (usually with the aim of dismantling the inequities that exist there), or even teaching aren't considered to be (important) "work". These tasks are devalued and seen as distractions to the "real" work of research. Of course, the mental and emotional labor that these activities require usually falls on women and other people belonging to groups historically excluded from academia...
I feel this with the lack of open spaces. As a kid, there was no open area to hang out in with my friends. We would meet up by the library and sit in the space between the wall and the road since there was a picnic table. All of the parks in town were private property of schools. We never really saw people outside other than us. Even having a dog park with a gazebo is better than nothing.
May i just say i Love how french people know how to protest. In Italy, people are already retiring at like 65 at least. If you start working now at 25, you'll have to work until you're 75 (unless a lot of things change until then, which i really hope lol) and yet, nothing. No protests, no strikes, nothing
My favorite slow living channel is Peter Cook. He is a slow liver in the city and his channel is amazing. Also his voice is unintentional ASMR so it's a double whammy lol
Something that goes unacknowledged in the slow-living, cottagecore movement is that living rurally involves a lot more work than living in the city! Cooking meals, gardening, and DIY home maintenance are all essential parts of rural living. I just spent a year farming and I don't think I've ever worked so hard in my life! There are beautiful quiet and slow moments absolutely, but a good work ethic is pretty essential for anybody wanting to actually live out their cottagecore dreams. I don't think it's wrong to be romanticizing quiet moments in nature but those moments were only part of my "slow living" experience.
It seems that the people who embrace slow living are often converts from a high productivity mindset, a mindset which put them in a financial situation that then allows them to slow down. How does one live slowly from the beginning with out the infrastructure that supports it?
lmao you don't. slow life is what well-off people do as an outlet for their unfulfilled creative needs or whatever. it's not anti-capitalist in the slightest
@@myirlname accurate af. Not to mention that the infrastructure they are then relying on for their slow living (ie a community) is fuelled and provided for by people who cannot simply stop working or reduce their hours. If everyone took on this slow living life many people would be left without support, resources or help.
@@onions831in the uk all the support systems have gone to shit, we can’t get doctors appointments, ambulances, mental health support, affordable food or fuel. Even the poor can’t always get food from food banks because they’re so overstretched. Self-sufficiency and self-preservation are smart choices in an over-stretched society imo.
i highly recommend the book "The Serenity Passport: A world tour of peaceful living in 30 words" by Megan C Hayes. Its a short and easy read that really inspired me with multiple little way i could incorporate slow and peaceful time for myself. Honestly recommend
Fair point. Altho, IMO there are people who prefer to "work hard & play hard", so we (as society) should allow them to pursue their faster paced lifestyle, just as you should be free to pursue your "slow life".
@ferret If you want a slow and simple life, join Amish community. If you want a slow life, but with modern conveniences, join workers coop or collective farm. If you want an absolutely secure job and a steady life, apply for a govt (bureaucratic) job. If you want a faster pace and bit more exciting life (with spicy office politics), join a big company or bank. If you want the risky and yet potentially the most financially rewarding job, start your own company or join a new startup that offer you share in the startup. I choose the latter two options: work for a big company for ~10 years and started my own company. It's been a roller-coaster ride, with highs and lows, I've even been on the verge of bankruptcy few times. But I enjoyed it, I have no regret. Ofc this lifestyle is not for everyone. So choose the one you're most comfortable with. Just remember that you are *NOT* entitled to a comfortable life. The less risk you take the less reward you may get.
We also need to talk about vanishing scarcity - food being destroyed to maintain market value, houses standing empty to maintain their value, and the rapid growth in cheap, environmentally safe power generation. In this 'post' industrial world, scarcity is being maintained for power and profits for a small handful and we're forced to hustle for these things that are actually widely available and only kept from us by the political economy. Recognising a post-scarcity world also means recognising the end of productivity _for survival_. What kind of activities will we engage in when activity isn't required to have a roof, food on the table, and lights on? We'd be asking that question now if it weren't for a host of grifters keeping us from the overwhelming results of our growing productivity over the last 300 years.
The idea that the Left is "lazy" is so strange to me, in Sweden we are the only party that have in our political goal "the right to have a job". Still the Right belive that we don't want to work? What we want is to be able to live a full life from our 9-5 without feeling burnt out. We want to contribute to our community because it's importent, not work becauce we want to win capitalism.
The greatest joy in my life now is to wonder or dérive through a new place or cityscape. It slows the pace of how you see and feel in a space and helps me remember locations, street names and directions.
The employment to retirement pipeline reinforces this idea that we must work ourselves way harder than we should at jobs that don't give us any real sense of fulfillment because of the promise of the golden ticket of retirement waiting for us at the end of it. People are told that the one thing you have to look forward to in life is not having to work anymore and then when they get there they realize it's not all it's cracked up to be. A life of pure leisure is BORING and so often people are either depressed and dissatisfied with their retirement or they worked themselves so hard for all those years that many become sick and/or drop like flies shortly after retiring. I don't ever want to retire under this structure. What we consider "work" shouldn't be relegated to only that which our capitalist structure is currently paying us to do. Being productive shouldn't be about producing a product to be sold but producing community, connection, meaning, and fairness for all. Caring for others and for yourself (ie. community gardens, making art just for fun, going for walks) IS work when these are the things you're aiming to produce. And if that's the case then I don't ever want to stop working ✨
Over the past 2 to 3 years I have had increasing mental health issues stemming from lockdown easing and my autism. I am also a visitor engagement volunteer at a major zoo here in Scotland. One thing I found that my autism triggered me to do was focus on getting things right, not quickly, right. When faced with volume over quality, I would focus on quality and take it out on myself when not reaching quality standards that are impossible to achieve sustainably. Anxiety increases and depression gets worse. During lockdown I found the lack of noise pollution and air pollution incredible. The ability to slow down and appreciate what is around, nature in particularly. Connection with nature and what nature gives us can make such a difference. Go for quality, take the time, think sloth!
Love how you're adding a new perspective to the conversation, trends can often overshadow the message behind the intention of what's trending. Slow living can be so purposeful and even healing!💛💛 (I also find it funny that we watch the same UA-camrs 😂)
i accidentally stumbled upon this video, and it was such food for thought. for the longest time i felt an immense pressure to have ‘a big dream’ that i have to work relentlessly to follow. and i am a hard worker, i love the rush of productivity, but every single passion project i completed, every single thing i dedicated my time to finish fell flat. it was not contributing to something major, ‘a big dream’. and just now i am realizing that this was a myth spoon-fed me by the same structures that value hustle culture. you do your big thing, you specialize, then you die. it is so hollow. to lack a big aspiration in not to lack humanity. i think it is a great lesson for me
You continue to inspire me. In the United States, where I live, and am a citizen, the path is intentionally very narrow, and most people cannot conceive of another way than working for a profit-driven corporation until 67 years of age, and finding that the state pension (social security) will provide about 1/2 of what you really need to survive, so "you'd better be an investor." I am also an Italian citizen, which I recognize as a real privelege. A life in Europe, where different ideas/paradigms are (still) viable, is available to me; these types of conversations and insights are essential for the planet, and to my well being, as part of the whole. Thank you for all that you do, and the succint way in which you present your ideas. Did I say that you inspire me? 💞
As a person who always has to do something, I need to practice slow living. Our work culture, especially in the US, convinces us that we constantly have to do something to be "be productive". Thank you for another thought provoking video
@@penpolyon8179thats so true haha, as someone with adhd and autism, slow living is a tricky balance to strike...but once you hack it and let yourself adapt to it as the new "routine" and the new normal, its so rewarding and peaceful to just like chill
Capitalist society trains us to think it's never enough. Im 22 right now living with my girlfriend and I make enough money to pay my bills, save some, and not lose my mind (I still do occasionally) from work stress and extremely long shifts. Family friends will say "that's fine,for now." Maybe they will end up right who knows, but I'm happy with what I have now and don't plan on needing much more. I could live in our one bedroom one bathroom apartment forever; it feels like home, and that's more important than having a huge house. Not sure about having kids; we've talked about adopting one and having a dog in the future, but nothing certain. I already have so much that so many other people don't have. I try to be grateful for everything I have and I could always improve as I still waste a lot I'm sure. Endless working towards excess is a trick to keep us unsatisfied with whatever we have. (I live in the US for clarification. We have so many issues, but I have many things to be gateful for as well.)
watched this after taking myself out on a sushi date and taking 20 minutes to drink one beer at the end of the meal. thanks for the video. it's the sort of thing i need to hear right now. too in my head over 'productivity' and 'accomplishment'. going to go read a book now. 🦊🤙
This videos are VERY TARGETED cause why did i see the video on the top right of the miniature on my recommended a few days ago.. and watched it too it was really good and loved the idea and now it's and actual thing HOWW
My favorite thing to do nowadays is going to playgrounds, I love just feeling like a kid again and doing stuff purely for fun. Swinging was always my favorite thing to do cause it made me feel like flying, it’s great to have that feeling again.
This was an interesting watch, really enjoyed it. Cool thing is the world is so small! Leah is actually a friend of mine from uni, she’s always talked about wanting to live on and own her own farm in the countryside since the early days of meeting her
I really like this commentary. Slow living is definitely not about inactivity, it's about working *and* resting in a balanced way. Resting well allows better and focus for the work day. It's also about being mindful throughout the activities of life, whether paid or unpaid. True value is so much more than money! 🌿
slow living feels like it prioritizes living for enjoyment rather than for accomplishments, there is a time and place for big goals and productivity but it shouldn’t be all we live for
Enjoyment, but also engagement? It doesn't need to be about pleasures, but a refusal to participate in a dehumanising productivity culture.
Excellent description! ❤
As a recently disabled person (about 3 years) this is how I had to change and adapt to stay alive without well killing myself. Without being able to physically move as fast and realizing how much of the world's seemed to demand me to work or die literally wanting me dead for not only just being me now but for being disabled psychically. Now I just embraced my poor nature with my little amount of things and try to enjoy the sun. I have no more goal. I have no more plans. I just have life. And sadness. And happiness. My humanity.
Many of us enjoy accomplishments. If I woke up every morning with no purpose I would be horribly bored
@Vincent Palomarès-Pelletier I can't believe how much people complain about late stage capitalism, considering we're nowhere close to late stage
In these times I always think of Ursula K Le Guin's quote: 'We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable - but then, so did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art.'
Her whole national book award speech is amazing. I particularly like the closing line: We who live by writing and publishing want and should demand our fair share of the proceeds; but the name of our beautiful reward isn’t profit. Its name is freedom.
So *that's* what she meant with that one story. I had a hunch she was commenting on capitalism
I just had the worst shift at my job and I'm starting to feel like a failure. Thanks to this video and this comment especially, I realize I've tied my sense of value to being a capitalist, but I'm really more of a slow living person. I have an autoimmune disease and it makes living in capitalism impossible. I hope things get better.
@@TaroLoaf Which story?
@@starry_skies the ones that walk away from omellas
That is very interesting, I have been slow living for years now. All of my friends and family denigrate me for my laissez-faire attitude, taking long walks in the woods, living in the moment, rather than keeping up with their expectations of me killing myself by climbing the corporate ladder and becoming rich. Never liked Capitalism, never liked Hustle culture, never felt that money and productivity made me happy. People spend their entire lives killing time to get to a point when they are old and grey before finally slowing down and appreciating all the things they missed, I dont want to do that, I want to experience life here and now
Ugh. I work in a corporate environment and there is so much emphasis on "what do you want to do next, what role are you going to aim for" -- I enjoy the role I am in and I earn enough to pay for the things I enjoy (sewing, baking, growing plants). Does everybody *have * to be ambitious, grind, hustle hustle hustle?
Living that right now, and searching the balance between fullfiling those expectesions of being succesfull for the society and enjoying the experience of being alive, I've been thinking all my life about having the enonomical means to aford living in a peaceful place.
thats incredible love that
Tell me you have rich parents without telling that you have rich parents.
Yep, most everyday people really are just stupid brainwashed sheep... Good on you for waking up! Remember, you may be too far ahead of your time for normies around you to wrap their minds around, but more and more people will keep getting hip 😎
I went to a business university, but it actually made me more anti-capitalist instead of more bussiness-man. The worst concept I was interoduced to was "creating needs". So you don't need something, but marketing experts trick you into thinking otherwise and bang - you just bought a product. The positive is now when I learned that I'm much less prone to such manipulations.
you can start a youtube channel to tell the world about this tricks
Thanks for sharing, this is good information to know
@@majkel2720 I've definitely heard this concept from other youtubers. But yeah, people have their own take on it and it would interesting hearing more about business education from a anti-capitalist perspective.
@@zeffery101 It felt like I was taught by Elon Musk fans posing as serious adults. Productivity obsession, scheduling every single minute of your day, working hard - hustle culture. Great way to become a hollow shell of a human being. Everyone can become rich type of vibe. Older professors were more professional and down to earth.
I hated corporate ethics subject in Business school because at end of lesson we would be told ethics are not always about legal stuff and not about morals••• so yeah we know what ethics is!!
A couple weeks ago I saw a tumblr post about how much work living off the land is. I grew up in poverty with eight siblings in the country. Every spring we would plant a garden and tend to it until winter. We’d can and freeze as many vegetables as we could. We also raised chickens and turkeys and we’d butcher them and freeze that as well. We had berry bushes, grapes, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries. Keeping up on all of this was a lot of work. Every day we picked strawberries, peas, tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, or berries depending on what was in season. Everyday we fed the chickens and turkeys twice. My dad still had ten hours work days, most times six days a week. On top of this we had the normal housework which, if you have more than two siblings, you know is a fucking lot to keep after. I am grateful to have grown up gardening and living with lots of space to play in when I had time. My point is that slow living is not a countryside lifestyle. Slow living is community lifestyle, or a lifestyle where you plenty of make money easily. Living off the land is fucking hard work and making enough money to provide for a family is fucking hard work. We need communities that support everyone inside the community in every way, not just weekly gatherings. Where we share land and food and watch over each others’ loved ones and work together. Reading the book Work by James Suzman really helped me see community and work in a whole new light
I loved your comment! It is very true. My mom is an immigrant that grew up in a poor farmer family and had to basically do child labor for all the work to be done. Farm life is heavily romanticised nowadays and influencers are not transparent about the fact that NOT everyone can do that. You need to have passive income or at least a home office side hustle so that you can do your gardening for fun and not full time. Also you have no chance living on the countryside when you are ill/disabled and have no family or community to support you there.
It is nice to want to connect to nature and to do meaningful work with your bare hands but it does not mesh well with our individualistic and lone wolf mindset + lifestyles.
Convenience can be a trap
No pity for people who CHOOSE to start a family and struggle because of it
@@TheFarebanksTroll where did this person ask for pity?
@@TheFarebanksTroll I am child-free by choice and still think your comment is uncalled for. Children are a lot of work and all parents struggle in some way, even if it isn't obvious to outsiders, but obviously if the human race wishes to self perpetuate (which it obviously does), what alternative is there? Do you have any pity for your own parents' struggles?
As a Canadian who lives out in a basement in the suburbs I feel this. Their aren’t enough open community spaces it’s been designed that we live in a box to get into a box to drive to a box to work, shop for food or things, to visit someone else box but outside of this their isn’t much open active community. The monetary privilege to afford to enter another space outside of your home is high that many don’t and so we sit in our little boxes in north America trying to find some meaning.
hehehe yyou got me with boxes.
@@Avalonanon you are aware of the concept of a public place, right?
The system was designed that way for a reason: to get people more involved with sin. The "box" doesn't want to be there either. We should be thanking God for what He's done.
well put
That's baffling to me, because you've got so much space over there. I live on a 9x5 island with 120000 people on it, and nowhere is more than 100m from a house. Me and my mates still find spots where we won't be disturbed for a fire and some beers in the woods. I expected Canada to be perfect for that, especially with the legal weed.
I was raised in small village in a farming family. I used to joke when I lived abroad and in big cities that when I finally snap I will move to the countryside again. Now at 24 I have returned not because I snapped per say but realised I just never fit in to the busy competitive environment. I spent a good chunk of my life envying the ones who naturally thrive there and felt like a complete isolated loser. I had the choice during the pandemic to reevaluate and start new. I up and left and feel immense gratitude. I feel at home in a small community helping elderly and kids, studying for a higher level of education so I can give back more. I never would have had this energy and motivation in the wrong environment to better myself for others.
Where are you from?
@@willj5760 little general but Nordic Countries
I recently read about a sociology theory called "the third place" which argues that humans need 3 places: A workplace, a home and a third place to relax and socialize. The third should be distinct from your home. While i was reading about it, i realized that, at least in my home country, Greece, the third place is always a local coffee shop for men and the mini market or the hairdressers for women. This is mostly true for older generations, nowadays most people meet, socialize, discuss, relax at the central square or some nearby coffee shop where they take life easy and relax. In my home city cofee shops near the sea are also popular. If you ask me, this carelessness is what i miss from my culture here in Germany.
Kai h plateia gia ta padia;
Wow, and someone probably got a degree for writing about that """groundbreaking revelation""". Man, contemporary sociology is one of the biggest grifts I've ever seen.
Y'know what, I have a sociology theory too. I call it "the fourth place" which argues that people need a fourth place to dream and construct ideals or goals, typically located in one's beds. Now, where's my PhD in griftology?
I literally live in an area that has no third place. the actual history of my town was that it was originally built just outside the city for commuters to have a place to live so they could travel to work easily. All I have is a whole bunch of shops. it's depressing, it costs me a lot to pay for a train ticket to london to go into a third place which is itself expensive because it's in the inner city.
@@GenSignups why are you so mad?
@@xaviar10bro’s on full tilt because someone said people should enjoy their lives lmfao
I think what is missing from a lot of the slow living videos like Leah’s is that it is easy to parachute into places like an organic farm and sort of cosplay working the land. I am not doubting that helping with daily tasks is not challenging but it doesn’t show the full picture of how financially stressful it is to keep a small agricultural business afloat and how much time and work it takes to get to the point of bountiful production.
☝Thanks for watching, Message me on telegram now. Got Something for you💚.
Yea not everyone has a green thumb lol
@@ArcadiasPlanet Or can afford good growing land. Or not have the rain pattern change because someone quarried some hills 10km away. Or fit in with the local community. Or stop their idiot neighbour upstream from dumping their irrigation runoff into the creek. Or be a good enough shot with a rifle to get rid of the wild hogs. Or have the guts to kill the cats that eat the seed-spreading birds.
A lot of these people who fantasise about moving to the country don't realise that nature is completely apathetic to their existence and will flatten them, seemingly at random.
True. I also feel like there's a part of it that's been reduced to "aesthetic" and not the peaceful but not without struggles of a lifestyle it is.
I'm so happy that you've eloquently explained this. 'The left' isn't about being lazy. It's largely about ensuring a *balance* between work and everything else: family, community, leisure, etc. It's about working for those things, rather than just working to make billionaires richer.
Agree, but also we shouldn't consider laziness as a negative, laziness in moderation is great
@@KarlSnarks I agree. Sort of. It's still useful to have the word 'laziness' with its negative connotations, for different contexts. In this context, it's not the right word. Words with similar meaning but more positive connotations would be more appropriate here.
When I was in university, I read a book called "Travailler deux heures par jour" (working two hours a day), from the 70s. It calculated that if we shared equally the necessary and unpleasant toil, we could all "work" only 2 hours a day. Then do whatever we want the rest of the time, including unconstrained productive stuff. I probably read it just at the right time, being lost as a student, having no idea where my life was going.
Then I discovered the whole "décroissance" (degrowth) movement, which confirmed that our work-centered society was neither good nor sustainable. The "slow" trend never clicked with me, though. I think it seemes more centered on individual choices, and much less political, while the décroissance aimed to question our whole unsustainable way of life in a rich country, exhausting ressources, disturbing the climate, and making us depressed on the way.
Since then I've tried to find the right balance between work and freedom. It seems that people are questionning work more and more, and as the government tries to postpone the age of retirement, the topic is hotter than ever.
On the flip side, what would happen to the GDP if this change were made? How would this impact your country's national security in the long run? Would such a lifestyle be sustainable with malicious foreign actors in the long run?
Probably not, your country would probably just get crushed and you'd all get forced to work in even harsher conditions by some foreign despot in the end anyway. These kinds of ideologies tend to be so concerned about sustainability in terms of natural forces but the more immediate and significant threat to a sustainable way of life will always be other people.
@@GenSignups All those questions need to be adressed anyway. If we keep things the way are right now, we'll soon have to deal with a huge climate problem, with areas of the globe becoming unlivable, entire populations forced to move, ecological, social, economical and political unstability, etc.
Doing nothing against climate change will just make every single problem worse.
@@aggagg I don't think the long-term consequences of climate change are very clear right now but for now, let's just assume it will be as bad as you say. It won't be 'soon' and I'm pretty sure the aforementioned unnamed 'other people' could ruin your country and way of life much faster than climate change so that still takes priority.
I also don't think that 'nothing' is being done right now about climate change. Compare now to 1980, for example, and you'll see how many more innovations were made precisely to cater to climate-conscious consumers. At the end of the day, capitalism is the best system for identifying demands and then supplying them in the most efficient way possible. Then people vote with their wallets on how much should be done about certain issues which I think is the most morally just method of action as opposed to, for example, government-forced action.
These innovations, perhaps, may not have even been possible if everyone worked 2 days a week and lived a 'slow life'. Most likely, you would be conquered militarily or economically by some other party that simply works harder. It's just the prisoner's dilemma repackaged on a global scale with the added spice of the existence of ('functional') psychopaths in the mix.
@@GenSignups I think you’re really underestimating the upcoming ravages of climate change in a near future, and are completely wrong about capitalism being a possible solution while it actually is the root of the problem.
But I guess we’ll find out for ourselves soon enough.
@@aggagg Capitalism can be the root of the problem or the solution, it depends on consumer demand; capitalism is simply a tool that is steered by the people. We'll be long dead before we'd get a chance to find out the end result of all this anyway.
When I lived the slow-life in the city, I felt like I couldn't talk about it. People would actually get a little angry when they found-out I only worked three days a week and wasn't looking for more.
3-day work week sounds awesome, but how do you sustain a living that way, especially in cities?
Not only our souls needs us to embrace slow living so does Mother Earth. Our capitalist way of life is killing us and the planet. I’m making slow living more and more a priority each year 🌻
Neat. My soul wants to embrace a new sport car (Toyota Supra). So, I'm going to raise enough money to buy one and make burning fuel on the race tracks a priority this year.
❤️❤️❤️
@@GenSignups k?
@@GenSignups your soul don't want no Supra, its your ego dummy
@@GenSignups omg you totally crushed her comment with a sigma comeback
I often have the conversation with my housemates about how we don't like Work, like 8-5 sit at a desk and do tasks that are often very intangible and be micro-managed by a nosy boss, but we enjoy other types of work, cleaning the home, helping a friend put together furniture, woodworking, sewing, planting a tree. Even if it's more physically demanding than a desk job, doing this kind of work is immediately rewarding because you see the results immediately and see the benefits to you or your community much more clearly than sending off a report or an email you don't even know will be read.
And then you switch to one of those physical jobs and after a couple of months you're wishing to come back to your desk 😅
After experiencing this my conclusion is that humans are never happy with whatever they have at the moment. We're always dreaming about achieving something else, and I think that's not bad, it's what push us to experiment, create new stuff and dare to get out of our comfort zone.
Yes yes, and eating chocolate immediately makes you feel good compared to eating a dry chicken breast. Our perceptions and our instincts are wired shortsighted; best we don't rely on it. In the same way, being an infinitesimal cog in a behemoth machine doesn't seem like much but the behemoth accomplishes much more than anyone could ever dream to on their own.
@@GenSignups agreed. There are plenty of non-work related items that are not that fulfilling in the moment but you just have to stick with it. Two examples that immediately come to mind for me are exercise and learning a new language.
This is why I work in ECE. I can’t describe what half my friends do in their office jobs, but I can tell when I taught a little human how to read.
@@CgirlAJGM I think that's because once you monetize something you enjoy, it slowly becomes less and less enjoyable and more of a chore because instead of doing it for the enjoyment or the benefit it has on your community, you're now doing it for the money. Also, if you rely on that money to survive then you are technically required to do that work or else you wouldn't have a place to live, food to eat, etc. So you've now turned something you did whenever you wanted solely for enjoyment into something you are forced to do to survive. I've noticed that when we feel forced to do something, it becomes a LOT less enjoyable. Naturally, this isn't always the case, as a lot of people monetize the things they enjoy and are still able to find enjoyment in them despite being "forced" to do them now, but I think this usually comes from having the ability/luxury to balance how much you work (as in work you do to make money) so as to avoid feeling burnt out, which most people may not have.
I feel like capitalism really can try to enter every part of your life when you aren't looking and it can ruin things that may have been intentional activities that helped center your mind. I mostly say this because I come from a family that is very focused on how hobbies can be used for financial gain, everytime I pick up a new hobby my family encourages me to start selling the item I'm making. This takes away from a low stress hobby and makes it back into a stressful job, taking away the pleasure of the hobby. It has been realizing this that has helped me to better intentionally live more slowly, putting a barrier between work for money and hobbies for fun.
Yes! It can Happen so quickly, calling a Creative Hobby „work“ may help you prioritize it or it misses the point and the joyful activity needs to have a productive value, „how to monetize all your hobbies!!!“
Goddam you capitalism. The cause of all ills...
It can be a blessing if you can make it work, or a curse if you try to make it work… it’s a problem I’m well familiar with!
I work as a software administrator and recently did a certification course for that. I also struggle with getting distracted, but the one thing that helps me listen and not drift away mentally is drawing, so I spent all the lessons doodling away. I've been drawing all my life and my art skills show it. The people in my course kept asking why I don't work in an art job, but I know that would ruin art for me. I don't want to draw anything because I am being paid for it. I want to draw because it makes me happy, and I couldn't bear losing that creative outlet. Software admin may not be my passion, but I refuse to twist my passion into a job and lose control over it.
My family is exactly like this too and it has been so difficult to unlearn that mindset and just let hobbies be hobbies .
I always hear about how work culture should not be changed because poor and middle class people will be lazy. But when CEOs get paid $20M salaries, I never hear anyone say "they don't deserve it because they'll just waste it on yachts and private jets."
CEOs just sit up there and do something
Yes, that's a big fat lie to keep a system which priviledge only a few last
i personally differentiate between money work versus life work. i want to do things, be creative, help others. the problem is that money work often does not align with these goals. if i could just volunteer for political organizations and campaigns forever i would work 50+ hrs a week, but that doesn't pay the bills because it is not considered valued by capitalism. really loved this video!!
Well yeah, politics is not a profitable business. No one wants to do business that involves politics and serving society. That's what governments are for.
@@sucram1018 With how often politicians get gigantic bribes from lobbyists, I'd say politics is quite profitable.
There will always be toil that is sometimes tedious, even when we're producing things and ideas we greatly believe in. I edited a leftist newspaper for 21 years and loved the results of each issue getting out. It was done purely for aesthetics and to further leftist views the corporate media ignored.
Nonetheless, it could be very burdensome and at times frustrating. I kept my mind on the end product, a monthly permanent chronicling of radical progressive interpreting of events.
The concept of “life work” just changed my whole life thank you 🙏
It's all work but only part of it is paid labour. And it's only the last one that is (at the moment) visible to governments en businesses. And when you make your decisions with only part of your total value visible, it's obvious there will be some weird choices made by those in charge of organising things.
I don't live to work. Two years ago I reduced my working hours to 3 days. I was mentally exhausted, I felt like I'm constantly at work. Come Sunday afternoon, I was already thinking that the next day I will be back at work.
I understand people are ambitious and want to have a successful career, but this is not for me. Yes, I earn less, but mental comfort has no price.
Agreed!! I feel the same after my 5-year battle with chronic illness. Its not worth sacrificing our health for work.
What line of work are you in because I'm trying to get to 3 days a week too?
@@unexaminedlife6130 I personally went from teaching full-time to being a substitute teacher assistant. Less stress than being the lead teacher. Stress flares my disease. And i get to work 4 hour shifts instead of 8 when needed (half days). I choose my own days and hours I work. Its perfect.
@@unexaminedlife6130 Entry level corporate office work. I like this easy job that I don't take home. But it does get boring and repetitive.
I also love with a chronic illness and changing my career and reducing my work days/hours has helped immensely. May you be well!
I was a university professor for 5+ years, quit when I got pregnant. Became a freelance writer when my daughter was about a year old. I hustled. Worked with as many clients as I could. Published a book. Created a course. I lived that CEO life where I woke up at 4am, read a book, did my exercise... All of these while taking care of my daughter. It was financially rewarding but so incredibly physically draining. I broke down one day. Told my husband I needed to slow down. Let go of my clients except for one. Slept in until 10am. Lived a laid back lifestyle. I got pregnant with my second child and now have a 5 month old. I love my life. The hustle culture took me away from motherhood, which is really the one thing I genuinely enjoy.
Husband still works all the hours satan sends him then ?
@@parallaxview6770 my husband works his normal hours, I earn 2.5x more than him. Our combined income was cut by ~30% but we're doing more than okay.
@@jdmecarr Would make more sense for you to stay working and him be the house husband but im guessing you prefer him to work whilst you are looked after
Maybe your husband should have help you taking care of his daughter...
@@sweetpoptart9486 oh my husband is a very hands on with the kids! I guess I got my wording wrong with "my daughter".
Well said about the disappearance of public gardens. I am grateful that I was able to even find a community garden plot! There really is nothing else like it.
nature has been monopolized by the greedy ones. you cant just enjoy anything now for free
I have a sneaking suspicion that the disappearance of gardens has a lot to do with the syringes and crazy ex-con disease-ridden homeless druggies that usually roam around in them.
I used to always think that I’m lazy, up until recently, but ist actually not true. I like work! Physical - I like building, constructing, crafting and repairing; intellectual - I absolutely love researching and systematizing information for others, educating others, writing and translating. Even emotional - I like supporting and comforting others in their time of need. I just don’t earn money with my work, which automatically means that it is irrelevant
As someone from a developing country with political crisis and civil wars going on in rural, slow living seems like a privilege to me.The social infrastructure of the country is so disputed and I see so many people have lost the awareness to embrace the little things in life. I will have to say Self-care, slow living, such things are not an individual concept but it’s rather related enormously to political aspects and the infrastructure of the society being created over time. I wish someday I could help the community in my country to at least be aware of this concept. Such a inspiring video.
Yes, only those whose basic meets are met (food and shelter) can have the privilege to "slow live". The rest of us have to work in order to survive.
Are you from Myanmar, if you dont mind my asking? It is just that I can deeply relate to what you’ve mentioned.
@@ayemyatmon1157 Yes sis :) I’m glad someone in Myanmar is listening to Alice as well.
@@urj2532 I wish you'd uploaded some videos to your UA-cam channel. I'd absolutely love to hear your thoughts and viewpoints on everything! :)
@@ayemyatmon1157 Ahh I’m not really into that but would love to share some thoughts with you tho!
I'm a farmer and homesteader, but I fully embrace what is called slow living now. I work for myself, I don't "hustle" on anyone else's time, and I'm allowing myself to have a quiet routine in both the morning and the evening (especially in the evening, when I take some time to sit on my porch with a hot cup of herbal tea and just enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells of evening time in whatever season it is).
But remember, I'm a farmer and homesteader. That often means long days in whatever weather we're dealing with doing a LOT of walking and manual labor. Farmers are some of the hardest-working people in existence, because what we're able to harvest is directly tied to the amount of physical effort we put in, no matter the season or weather. So saying that folks who adopt slow living are lazy absolutely doesn't make sense in my situation, and probably doesn't make sense in lots of other situations either.
I just refuse to dance to someone else's music at this point. I work harder with longer hours now than I ever did when I had a job and worked for someone else, but the difference now is that I don't experience burnout. I look forward to the work I have to do each day, I actually feel accomplished when I look at what I've done, my work actually has a significant positive impact on my family and community, and I still have time to rest, rejuvenate, and appreciate the beauty and life around me.
Sending a big hello from the U.S.! 👋🏾
I keep trying to remind myself of this but as a uni student in one of the most academically competitive countries in the world, is some difficult, but having friends who want to live slower with you, is always helpful
Also remember that life comes with seasons. Just because you're busy now doesn't mean you aren't valuing slow living principles. Even steady slow trees can push themselves and grow fervently in the spring. Hopefully your work now can pave the way to a gentler life later. In the meantime, I wish you all the support you need to survive and thrive.
The school system and competition is so incredibly draining. I wish you the best of luck! I wish we could change the way schools worked, maybe our new generation will make changes
"Being depressed as a kid --- why am I getting emotional?"
Oh my dear. Because of course you are. It's a heavy memory and it is so human to respond with a welling up of emotion. I'm sending you a hug. It's okay. Be emotional. We all internalised that "getting emotional" is weak, feminine and thus silly and unnecessary and none of it is true. It's very much a work in progress for me as well. Much love! Let's be emotional together!
Many others have written more on the actual subject on the video, and of course it was stellar work as always.
It's crazy that partaking in slow living is pretty much rebellion. At university studying landscape architecture, I had to fight so hard to enforce boundaries on my time and energy just to be able to cook dinner, get enough sleep, and enjoy a little bit of downtime to read (reading? in university? the audacity) at the end of my day cranking out drawings and models in studio. I'm not going to get into the horrible things I've experienced in the workplace, suffice to say that achieving a life of slow living has become my ultimate goal. I just want to be left in peace!
You're so right about the importance of inviting public spaces and gardens as places where people can come together and make things happen outside of commercial imperatives. That is part of the reason why I chose my field of study. But the reality is that the vast majority of built projects are funded by people and institutions who have no interest in helping 'people' who are not also their clients. More often than not the priority is reducing construction costs, which means fewer amenities, which means more sterile utilitarian spaces where nothing happens.
In both domains the problem is money, or the lack of it.
This was a very insightful video! I love the idea of shifting the ideas around work to the necessary tasks that don't make money. Caretaking of the elderly, children or ill. Making art. Making food. Making space for quiet so we can think thoughts. The lack of rush really gets denigrated by the more conservative leaning people. It doesn't have to be this way. You are right, it is about infrastructure.
I have seen slow living videos associated with the Minimalist movement, yet slow living seems like an improvement on Minimalism. Slow living is a more accessible and attainable ideal for the average person. It relies less on banishing material goods but rather focuses on being attentive to your values. The old adage "Everything in Moderation" seems like common sense, but it is very difficult to enact in the modern world
In many ways minimalism is a philosophy for rich people, who can afford to just get rid of everything and buy it again if they need it later, for the sake of cleaning their room.
@@ffwast is this due to the idea that people had to be “rich” in the first place to accumulate any excess material goods that they would inevitably declutter? Or is it that after decluttering they realize that they want their things back, thus buying them all over again? Or that rich people sell all their existing items to redecorate in a “minimalist aesthetic”?
This is the lifestyle I've been feeling in my core that brings me peace. Our value shouldn't be how much money we make from working. You're right that creating art/music, caretaking, volunteering to garden or cook or take care of animals is all value we can also bring to the world. What you said at the end about being social creatures & showing the people in your town on tables was quite interesting. It got me thinking of how growing cities/towns only build what makes profit - malls, stores, houses, apartments. Parks are like 1 per city. It would be nice to have more courtyards like the ones in Mexico where people just hangout outdoors eating ice cream, drinking coffee, sometimes watching local performers.
That’s why my husband and I recently moved to Mexico, we love the culture here and just returned home after sitting in a small cafe with one of his artist friends, talking about sculptures, paintings and sharing creative ideas
@@soulfulgardener that cafe hangout sounds divine🌟😊 One of my friends also moved her entire family to Mexico
I am quite hopeful now, because at least here in Germany this subject has gained a Bit of attention After the Lockdowns when people craved spaces to connect and you Could See where small Independent Shops werde able to survive because They Were part of a neighbourhood community!
I recently lived in Veracruz, Mexico for about two months, and it was incredibly eye-opening. I lived in Mexico’s coffee growing capital, Coatepec, and spent a lot of time in the capital of Veracruz, Xalapa. It was the best I’ve ever felt in my life. The town square parks was the key to that. Whether I was busy running errands or feeling low and wanting some socialization and scenery, I walked or took a taxi to the central park to rest, chat, and maybe wander into a nearby coffee shop. I got more sleep, ate better (often in the homes of the people I met in the town square!), and even had fewer symptoms of a chronic illness I have. I also stopped paying much attention to the mirror. It was really a culture shock coming back to the US, which feels soulless in comparison.
one of the things i hate with hustl culture, on a personal level, is that now i even see my hobby as something that has to be productive. I really love to draw, and i'm shaming myself when i don't do it and play video games instead because "it's not productive". I'd like to learn music and i discourage myself telling me i would be bad, and it wouldn't be profitable. I know those kind of thoughts are stupid but it's so engraved in my brain ; i wish i could live slowly. It's really complicated when capitalism is everywhere and you base your worth on it, especially for people like me who aren't tailored to live this way : i hate work, i just want to do art and be with the people i love all my life. This has so much grasp on the way we view ourself - the productivity thing i mean. I wish we could be nicer to ourselves, and other (as in content creators for a start ? idk we just seem to expect so much of them).
Thank you for the video ♥ i kind of want to take thing slow from now.
Same. It's always on my head that my art isn't good to be sold, so I shouldn't be making it
I agree. For my part, my very limited and personal definition of slow living seems to spit in the face of everything that the world demands of people. One's worth being tied to a job that would replace a person the second they die. Everyone is replaceable, no job is secure, honestly. .. And yet - people will tie themselves in knots and throw themselves away for things like that - chasing through the entryway that is college. There's a kind of integrity to slow living - almost like an outer and deeper awareness that something truly is wrong with society and to not be apart of it. I've been quite depressed all my life, thinking I had no worth because what worth was I making? What was I contributing? I'm creative, too .. and the whole selling art and commissions is also a sour taste in my mouth. I think a lot of creative people forget why they're creative in the first place - and it isn't to make money. .. One's worth is never based on a job or what they can do. It's sad that people don't even know how to rest properly. I don't think these feelings are an accident. There's a lot I still need to think about, but, I really do need to be honest and authentic with myself - and this hustle life, chasing a job and everything goes against my internal makeup and natural energy level. It is a direct adversary to things that are good and honest, calm, and peaceful - things that I need in my life. People try to live life and yet, let it steal life away from them. I wish you luck. :) May we both live life at our own pace instead of anyone else's.
Exactly how I feel!
@@nomadicgamer9466 wow, phrased everything I feel better than I could put words to
Slow living really changed my outlook on life and helped me connect with my artistic self in a way I always dreamed of. It has been about 2 years and now I working on a poetry book :) Slowing down helped me see life in all its beautiful shades; I regret nothing! 🌿 (also would totally go over bird species with you Alice! Thank you for your work
This is actually exactly what I've been doing with my life for several years now, I first started realizing that living slowly and for the enjoyment of life would be MY most productive choice when I found out that I could never earn enough to live 'normally' because of my chronic health conditions.
Despite my conditions people regularly ask me what my 'plans' are, if I'm going to try studying again or if I'll try my hand at a regular job. I have explained to people around me that it would not be good for me, I know it's an expectation from society and especially so because I am living on government benefits but in reality I would never be able to work enough in a week to no longer be on benefits, my physical and mental health would suffer in the process.
Because of these factors I have chosen to focus on my friendships, passions (I do a lot of art and handcrafting), I make things for people around me, I travel somewhere when I'm able (which is every couple years usually).
My life is slow and quiet in comparison to that of most people but I'm happy and I truly hope that other people start to understand that it's not realistic to expect everyone to work beyond their means with the aim of a reward that might never come.
Your story is similar to mine, Eva! I created my whole channel around it. Slow living is a necessity for those of us with chronic conditions.
So true, plus with many workforces are reportedly have been sufferring from long covid which is a chronic health condition, society will have no choice but to slow down and change.
@@healwithlaurennicole Absolutely! I love that you made a channel about this topic, I wish there was more general awareness about how helpful this lifestyle and movement is to people like us.
I’m in a similar boat. There is a lot of shame when it comes to having chronic conditions though as many still expect you to be “normal”.
I've been working fulltime whilst having chronic pain/fatigue etc. because of expectations and people around me not blieving me. It's brutal. I have no energy to do anything in my spare time. I will be quiting this job soon and live more slowly this summer and enjoy myself. Also working is so pointless if you can't even get a house and build a normal life.
After a long time in academics, I worked for three years in a different country. The jobs themselves were alright and they did have a somewhat noble end goal (medical biotech) but I had to leave the most recent one due to work visa related issues. But in a way, it's been a blessing. I had managed to save up a decent amount of money and now that I've moved back home, I am planning on doing all the things I wanted to do but did not have the time to before. I'm going to do this until I can pursue other opportunities that will interest me and I feel the need to have a steady income. I call it temporary retirement. It certainly is a privilege but unless people who are in a position to do so take breaks from capitalistic careers or whatever else promotes slow living, it will not be normalized.
Enjoy your time off to play, you earned it!
I think this video is important to tell us our work in life is not just limited to our "professional work". I have ADHD and since I've entered the workforce I have struggled to find my place. Everything feels so restraining. It mostly consists of opening my laptop and writing and reading a bunch of text. Which is incredebly boring. I want to approach it differently.
However in my personal life I've been alot more fulfilled. There is a communal park just 100m from my house. There I walk my dog out and I've met soo many other dog owners. We exchanged and shared many of our live's story. In the end we kinda formed (it was kinda spontaneous) our own community. And honestly I feel that I can help in that way talking about my experiences and listening to other people. I feel much more useful there, than at my job.
This is more the kind of work I would want to carry out and , in my opinion, many others.
Have you thought that boredom can be ok too?
Boredom is part of life and not everything has to be comfortable, the art is to find satisfaction and gratitude even in boredom and discomfort, to appreciate the depth of reality, the gift of existence.
@@DonaldFranciszekTusk Boredom is something that happens when you have ADHD, it's a brain disorder not a "gift"
That kind of work really is awful with ADHD, I was good at it but I was losing my mind. Instant uptick in my mental health after switching out of "sit at a desk all day every day"
@@ffwast Probably it would be easier to bear if you wouldn't focus on it and appreciete it.
I have ADHD too and cannot climb the “career ladder” no matter how hard I try. I keep hopping job to job and struggle to maintain my employment, not through being fired or anything, just from having to quit due to stress or having too many interests and not being able to choose. Lately I have had some support for the ADHD that I did not have before, and have been encouraged to understand that I am not built for full time jobs or fast paced lifestyle. I can relax and not feel so guilty now :)
Aparna Sen, the veteran actor and director, once said that in order to be creative, you have to be in a state of free flotation. Living slowly really puts things into perspective.
I grew up in the country side. Studied in a big city. Country side life is naturally slower -albeit not easier. But there’s something more…mindful of living that you don’t get in the city. And I truly believe there’s an innate human desire to experience that. And every time I read comments saying “only the rich can do that”. No. Most people aren’t rich here, they simply don’t expect the same materialistic accessibility city people expect to have.
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This video made me emotional, i truly wish more people(myself included) had the opportunity to do slow-living. Most of us are just trying to survive these days, slow-living unfortunately isn't really a choice when you can barely survive.
My son and his fiancé have taken up slow living and it is hard as it goes against ALL society preaches. I'm doing all I can to support him and am working on shifting to "living small" as I prefer to call it...
I feel this in my soul.
Humans were never meant to endlessly work and be productive. Even sitting too much is dangerous. We need those third places to come together. We need to feel alive!
Cottagefairy is my *ahem* second favourite UA-camr :) Do you have links to the channels of the other youtubers you mentioned?
leahs channel is just @leahsfieldnotes :D
huMANs wEre NevER meanT to ENDLeSslY work And Be PRoDUCTIVe... leT'S aLL rEtURN To MONke anD DIE oF PnEuMONIA instEaD! i CAN feeL IT in My mOnKE SoUL THAT THIs Is A gOoD ideA!
This video hit me hard. I've been trying to become a screenwriter for years, without success. I wrote script after script, but none sold. Recently I decided I would never make it and became depressed. In my mind, if I wasn't making a living from my art, I was a failure. But this made me think art can be valuable without the need to profit off of it. Art for arts sake. I'm realizing maybe I can be a screenwriter even if I never make a dollar from it. Maybe I've been one for awhile.
Good on you!
One way I’ve implemented slow living into my life is focusing on my religion and spiritual focus more. Since then I’ve found that I’m more grateful and enjoy the little moments even more than when I tried my hand at the typical self-care practices like gratitude journaling. I realized that I didn’t need to buy a notebook, stickers, fancy pens and markers in order to have gratitude in my daily existence. Living prayerfully has helped me feel less guilty for taking time to help other people rather than prioritizing time efficiency when working. Taking time to absorb the lessons of Christ (which I’ve found are super anti-capitalist and anti-consumerist) and find value and love my life even when things are hard has done wonders for my mental health. I’m in college and I changed my major, now I’m doing a degree (animal science) I really want and enjoy rather than sacrificing my mental clarity pursuing what everyone expected of me. I wouldn’t have made that change had I not started focusing on what I felt was right for me, and that began with my religion.
Same here
Me too! Sadly I can't change my degree (Classics) but I've picked up as many environmental science opportunities as possible and tbh knowing more about the world Jesus lived in makes him seem even more radical.
I can't relate but I'm so happy that works for you!!
As you are describing your way of being from childhood on, I remember when I learned that I am a high sensation seeker, a person who needs new and novel experiences. I am also highly sensitive, so my optimal level of arousal is narrow - too little stimuli and I am bored, too much and I am overwhelmed. But give me a slow living activity like gardening, writing, or volunteering and I will be deeply engaged without exhaustion. I actually find this type of ‘productivity’ to be energizing, rather than many of the useless tasks I was asked to complete when I previously worked a corporate, capitalist job. Glad you are out here, spreading the word, they more of us who advocate for, and choose this type of lifestyle, the quicker things will change💜
One of the things I have found in my exploration of slow living is that one of the most powerful things I can do as a person pushing back against an extractive economy is doing the work of reducing my income dependence (things like growing food for my family and community or making my own cloth or clothing or furniture as a way to slow my rate of consumption). It has been an incredible antidote to hustle culture, because the processes there are inherently slow, steady, and responsive to the world around me, and because it is in many ways pursuing the same ends by inverse means, and when I have the two to compare, the 'fast track' of hustle culture seems impersonal, disconnected, and abhorrent, by comparison.
You've put my thoughts into words. I've always advocated for a slow life, I come from a rural area where life isn't rushed and you basically live in the present. I moved to a big city to attend uni and started suffering from mental health issues. I'm currently doing a PhD and life feels like a never-ending marathon. Achievement after achievement... I've stopped doing things I want to do only because I feel like doing them. Everything needs to have a purpose. That has made me reconsider my future.
Thanks for your videos and for keeping us thinking.
(PS: OMG you are in Barcelona!!!! Let's do a meet up PLEASE!)
I am constantly feeling guilty for not getting more things done. But it's not just at my job - I frequently take days off work so I can catch up on personal projects. I love the idea of expanding the definition of work, but also I think there's value in truly doing nothing at all. Whether that means meditation, resting, taking breaks or naps, or taking time to enjoy a meal or chat with friends, there's incredible restorative power that can help us heal. If you want to put a "work" spin on it you can point to how rest and meditation can increase productivity, but I want to emphasize that it has value in itself.
I also tend to be hard on myself for spending too much time watching UA-cam or Netflix, but on the other hand, as I grow older I've been coming to understand the incredible value of listening. I was feeling bad that I hadn't practiced the saxophone last week, but I realized I'd spent hours every day thinking about the music I was learning and listening to examples. Even when I think I'm totally "wasting time," I often realize that the way I spent my time was still very valuable. The most important thing for me is that I have the choice about how I spend my time. "8 [hours] for what we will" is a good start, but I want more!
I live in the middle of nowhere in the countryside and it frustrates me seeing it so romanticised especially by Leah but I still enjoyed her countryside content but this slow life is heavily romanticised and from someone in their 20’s living in the middle of nowhere it’s pretty lonely, hard to meet people and have a community especially in the rural countryside and even if you do these gentle habits you’re still faced with isolation of the rural. Anyways that’s my point of view from someone who lives in the rural country that’s always romanticised and it definitely doesn’t look like the cottagefairy or Leahfieldsnotes version, if that makes sense. Even being a UA-camr, I have to use my 4G hotspot to upload and many other things that aren’t in the cottage core aesthetic and slow living etx
This video paved a bridge in my mind closer to BALANCE. A type of balance where we still do the work we enjoy and serve the community by fulfilling a role in a healthy way but at the same time not reducing our value to that and also building a life around the things that truly matter to our happiness and wellbeing (other than out work ofc). Love it!!
I was your typical over-achiever when I realised two years ago that I probably don't have to work as hard as I did to reach my dreams (living with animals and children in the countryside while working in my dream field) and just stopped stressing as much. Funnyly enough, my academic performance has actually not dragged as much as I thought, I just don't spend more time then neccessary on topics I don't enjoy and in term study my favourite fields more. And most of all, I really enjoy studying now that I don't force myself to! :)
While I was in Copenhagen, I actually saw a lot of cafés where laptops were prohibited during all days of the week. This slow living lifestyle is sth that feels very scandinavian to me
So the only thing people could be using a laptop for is work? That idea is just silly.
@@ffwast It's to encourage people to just enjoy the moment. If you want to sit for hours and watch youtube videos, do that at home. It's quite selfish to take up a coffee shop table for hours even to work, especially if you're just playing games/watching videos etc.
This video really struck a chord with me, I was getting emotional right along with you! I constantly struggle to balance growth vs mindless productivity. You've helped me better grasp that slowing down can help me remember why I'm seeking productivity in the first place.
Thanks for all that you do, Alice!
Calling slow living a "consumer trend" is like calling never doing any exercise a "workout trend"
oh my god, slow living is what i was looking for, ive been really tired out about the "grindset" i have committed myself to, because of the exprectations ive mentally set myself. Id love nothing more than to wake up and pick what i want to do that day without stuff getting in the way.
The thing with capitalistic work it's that it's never just 9-5. I wish it was just 9-5 for me. It's not 9-5 for a lot of people I know.
I generally work 10-14 hours a day on a 8h contract. I'm pushed to deliver projects on tighter and tighter deadlines so the company can grab more clients and make more money. They don't pay overtime. They make you feel like it's your fault you're not fast enough even if the work volume multiplied by 5 in 3 years. If you refuse to deliver no matter the impact on your persobal time they don't give you a raise in the context that food and everything is more expensive and you essentially get a pay cut. They don't hire enough people because "economic crisis, inflation etc.".
If I though the 9-5 to letf me tired with little time to do anything on the personal side, this 9 to 9 or sometimes more leaves me feeling like a zombie. I've gained a lot of weight, I never have time to exercize, cook, do anything personal, the only life I live is during weekends and I'm too tired to do much. I clean my home, I cook, I watch some show on Netflix with my partner. Tell me if that's a life worth living. At the beginning the of year I told them it's enough with the unpaid overtime for me. I can't continue working like I'm a piece of machinery, I'm a human being. This is what hustle culture promoted by pro capitalists does. They make you into a cog that can't take any breaks, that is worthless in their eyes unless they're constantly producing something. It's a sick society. You can call me lazy, I'm not going to an early grave to make more money for a company that would replace me any second. I can't grow as a person if I don't have time to read, learn new skills, rest. When I talk to people about having the right to do those things they like at me like I'm asking for handouts.
This video has really helped me articulate the thoughts and confusion i've been having with having to do with slow living lately. I am currently on a gap year and am in a fortunate position to be able to be working in hospitality and then having a fair amount of time off in between that. I've sensed in myself a desire to want to go outside more, go for walks, practise my guitar, shape up on my reading both sociology related and also to just finally finish that Zadie Smith on my bedside table. But i've felt this mental block; partially owed to the fact i am struggling with a short attention span and phone addiction. But also partly because I've felt a resistance and confusion as someone who identifies as a leftist to take that time for myself both physically, politically, and emotionally. I don't think i've fully been able to reason with myself why taking that time is so important, and why there isn't any shame in it, and moreover how it actually empowers what I believe in and have always told myself I believe in. This whole discourse just feels so important. This video on top of the Elliot Sang I have been watching lately has brought me so much clarity about what I've been feeling lately and in turn so creatively inspired. So thanks for the video i really appreciated it :)
Feel this so much!
Aurora's the seed is definitely a gem that everyone needs to listen to and learn from.
I've been slow living all of my life and everyone around me has tried to "wake me up", in vain. It's a nice way to live and I recommend it to anyone and everyone. My life is happy and fulfilling. Both my husband and I work part time, which gives us time to be with our children, grow our own food and meet up for coffee and conversations with each other and with family and friends. We also live within walking distance from our places of work, so there is no commute and we know the people living in our neighbourhood, which is quite rare when living in a metropolis.
Living more intentionally has also made me better at my job, so it's definitely a plus for society to work less and be less stressed.
You are terrifying the people who attend the Davos meetings. They are campaigning to raise the retirement age so that they win several more years of our lives to extract wealth from. Pointless wealth that they will add to their hoard and in their lifetimes never spend.
Hello :) being a French student feeling like my life doesn't have much purpose, I'm curious to know what kind of jobs u and ur husband are working
Hello :) being a French student feeling like my life doesn't have much purpose, I'm curious to know what kind of jobs u and ur husband are working
@Marie D I'm a freelance architect and he's a librarian.
I strive to live like this. I noticed I disliked the lifestyle of capitalism a few years ago. I was so depressed and felt so left behind I wasn’t “achieving” anything career wise. Then I realized it’s because of capitalism. I noticed this idea of slow living when I watched studio ghibli movies. The “slice of life” type anime. Enjoying and romanticizing your life the way it is. Just stopping and watching and enjoying this moment in time. I am an artist and the idea of not working a traditional job and just working on art and going on hikes, walks, enjoying nature, and architecture. I want to read and just relax. Capitalism wants us to be workers and will call us lazy because they don’t want us to stop working our life away for them. Laziness does not exist. We just want to enjoy our lives. Wonderful video it makes me feel more certain about my beliefs and who I am and being happy!!
Also I want to add I want to move out of America because of the community and architecture and public transit in other countries it’s much more enjoyable for me.
It seems when 'lazy' is used as a pejorative it usually means "unwilling to engage in profit generating activities". Lots of people that the mainstream ideology accuse of laziness are actually engaged in laborious activities all the time, they're just not engaged in laborious activities that capitalists can exploit, so they don't get approval.
finally a word that describes the kind life i love to live. I just graduated from uni and am job hi ting and it’s kinda depressing but im not to stressed bc thankfully i live w my family which has its ups and downs, but im taking it as a chance to nap and read and cook. Just taking the time where i have nothing g going on to love as i’ve always wanted and not putting myself down for it.
I'm just settling in Mexico City now and am picking up skateboarding again, cruising through the city exploring the endless beauty here... that's my casual magic and I love it.
@Ulises Martínez heartbreaking to hear that but there is no doubt there is often beauty and magic even in the most dangerous places. And I’ve been to a number of places in Mexico and while there are of course problems I’ve also encountered a lot of beauty and magic in the people from here
Keep it real Alice! I'm a big fan of the channel ever since I came across the videos and make it a point to recommend it to people.
The fact you kept the moment at 8 minutes says a lot. You got this. :')
After a breakup a month ago I quit my big city life and went to a Greek island and it just been so good for me that I started thinking maybe that is where I belong from now on, even though I've been always dependent on living in crowded areas
Alice, I found your channel quite recently and I just want to thank you, all I've seen is quite enlightening and enriching. I'll watch the channels you've recommended, and to the extent possible, I'll try to prioritise a slow living life style and ideals.
regards from Chile!!
I work as a software engineer, and find the work itself to be engaging, challenging, and fun...I like the puzzle-solving part of the job. Unfortunately, in the United States, it is improbable find work like mine without being forced to work for a corporation and do 40hrs minimum a week and with little vacation time. The power structures are set up in a way where it is discouraged to anything different than the norm. Although I can find fulfillment in doing the work, I want the power to choose flexibility and incorporate more "slow living" habits into my life. Maybe that would mean starting out with a 4day work week or 30hrs a week. Although I would like more vacation time, I think we currently have so little that even moderate increases wouldn't change the typical week to week hustle of the pace the corporation wants us to work at.
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I have been thinking something like this for weeks now but was unsure of how to word it. I am an American living in Seoul, South Korea. Both places in which capitalism THRIVE but I found The Cottage Fairy and I have been slowly thinking of things quite differently. I absolutely love Seoul, but as a person with ADHD I am always needing a freaking break from internally and externally going a million miles an hour. I am and will continue to make slow living more of a priority and staple to my everyday life. Thank you Alice.
I've always viewed you as a genuine person but at 8:13 I teared up because that was such an endearing and wholesome moment.
Great video as always, Alice.
Just the "I'm actually getting emotional... why am I getting emotional?" is really cool to hear. I haven't watched your stuff in a while but I've noticed the quality increase, good on ya.
This is the sort of movement that I've always felt like I've gravitated towards. I'm in my first year of college, and during the first few months I'd walk alone into the small town close to campus, and just explore the shops, antiques, alleys, and farmers market. I'd always find something new and interesting each trip, like a funky mural, or a good restaurant. When I did start making friends and invite them to go off campus with me, I was surprised when I realized that most hadn't been in town yet, even on the weekends, and often stayed in their dorm rooms.
At the same time, I was able to spend a lot of time in the wilderness and observing/exploring my surroundings while growing up. I spend a lot of time researching little interests of mine, particularly transcendentalism and the journals of John Muir and the writing of Ralph .W. Emerson and Walt Whitman.
Currently I'm studying horticulture, with a focus on sustainability and permaculture with the hope that one day I can live a slower life. I think that I'm still very idealistic in many ways and aspire to make a positive impact, although, I don't think that is necessarily contrary to "slow living". Perhaps if we all lived a little slower, we'd feel more inclined to help those in our communities and elderly family members through general reciprocity!
This was such an interesting video. I found myself nodding my head all throughout it. And then to top it of you mentioned Aurora. I think the fact that artists like her are getting more and more popular, and the fact that we are discussing the topics you usually discuss in your videos, serve as proof that many of us want the same. We long for a community in where everyone lifts each other, and where living a life where stress is not the main motor is actually attainable. We deserve to live peacefully, we really do. We deserve to be the owners of our own life.
I always thought about myself as unambitious and even bad people around me used to call me lazy. It took me long time to reframe ambition in other sense than in money terms. Ambitious used to mean for me someone on path to more money and more career power. But I realised that I'm ambitious too, but in a different sense. I'd like to understand philosophy on the complex level, go as much deep as my intellect would let me, I would like to be able to analyse cinematography across the 20th and 21st century with analytical skills that I will hone across the years and decades. I now know that those are valid ambitions, real as any other, worth of living them. Yes, there is little money in it, but that's not argument to diminish it. And to spent four hours reading and writing down notes is as tiring as when I worked in warehouse for seven hours.
Me and my husband is slow living again and we try to do fun activities outdoors mostly somewhere else, work somewhere else and create in certain rooms only and do nothing else there. 4 days of our vacation we do nothing but creativity and rest and read and people think we are crazy. We go for daily walks and sit still for at least 4 hours and do not answer calls and dont use internet, we also take naps.
All my co workers were confused when i said id refuse a "salary" position... its considered the best you can get,... but the problem with it is... the work never ends when youre on salary.
I love my job, could do without overtime though, and i have no intention to "move up" in the company
Im young (mid 20s) and everyone of my coworkers finds this odd
The thing is! The higher you move up the more work consumes you. Id rather do a good job at what im doing now than worry about what opportunities i can get in the future. Sure theres some positions in the company that if i got the chance to id go to(mainly bc other areas dont have as much overtime, my goal would be to work less so i can work more on other things if that makes sense? I have a lot of stuff i want to do with my life not just my paid job), but im not worried about it one bit. Im happy with where i am and i make the most of the time i DO have
I often end up spending my breaks at work working on my personal projects lmao.
So true! I learned this working my way up from sandwich maker to manager. Should have stuck to the sandwich making, that was the best job I ever had with the nicest customers and co-workers.
As a graduate student, I relate to the concept of mentally expanding what "work" means so much -- I find that many activities like organizing seminars, mentoring, building community within my academic field (usually with the aim of dismantling the inequities that exist there), or even teaching aren't considered to be (important) "work". These tasks are devalued and seen as distractions to the "real" work of research. Of course, the mental and emotional labor that these activities require usually falls on women and other people belonging to groups historically excluded from academia...
8:02 Wow, Alice and I would be such besties because I hated blah holidays and I still have a book on birds while also knowing bird species.
I feel this with the lack of open spaces. As a kid, there was no open area to hang out in with my friends. We would meet up by the library and sit in the space between the wall and the road since there was a picnic table. All of the parks in town were private property of schools. We never really saw people outside other than us. Even having a dog park with a gazebo is better than nothing.
May i just say i Love how french people know how to protest. In Italy, people are already retiring at like 65 at least. If you start working now at 25, you'll have to work until you're 75 (unless a lot of things change until then, which i really hope lol) and yet, nothing. No protests, no strikes, nothing
My favorite slow living channel is Peter Cook. He is a slow liver in the city and his channel is amazing. Also his voice is unintentional ASMR so it's a double whammy lol
I think it’s important to consider that not everyone has a choice to live this way. It can be a choice but it isn’t always possible
Something that goes unacknowledged in the slow-living, cottagecore movement is that living rurally involves a lot more work than living in the city! Cooking meals, gardening, and DIY home maintenance are all essential parts of rural living. I just spent a year farming and I don't think I've ever worked so hard in my life! There are beautiful quiet and slow moments absolutely, but a good work ethic is pretty essential for anybody wanting to actually live out their cottagecore dreams. I don't think it's wrong to be romanticizing quiet moments in nature but those moments were only part of my "slow living" experience.
It seems that the people who embrace slow living are often converts from a high productivity mindset, a mindset which put them in a financial situation that then allows them to slow down. How does one live slowly from the beginning with out the infrastructure that supports it?
lmao you don't. slow life is what well-off people do as an outlet for their unfulfilled creative needs or whatever. it's not anti-capitalist in the slightest
@@myirlname accurate af. Not to mention that the infrastructure they are then relying on for their slow living (ie a community) is fuelled and provided for by people who cannot simply stop working or reduce their hours. If everyone took on this slow living life many people would be left without support, resources or help.
@@onions831in the uk all the support systems have gone to shit, we can’t get doctors appointments, ambulances, mental health support, affordable food or fuel. Even the poor can’t always get food from food banks because they’re so overstretched. Self-sufficiency and self-preservation are smart choices in an over-stretched society imo.
i highly recommend the book "The Serenity Passport: A world tour of peaceful living in 30 words" by Megan C Hayes. Its a short and easy read that really inspired me with multiple little way i could incorporate slow and peaceful time for myself. Honestly recommend
Fair point. Altho, IMO there are people who prefer to "work hard & play hard", so we (as society) should allow them to pursue their faster paced lifestyle, just as you should be free to pursue your "slow life".
@ferret If you want a slow and simple life, join Amish community.
If you want a slow life, but with modern conveniences, join workers coop or collective farm.
If you want an absolutely secure job and a steady life, apply for a govt (bureaucratic) job.
If you want a faster pace and bit more exciting life (with spicy office politics), join a big company or bank.
If you want the risky and yet potentially the most financially rewarding job, start your own company or join a new startup that offer you share in the startup.
I choose the latter two options: work for a big company for ~10 years and started my own company. It's been a roller-coaster ride, with highs and lows, I've even been on the verge of bankruptcy few times.
But I enjoyed it, I have no regret.
Ofc this lifestyle is not for everyone. So choose the one you're most comfortable with. Just remember that you are *NOT* entitled to a comfortable life. The less risk you take the less reward you may get.
We also need to talk about vanishing scarcity - food being destroyed to maintain market value, houses standing empty to maintain their value, and the rapid growth in cheap, environmentally safe power generation. In this 'post' industrial world, scarcity is being maintained for power and profits for a small handful and we're forced to hustle for these things that are actually widely available and only kept from us by the political economy. Recognising a post-scarcity world also means recognising the end of productivity _for survival_.
What kind of activities will we engage in when activity isn't required to have a roof, food on the table, and lights on? We'd be asking that question now if it weren't for a host of grifters keeping us from the overwhelming results of our growing productivity over the last 300 years.
The idea that the Left is "lazy" is so strange to me, in Sweden we are the only party that have in our political goal "the right to have a job". Still the Right belive that we don't want to work? What we want is to be able to live a full life from our 9-5 without feeling burnt out. We want to contribute to our community because it's importent, not work becauce we want to win capitalism.
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The greatest joy in my life now is to wonder or dérive through a new place or cityscape. It slows the pace of how you see and feel in a space and helps me remember locations, street names and directions.
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The employment to retirement pipeline reinforces this idea that we must work ourselves way harder than we should at jobs that don't give us any real sense of fulfillment because of the promise of the golden ticket of retirement waiting for us at the end of it. People are told that the one thing you have to look forward to in life is not having to work anymore and then when they get there they realize it's not all it's cracked up to be. A life of pure leisure is BORING and so often people are either depressed and dissatisfied with their retirement or they worked themselves so hard for all those years that many become sick and/or drop like flies shortly after retiring. I don't ever want to retire under this structure. What we consider "work" shouldn't be relegated to only that which our capitalist structure is currently paying us to do. Being productive shouldn't be about producing a product to be sold but producing community, connection, meaning, and fairness for all. Caring for others and for yourself (ie. community gardens, making art just for fun, going for walks) IS work when these are the things you're aiming to produce. And if that's the case then I don't ever want to stop working ✨
Over the past 2 to 3 years I have had increasing mental health issues stemming from lockdown easing and my autism. I am also a visitor engagement volunteer at a major zoo here in Scotland. One thing I found that my autism triggered me to do was focus on getting things right, not quickly, right. When faced with volume over quality, I would focus on quality and take it out on myself when not reaching quality standards that are impossible to achieve sustainably. Anxiety increases and depression gets worse. During lockdown I found the lack of noise pollution and air pollution incredible. The ability to slow down and appreciate what is around, nature in particularly. Connection with nature and what nature gives us can make such a difference. Go for quality, take the time, think sloth!
Love how you're adding a new perspective to the conversation, trends can often overshadow the message behind the intention of what's trending. Slow living can be so purposeful and even healing!💛💛 (I also find it funny that we watch the same UA-camrs 😂)
i accidentally stumbled upon this video, and it was such food for thought.
for the longest time i felt an immense pressure to have ‘a big dream’ that i have to work relentlessly to follow. and i am a hard worker, i love the rush of productivity, but every single passion project i completed, every single thing i dedicated my time to finish fell flat. it was not contributing to something major, ‘a big dream’. and just now i am realizing that this was a myth spoon-fed me by the same structures that value hustle culture. you do your big thing, you specialize, then you die. it is so hollow. to lack a big aspiration in not to lack humanity. i think it is a great lesson for me
8:39 I’m so happy that you could be so vulnerable and share that detail with us.
You continue to inspire me. In the United States, where I live, and am a citizen, the path is intentionally very narrow, and most people cannot conceive of another way than working for a profit-driven corporation until 67 years of age, and finding that the state pension (social security) will provide about 1/2 of what you really need to survive, so "you'd better be an investor."
I am also an Italian citizen, which I recognize as a real privelege. A life in Europe, where different ideas/paradigms are (still) viable, is available to me; these types of conversations and insights are essential for the planet, and to my well being, as part of the whole.
Thank you for all that you do, and the succint way in which you present your ideas. Did I say that you inspire me? 💞
As a person who always has to do something, I need to practice slow living. Our work culture, especially in the US, convinces us that we constantly have to do something to be "be productive". Thank you for another thought provoking video
Same, neurodivergency makes slow living so hard, but I know that I need it.
@@penpolyon8179thats so true haha, as someone with adhd and autism, slow living is a tricky balance to strike...but once you hack it and let yourself adapt to it as the new "routine" and the new normal, its so rewarding and peaceful to just like chill
Capitalist society trains us to think it's never enough. Im 22 right now living with my girlfriend and I make enough money to pay my bills, save some, and not lose my mind (I still do occasionally) from work stress and extremely long shifts. Family friends will say "that's fine,for now." Maybe they will end up right who knows, but I'm happy with what I have now and don't plan on needing much more. I could live in our one bedroom one bathroom apartment forever; it feels like home, and that's more important than having a huge house. Not sure about having kids; we've talked about adopting one and having a dog in the future, but nothing certain.
I already have so much that so many other people don't have. I try to be grateful for everything I have and I could always improve as I still waste a lot I'm sure. Endless working towards excess is a trick to keep us unsatisfied with whatever we have.
(I live in the US for clarification. We have so many issues, but I have many things to be gateful for as well.)
watched this after taking myself out on a sushi date and taking 20 minutes to drink one beer at the end of the meal.
thanks for the video. it's the sort of thing i need to hear right now. too in my head over 'productivity' and 'accomplishment'.
going to go read a book now.
🦊🤙
This videos are VERY TARGETED cause why did i see the video on the top right of the miniature on my recommended a few days ago.. and watched it too it was really good and loved the idea and now it's and actual thing HOWW
Slow living is a wonderful framework, this is mindblowing for me. Thank you.
My favorite thing to do nowadays is going to playgrounds, I love just feeling like a kid again and doing stuff purely for fun. Swinging was always my favorite thing to do cause it made me feel like flying, it’s great to have that feeling again.
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4:32 The French language taught me a great word: ‘Néoruralisation’.
This was an interesting watch, really enjoyed it. Cool thing is the world is so small! Leah is actually a friend of mine from uni, she’s always talked about wanting to live on and own her own farm in the countryside since the early days of meeting her
New trend : being alive, living, eating food, walking about, going to work, paying bills, breathing air.
revolutionary
I really like this commentary. Slow living is definitely not about inactivity, it's about working *and* resting in a balanced way. Resting well allows better and focus for the work day. It's also about being mindful throughout the activities of life, whether paid or unpaid. True value is so much more than money! 🌿