Back

Slow | Day 4 of my 2023 Journal

Cecilie Conrad·Jan 4, 2023· 2 minutes
I do slow stuff, and there is no logic to it. I knit, and I play the handpan, and I draw, and I spend hours in the kitchen. I sit down to watch the colors of the sunset or paint the flowers in the garden. 

There is no logic in slow. It would be so much more rational to go for results, for efficiency, for achieving more, faster, better. 

But the thing is this: 

The irrational, intuitive presence is where real life is lived. The wine and the laughing and the warm sun rays on the cheeks, the days spent walking in nature, not going anywhere in particular, or the afternoons with the wool in my hands, or the drawings I sit with for hours while listening to Beethoven. Or the zen of cooking complicated meals. 

It is a trap we can all fall into, to think we need to be so organized, so structured, to have our finances and our workouts, and our carriers and our educations on a leash, making sure we get up early and work hard to achieve our goals on all levels. And then we run. We run and run and run. From the moment we wake up until the second we sleep. We run to tick all the boxes, to improve, to grow, to earn more, to learn more, and achieve more. 

Yet - we lose everything. In reality, the good life works the other way around. The structure, the focus, and the discipline are all servants of the good life. Of course, we need them, but we need them to make space for what is essential, to ensure we have time for sunsets, handmade presents, art, music, love, laughter, silence, and beauty. 

slow-collage

I am currently knitting a Hogwarts college pullover for my oldest son and more secret projects for others of my loved ones, which makes no sense. Yet I enjoy it immensely; it makes so much more sense than all the rational things I could have done. It makes sense in my heart and soul; that is where I want to live my life. 


Love and light

Cecilie-Underskrift-300x133

Cecilie Conrad

#4 of my 365 writing challenge - Read them all here

Moving through the day, we had to get practical things done and place the vehicles at the station for campers, watch a documentary, and go for a walk…Read more
I am unsure why I keep writing these small stories about our travels. Some days it seems like an unnecessary chore. Writing every day about what happ…Read more
All the little things. The little things that are actually big. We did them. All day long and very far into the late evening. So it goes sometimes. …Read more
This time we had a plan! No loud music, no big crowds. We went out to see the Gentfest, but the focus was to find street artists, street musicians, s…Read more
We have friends everywhere, except where we don’t - so we go there to make new ones. A bit overwhelmed by the ones we already have, and now holding a…Read more
A thing I find beautiful is the people! Marjan is the sister of a friend we have in El Vendrell. Marjan always said: "Just come over if you are ever …Read more
We found a campervan park at a harbor in Holland. It was full of roses and other flowers, someone attended them beautifully, harbors are always beaut…Read more
We visited the science museum Universum. It is a good one of its sort, with only one downside - the lack of oxygen! Would they please open a window?!…Read more
The core of the nomad lifestyle is to move on. Ever so often, when we go somewhere, we feel the time allocated for the place and the people are to re…Read more