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

We have been full-time travelers for almost three months, seven weeks of which were preparation: Clearing out our home in Copenhagen, converting the …Read more
A sunshine gallery about the first ten days of bus conversion, sharing visually how we began rebuilding a 43-year-old big red bus to a tiny house. Read more
We optimistically said this every evening of week 33: “Tomorrow, we finish the bus!”. It is scientifically proven that optimists live longer. And we …Read more
An insight into the inner and outer journey, what we learn, and how we transform while leaving our life in Copenhagen behind, and starting traveling …Read more
Sharing real-life unschooling as it unfolds in a peaceful week, still a blast, an adventure, a party. Get insights into how life is when it is outsid…Read more
Free play is precious, it is obvious – but how and why did we, the adults lose it? And in what way do we know it, when we find it again? A peek into …Read more
We do not outsource our children's education to a school system. We've been on a long inner journey as parents. Here I'm sharing what I wish I had kn…Read more
Recently we discovered Slow-living - we learned to create a space for slow-living in your life follows in the wake of minimalism, together with a sha…Read more
Our connection with the things surrounding us means so much more than we realize. Read about the awakening, which lies in change. Read more