the slow life movement

Thank you for all the positive feedback about 3191. It feels like just the right thing for me to be doing right now, although I have to say to mav, stop reading my mind.

I'm also really loving reading the new year's posts out in blogland. Everyone sounds so full of possibility. Isn't that a great feeling? I'm not much for resolutions, but I do love feeling like I'm getting a fresh start and that's how I feel now. We had a lot of changes in our lives last year, and I spent a lot of the time feeling overwhelmed and pulled in many directions. I found it really hard to enjoy any one thing I was doing without worrying about what was left undone. I began to rush through things that I had previously savored and enjoyed. The act of cooking and eating was one of them.

I've always been a fan of the slow food movement. It's really, for the most part, how I was raised and how I approached food and eating once I went off to college and began cooking for myself (maybe not always eating locally, but the care and intent of the preparation of meals and the rejection of processed foods, yes). However, parenting, living on a tight budget and balancing a busy life have all done their part to erode my reverence for a good meal. Nothing like cooking for an unappreciative audience to make the kitchen an inhospitable place.

I'm hoping that in the new year that I'll be slowing things down in the kitchen and at the market. I was motivated to make a change after reading The Omnivore's Dilemma and by the restricted diet we're trying with Miles (due to some minor health problems), but also by the desire that the preparation of food be, once again, an enjoyable experience.

I am also proposing a slow life movement, one where I approach things with intent and purposefulness and joy in mind rather than efficiency or other's expectations. A life with more walking and less driving, more lingering and less hurrying, more time outside and less in front of a screen, more doing and less worrying about what needs to be done. Taking a break from this blog is a part of my slow life movement, but, I imagine, coming back to it might be part of it too. 

I'll be back to remind you about the auction. I'll be getting up at 5:00 am tomorrow to help it go live.

Be well!

Comments

[Adriana]

Thank you for the idea of a slow life movement. If you give me your permission, I'd like to copy your words into my journal, for a daily reminder.

Thank you and happy new year!

[Jude]

I can't tell you how much I agree with your comments here Stephanie. I feel like the last two years someone put my life into over-drive - some days I feel totally out of control and definitely disasociated with my family. After first term I am going part time and really looking forward to savouring my days. I too used to love cooking, love scrap booking and crochet. Now they seem to be ameans to an end.
Looking forward to joining the slow life movement!

[Carmen]

que puedo decir, definitivamente lo mejor para nuestros hijos y nuestro planeta, es asi como aspiramos a vivir mas tranquilos, mas felices mas en paz con nuestro entorno, un muy feliz año para ti y los tuyos

[kyrie]

Stephanie, you may want to read the book In Praise of Slowness: How a Worldwide Movement is Challenging the Cult of Speed (by Carl Honore)- it talks not only about slow food, but other slow movements as well. I read it years ago as a galley, before it even came out, and have loved it ever since. I will definitely be revisiting it this year!

[Heidi]

Amen to a slower 2007!

[Carmen]

al menos por estos lados yo y muchas de mis amigas y familiares llevamos ese tipo de vida, si paseas alguna vez por valparaiso podrias pasar por el navegante un pequeño restaurante de jugos naturales y comida casera para los que a veces pasan mucho tiempo fuera de sus casas

[Lazy Cow]

I like to call it Slow Motherhood (though I can't lay claim to the title, another friend thought of it!) Have you read the English writer Tom Hodgkinson's books "How to be idle" and "How to be free"? They are both excellent.

[carol]

beautifully written post- this is what I am trying to do currently and I can feel myself little by little feeling much more free and happy.

enjoy.

[Alicia A.]

Stephanie,

Sometimes there are moments when other people put into words much more wisely the thoughts in my head. And every time I sigh and think, "That's it. If only I'd said it."

So, thank you for this post.

Good luck with your goals and good luck tomorrow.

[Christina T]

Hi I just happened upon your site yesterday but thought I'd pop back in to say "HI". I too had lots happen last year, some good and some sad. I feel like it was a blur and I was just going through the motions. I will be back to read more about the slow food movement. Great post btw.

[Ali]

Great post--one worth revisiting. I crave the slow life you describe, yet I have a difficult time not succumbing to excessive busyness. I just did a massive purge over the long weekend and my new, less-cluttered home definitely inspires a sort of slow, serene lifestyle. There's nothing like preparing a meal on a counter free of clutter.

Now the challenge is to maintain it.

I hope you update about slow living from time to time. :)

[tracy]

so well said.

[jerusha]

i couldn't agree more. happy new year, stephanie!

[luckybeans]

You could always move to Zambia. I jest, yet the pace and simplicity of life were major factors in our decision to move here. And you would be welcome, of course.

Am positively swooning over 3191. Thank you so much, dear one.

[Siri]

"Nothing like cooking for an unappreciative audience to make the kitchen an inhospitable place." PERFECTLY said. I've said that in other ways, but not so succinctly. Can I borrow that, not on the blog, but in personal life, when someone asks me if I like to cook? I usually just answer that I used to, and that I will again someday when I don't have to listen to so many complaints and can actually make the food flavorful again.
You're SERIOUS that you and Mav didn't plan ahead on your shots? Amazing. Are you sure you weren't separated at birth?

[Amy]

Slow life, eh? I like the parelalls with SF. Yes, I like that a lot. I too have mostly let go my joy of cooking due to the unappreciative audience :-) I must tell you that your photos of meals this year (esp. the birthday breakfast for Mia), along with inspiration from other ladies, have spurred me on to a New Year's resolution -- to serve meals beautifully and mindfully. Even if I don't spend tons of time cooking, at least I hope it will help bring back the pleasure of a meal. Thank you.

[amisha]

thank you for this post... so beautifully said. the slow food movement is something that has always appealed to me as well, and after a very hectic 2006 in which i more often than not felt one or two days behind... the "slow life" movement sounds so right.

[hannah]

yes yes. savor everything. gorgeous as usual.

[Karen]

Amen to your post!

I usually don't make new year's resolutions either but trying to enjoy and live every moment was a thought that I wanted to introduce to myself this year. This post totally sums it up.

Mav + You = brain twins!

[shari]

hi steph,
this is a beautiful post. a slow life movement. i love it. i'm continuing to enjoy your morning photos. thank you so much for sharing them with us. xo shari ps: the auction is just amazing! thanks for all of your hard work.

[mav]

lovely thoughts.
mind reading to continue! too bad! ;)
i am sure we'll see much slow food at 3191.
xox mav

[KT]

De-lurking. We just had to adjust my 6 year old's diet as he was diagnosed w/type one diabetes. 6 years of organic and local and now Splenda is a godsend! Ha! And we moved the dinner hour to 4pm. Can I tell you that by feeding them earlier the fighting has nearly disappeared. Plus, they eat all the dinner because it is when they normally want to wolf down a snack. I think the slow life movement is a great one.

[Esther Bourgault]

Amen ! Alleluia ! Nothing relating to religion with those words, just thinking about your post and I said in my mind along the reading, yes, yes, yes...That's sooooooooo right !!!
Wishing you the best, hoping to read you later after your deserve break, let's go all in this direction, it'll help each one of us and...every one around !
Esther

[jenny vorwaller]

hi stephanie,
marcus has been telling me to read the omnivore 's dilhemma for some time now, i think you just gave me that kick to get out the headphones for the audiobook (i really like having a book tangible in my hands, i'm fighting it so bad)

food is love...

[Anja]

I like that idea. It doesn't really make sense anyway, to cook slowly and then rush through everything else. It's a good thing that we're moving slowly towards spring and more daylight - it definitely makes me want to stay outside for longer. I hope you'll write more about how it goes.