about

Over the last five years I've felt like my life was like a session on a treadmill where the speed gets ever faster.  I've hurtled from one stressful job to another and expanded my financial goals as my salary increased to ensure I was never quite satisfied with what I had.

Around 12 months ago, I took on an even more challenging job. Suddenly I had little time left for myself as nights and weekends were filled by work, trying to wind down or catching up on sleep.  I felt that my life had become ruled by my work and that I was missing out on something. What that something was I did not know.

Over time, I came to realise that what was missing was a sense of slowness. My life was too fast, too full and I felt like I was always looking for the next opportunity but never fully experiencing any of them.

A big turning point was a 4 week trip to China at the end of last year. Visitors to China often talk about the speed with which things happen – buildings can seem to appear overnight.  What I appreciated most, however, were the moments of slowness in every day life.  I marvelled at the women doing tai chi in Shanghai, 

at the old men wiling away the day playing mah jong in Suzhou and at the men watching the world go by, sitting on the banks of Hangzhou’s West Lake.  

At the same time, in a country undergoing so much change, I found that there was still a sense of appreciation for the ‘old way’: for making things from scratch, for doing things manually but properly.  One of my favourite photos is of a gardener in Shanghai who was one of many who ensured the garden was always up to scratch (and was greatly entertained by my request to take his photo).

When I returned, I began to dream of a new life, a slower life.  So, in the spirit of searching for a new opportunity, partially inspired by the SBS series, Gourmet Farmer, I began to dream of a new life in Tasmania.  A few months on (and still in Melbourne) I wondered if I was avoiding change.  So I decided to begin my search for a slower life right here and right now. 

My vision of a slower life is one where people take time to appreciate things, to smell the roses!  For me in particular, it’s about looking at all aspects of my life where I take shortcuts because I’m ‘too busy’ and work out if the slower way is in fact the more fulfilling way.  Instead of buying fruit, vegetables and herbs and pre-prepared food, I’m planting my own garden and learning how to cultivate and cook with the seasons.  In time I hope to expand my slower life to including learning to sew my own clothes and find slower forms of entertainment.

I’ve started this blog to documenting my change in an attempt to keep me motivated.