Dear Friends,
I truly believe that slow living found me, not the other way around, and I need to be honest here, as much a I believe that every door opens to us whenever were ready to wander through it, I sometimes truly wish that door had shown itself to me much, much sooner.
In retrospect it would have saved what felt like never-ending years of grief, physical pain and mental health struggles. I could have found myself here a lot faster than I eventually did.
However that's exactly the point. I was not ready....I had a lot of unlearning and relearning to experience, about myself, my limits, the world around me and how to rediscover my place within it before I could truly embrace slow living the way I needed to.
Which is why I feel strongly that I cant share the slow living journals and my personal practices with you without telling the story of how I found myself walking this path in the first place.
We all begin the journey somewhere, at different stages of our lives, for a variety of different reasons.
Realizing this has helped me find peace in knowing that I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be, instead of focusing on where I once believed I should be.
Over the years I've had to manage a multitude of conditions for my welbeing; weight, pcos, type 2 diabetes and depression.
However In my later twenties, I started experiencing deeper complications with my health that changed everything.
Over night, my body changed, I shifted from a healthy (ish) , physically independent mother of one to a person with so much debilitating physical pain that I'm not sure how I survived it.
Every single aspect of my independence was stripped faster than I could blink.
Suddenly I was relying on other people to help me with the most simple and basic tasks: Getting dressed, cooking, cleaning, eating, walking, caring for my daughter.
If you have a chronic illness yourself you may be familiar with the endless cycle of doctors appointments. Labs results that reveal nothing, medication and pain management classes that offered no actual solutions or cure for the chronic condition that had taken so much I away in such a short period of time.
The good days were barely tolerable and the extremely bad days filled with flare ups made worse because I would spend those more energetic days working to do things the way I did before things changed.
Forcing myself to "get on with it" and move at the pace I had years prior, when in reality it wasn't possible anymore.
The early days of my chronic illness felt very very dark and very traumatizing and my mindset was seeping back into a state of depression that I did not want to experience again. Even though I inevitably did break down, out the other side of it came the breakthrough that I needed.
I came to understand that some things were out of my control and somethings were not.
If for some reason I couldn't change anything about my outer world, then I would focus on changing what was happening within my inner world instead .
It was here I found myself falling down the rabbit hole of personal development.
For over two years I explored and integrated different modalities to support my inner healing. I found Journalling, Cognitive behavior therapy, gentle movement, meditation and mindfulness, I started to be kinder and more solution focused, rather than looking at the things I couldn't do, I would envelope myself with compassion and love, and lean into the things I could do, at a pace that matched my personal energy.
Which ultimately brought me across the term slow living in early 2019.
I was amazed how much slow living aligned with all the other practices I was consciously choosing to apply to my life, and there was a feeling of certainty that integrating slow living into my daily routine would help so much when it came to managing my mental, emotional and physical welbeing.
Fast forward to 2026 and I can say with confidence that although there have been many hiccups and uncertainty's along the way ( A global pandemic, a big health scare, and a few other unforeseen situations) alongside some of the most beautiful blessings ( an unexpected pregnancy after ten years of trying). Slow living has been a huge part of mine and my families life in some shape or form!
Even more so over the last two years since my youngest daughter was born as I needed to feel anchored and present as much as possible due to extremely high post natal anxiety.
Slow living didn't cure my chronic illness, but it has helped me navigate in a way that respects my energy, my body and my mental wellbeing.
Along with forward planning and the right medications, slow living has enabled me to live life in a way that I thought was lost to me forever. I write, I create, I bake, I'm able to care independently for my toddler most of the time, and so so much more that I once took for granted..
And the days where the pain is too high and overwhelming, or when I come across challenges that are extremely difficult. It's taught me to adapt , to remove self judgement (most of the time) and focus on self compassion for everything my body is trying to do every moment to keep me safe and well.
Over time in the slow living journals I would love to share more of my personal tips and thoughts around slow living is, and how you can apply it to your own life to experience the best outcomes possible.
I'm so grateful that you chose to spend time with me here today and I hope to see you again soon.
Sending all my Love
Hannah
xoxoxo
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