Taking the idea of slow living and dumping it onto your already busy life is not the way to embrace slow living. Start saying “no” to requests that come your way that will leave you in a ball of panic and stress later. It’s hard to say “no” to people at first if you are a “yes” person like me, but once you get the hang of it, the word “no” will leave room for a lot more slow living.
Seeking the right balance between slow and fast takes time and practice. Every Sunday we will talk about slowing down, listening to our bodies, and giving ourselves the much needed respite we need so we don't burn out.
Reading is a lovely way to escape, learn, and downshift to a cozy state of being, and I'm so excited to share fabulous reads from my own personal library. xo, E
Featured today:
Modern Pioneering by Georgia Pellegrini
Self-sufficiency is empowering and Modern Pioneering with Georgia Pellegrini serves up recipes, gardening advice, DIYs, and fun weekend warrior projects that will have you feeling like a fearless homesteader in mere moments.
Tips from Georgia I've tried:
- How to pick a lock
- How to make a gourd birdhouse
- The art of drying foods
- 7 herb frittata recipe
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Hitchcock Style by Jean-Pierre Dufreigne
I don't mind sharing that I get giddy over fashion. I blame my mother as she has impeccable taste and taught me to appreciate the beauty in everything. I spotted Hitchcock Style on a "must read" list in Vogue, I believe, and it's been a part of my personal library ever since...
Goodreads Synopsis:
"From the motel in Psycho and the bachelor pad in Rear Window to the blonde elegance of Tippi Hedren and Grace Kelly, this is the first book about Hitchcock to explore the great director's style, art direction, and use of fashion. Hitchcock's images reveal an aesthetic as vivid as his suspenseful subject matter. Jean-Pierre Dufreigne explores the world of Hitchcock, examining the director's unique atmospheric sensibilities.
Featuring many of the actors, set and costume designers, cameramen, composers, and title creators from Hitchcock's inner circle, this stylistic study ends with a catalogue raisonné of Sir Alfred's entire oeuvre."
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Raising Free People by Akilah S. Richards
Diving into a graduate degree has me reading and unschooling myself as a future educator...
Goodreads Synopsis:
"No one is immune to the byproducts of compulsory schooling and standardized testing. And while reform may be a worthy cause for some, it is not enough for countless others still trying to navigate the tyranny of what schooling has always been. Raising Free People argues that we need to build and work within systems truly designed for any human to learn, grow, socialize, and thrive, regardless of age, ability, background, or access to money.
Families and conscious organizations across the world are healing generations of school wounds by pivoting into self-directed, intentional community-building, and Raising Free People shows you exactly how unschooling can help facilitate this process. Individual experiences influence our approach to parenting and education, so we need more than the rules, tools, and "bad adult" guilt trips found in so many parenting and education books. We need to reach behind our behaviors to seek and find our triggers; to examine and interrupt the ways that social issues such as colonization still wreak havoc on our ability to trust ourselves, let alone children.
Raising Free People explores examples of the transition from school or homeschooling to unschooling, how single parents and people facing financial challenges unschool successfully, and the ways unschooling allows us to address generational trauma and unlearn the habits we mindlessly pass on to children. In these detailed and unabashed stories and insights, Richards examines the ways that her relationships to blackness, decolonization, and healing work all combine to form relationships and enable community-healing strategies rooted in an unschooling practice."
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Mending the Sisterhood & Ending Women's Bullying by Susan Skog
A bully once myself, I move to make better choices and empower women to make up for my poor behavior...
Goodreads Synopsis:
"Mending the Sisterhood & Ending Women's Bullying is an eye-opening, game-changing look at where, why, and how women are bullying, blocking, and shunning other women, from conference rooms to cul-de-sacs. But most importantly, author and humanitarian writer Susan Skog issues a positive call-to-action for all women to lift up, not tear each other down.
Trained as a journalist, Skog shines a light on female executives, political leaders, actresses, Moms' group, counselors, coaches, and Millennial women using their voices and choices to empower and support women and end women's wars. And she shows how any of us can do the same in our worlds."
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Share your current (or favorite) read in the comments below! xo, Elizabeth