My dream is to live on a sunshine-filled farm with my little family, grow my own food, teach my daughter about Nature and animals, enjoy my hobbies, write, and watch the sunset with my husband and a glass of fine wine in the evening. It’s the dream in the most literal sense of the word. Sometimes, I’m not even sure this is even remotely tangible and attainable for me.
My actual reality is quite different: I live in a small city, in a small apartment, have a full-time job, an active toddler, and not nearly enough time to complete everything on my to-do list.
I live life in the in-between. And some days, it’s weighing heavily on me. The desire to leave urban life and go off-grid so I can truly slow down is what keeps me going. Then again, if I can’t slow down in the life I’m living right now, in all its busyness and overwhelm, then what am I teaching?
Two worlds collide. And they’re so different from one another even I can’t make them meet in the middle. I do try, though. I try to find little moments of stillness and softness throughout the day. In the way my daughter plays with her toys and talks to them. In the first sip of my morning coffee. In the gentle spring breeze that reminds me winter is over.
I guess these moments don’t need a farm in the countryside to be felt and remembered. I just need to be present enough to notice them and cherish them. Right here, in my tiny apartment, where the contentment I’m yearning for is in small glimmers of joy.
Small Ways to Soften Your Current Life (Without Changing Everything)
Your days are full. Maybe even too full. You’re showing up, keeping up, moving through the list of things that don’t really pause for you. And yet, underneath all of it, there’s this feeling of stuckness that you just can’t shake.
So when you finally get a quiet moment to yourself, you catch yourself fantasizing about a slower pace of life. One that feels like it has more space to breathe. If you’ve been feeling this, you’re not alone in it. I’m walking the same unknown road right alongside you.
You can’t change your life overnight, nor should you. But you can change small parts of your day, your rhythms, and habits. You can choose one simple thing to soften each day and watch it become a new routine.
In my Soft Life Planner, I have daily and weekly prompts to help you do just that. One of them is “What soft moments filled my cup this week?” For me, this can be a meaningful time I’ve spent with my daughter, sitting in the sunshine, getting something new for the home, or enjoying a good meal with family. Anything that made you feel grateful for your life, no matter the circumstances, is how you soften it little by little.
The Soft Life Planner is designed to be your daily companion to a softer, slower way of life. Let it guide you to what truly matters, leaving space for slowness, and practicing the art of doing less.
The Pressure to Keep up With a Life That Feels “Not Yours”
I’m baring my soul as I talk about a life that feels like it’s not mine, yet I’m the one living it, day after day. A life that is external in the sense of somehow being handed to me to deal with. A life I’m grateful for, but at the same time, I keep wishing for a different one.
How did I end up living a life that is not what I had dreamed of? How did the child who dreamed of becoming a writer and living in the countryside with her little family and animals end up in a small town, in an even smaller apartment, and a small life where writing is something that happens rarely, not daily?
If you feel like a stranger in your own life, that’s a wakeup call. Your inner being is calling you to zoom out and observe your life from a distance. You’ll notice exactly where the dissonance lies.
Learning to Live With Where You Are, While Still Wanting More
It’s a hard lesson to learn: to live fully and intentionally where you are, while still giving yourself permission to want more or different.
A slower life isn’t only something waiting for you in the future. It can also be something you gently start building inside the life you already have, even if it’s just in the smallest ways.
Maybe it looks like a little pause to take a deep breath before you rush into the next thing. Maybe it’s letting one small part of your day be unhurried. Maybe it’s noticing where you’re forcing yourself through life, and choosing to be softer on yourself.
A Gentle Way Toward A Slower Pace of Life
I feel like having a slower pace of life shouldn’t be a chore or a destination. There’s no finish line and you can’t get there someday because there is here, today.
If this resonated with you, I invite you to stay a little longer and discover more posts on slow living, gentle routines, and creating a life that feels like you.
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