What A Slow And Creative Life Looks Like
What does a slow and creative life look like? I remember one of the first times I asked myself that question. It was the summer of 2017, and I was sitting by the sea at my mum’s summer house on a tiny island in the Swedish archipelago.
I was coming out of a year and a half of intense creativity. After years of struggling, I had finally managed to open myself up to creativity and allowed myself to pursue my ideas. And the ideas were plenty, so plenty that I was feeling increasingly scattered and overworked.
A longing for a slower pace had started to grow inside of me. I looked out over the sea, the curved, warm rock behind my back, and listened to the wind rustling the reed. And I imagined what a slow and creative life might look like.
The universal in our slow and creative lives
Having now pursued a slow and creative life for quite a few years, it’s a question I’ve asked myself many times. It’s one I explore with my creative coaching clients, when they’re looking for their own version of a slow and creative life.
It looks different for everyone, and at the same time there’s something universal that connect all of us who want a slow and creative life.
Back then in 2017, when I imagined a slow and creative life I saw a teacup in my hands and creative dreams on the horizon. The small moments and the big dreams. That vision has been with me ever since.
A slow and creative life is to me a life of freedom. It has creativity at its heart, and a pace that slow and mindful. It is structured around what suits me best, has plenty of flexibility and space for being in the moment. I am free to live, breathe and create. The specifics may be different during different times in my life, but this is my vision. This is what a slow and creative life is for me.
This week, I put the question to the community on Instagram. I asked everyone to share their perspective on a slow and creative life, under the hashtag #aslowcreativelife or in a comment. And the stories that came back were beautiful. I have gathered them here below, so we can all find inspiration in each others’ stories.
Reading through them all, I see some themes returning again and again.
Give to the world in a way that is true to your heart and soul.
Trust yourself and the things you create.
Enjoy and be present in the moment.
Breathe, rest and recharge.
And what a beautiful guide for life and creativity that is. For everyone longing for a slow and creative life, start there. Then bit by bit, build your own version of what it means for you and your life.
Slow and creative lives of the community
Having freedom to do what I’m best at and having the space to rest when I need to.
- Kat of @katbluejay
I intentionally started a little business. I wanted to grow something of my own, build a world firmly rooted in my own space and watered with my own ideas to balance out a career that fills my heart so much it sometimes squeezes out my own identity.
I stumbled along the way, thinking that as “the bookish one,” the “quiet one,” “the writer,” in my family and friend groups that there was a single path for me already carved. I explored and I experimented until Fraser & Willow the vintage shop finally found me. And now I’m here. I’m home.
So now, I tend this corner of the Internet from my desk after work. I curate pieces for your home on mini weekend adventures with my husband. I pack orders in peace over a glass of wine to unwind from long days of teaching.
This is a slow creative life for me. Carving out a new path, alongside my other passions, then then braiding them together in a way that feels like me.
- Sarah of @fraserandwillow
For me a slow creative life is a lifestyle where I combine giving, and receiving. Being of service, and free to recharge in nature and with loved ones.
- Lucie of @luciebythesea
For me a slow and creative life is not being stressed about finding inspiration but trusting that it will come and that it is plentiful (there’s enough for everyone!). I also believe it’s rejoicing in the small, meaningful day-to-day stuff like simple rhythms and routines. It’s about remembering what I actually want—to not be rushed, to live intentionally, and to connect with people in a meaningful way vs. just “succeeding” on someone else’s terms or the terms of an online platform.
- Claire of @clairesahara
Turning up to my studio with no pressure to do, just be if I want to, play with ideas. Not take on too many commissions so I’m creating at my own pace.
- Jo of @jojoodles
A slow creative life would be creating with my hands, things I design with love and care. Having time to develop my own ideas, not only client projects or work. Having time to read and see and be inspired and also time for me. Having a small workshop at home someday.
- Débora of @debbiemejias
A slow and creative lifestyle is fresh air. I can breathe, unhindered, deep, and unhurried...
- Latifat of @titilayola
A slow and creative life is something I aspire to every day. I have a tendency to rush myself and think too much about the future or end result. So living in the present, appreciating the moment and enjoying the process is something I have become increasingly conscious of. I still have to remind myself sometimes though.
- Lois of @logiilo
Slow and creative life for me is just allowing myself to breathe and let go of the things that I can’t control. Just be myself and the growth will follow.
- Adrian of @createdby_adrian
Creating with intention and purpose. So hard to forget in today’s world, driven by money and the ‘hustle’. Constantly having to reground and remind myself but what is life without contrast! 😅
A slow and creative life is having the freedom to ask myself every day, “What is it that my soul needs today to feel nourished? What do I feel called to do today?” It’s having the time and the space in my schedule to sit still and be open to ideas and thoughts and creative sparks when they present themselves, rather than having them constantly swoop in unnoticed or untouched due to lack of mental capacity for observation and delight. It’s living on my own terms and opting out of the rat race that we’re constantly told is the only route to happiness.
- Meagan of @meagan.maher
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