Slow Living - Doing It Old Style!

Florafauna

@Moorviews I can definitely feel the stretched muscles! Also tried another class and had a swim today as well which I loved. Very hot here despite rain so living on salads , really tasty and cooling.
Having my nails done tomorrow and then another swim

leftatthetrafficlights

@Florafauna and @Moorviews - I hope you had a lovely August!! 

Well I'm back from my digital detox and it's been absolutely lovely - staying away from the news, not spending time watching rubbish on tv, not playing any games on my phone etc has given me a new appreciation for just 'being'.

I've had the space and time to think about and visualise how I want to live, but it's also allowed me to increase my awareness of the present and start to make those decisions and visualisations a reality. It's been a real game changer for me! 

As a result, I am changing the way I interact with the digital world permanently.

Continuations will be:

1) YouTube for asana, pranayama, meditation and yoga nidra practices along with the few content creators whose channels I subscribe to as they fit with my lifestyle/beliefs and 'new age' music. 

2) These forums, but I will be limiting which threads I interact with and how often I do so. I will update my vegan storecupboard challenge at least a couple of times a week and this thread at least once a week. The threads I subscribe to I will catch up with/ post my update once a week only.

3) The yoga group I am part of on discord but I'll only access it once a week 

Permanent deletion will be:

1) The news - not reading or listening to the news at all in August was wonderful. I found it incredibly difficult at first but then it became liberating - after spending 40+ years being an activist, the state of the world is still as depressing as it ever was and I no longer wish to be reminded of that. 

2) Games on my phone - I only had a couple but it was too easy to spend a large amount of time on them! 🙄 I haven't missed them at all and I've valued the time away so I have no reason to reintroduce them.

3) TV programmes - I have loved the freedom of not scrolling through mountains of options while knowing there will be nothing of interest to me!! I'm happy to leave the tv watching to my dh 😁

Another thing I'm ditching (although it's not digital) are fiction books - I've read all of the fiction books I bought from charity shops in July and have concluded that although I love to read, fiction is very similar to tv - rehashed plots, depressing people and no surprises! 🤦‍♀️ I'm going to stick to reading stuff that is educational to me - I'm putting together a list of things I want to learn more about and I'll source the reading materials from libraries or charity shops. 

Despite the major benefits of my digital detox,  my intention of having a month concentrating on my wellbeing didn't quite work out as planned 🙄 Lots of family stuff went on - most of it good but very consuming of both time and headspace!  I've also had birthdays and anniversary celebrations, time away from home and an old friend come back into my life so I'm feeling a little bit frazzled! 🤦‍♀️ 

Thankfully it's settling down a bit now and I'm hoping that in the couple of weeks it will all be a lot more peaceful so I'm going to use the time until the autumn equinox as a reset period. Today I'm just decompressing, I have time alone for the first time in over a fortnight and I'm making the most of it!! 😁 I'm going to write, spend time in the garden and relax. 

From tomorrow, I want to start to get back into routines, revise budgets, plan my garden, update my food inventory, do some menu planning and bit of decluttering. 

Happy slow living! 😁

Florafauna

Hello @leftatthetrafficlights, nice to see you. My August has been mad as I've retired and relocated. Discombobulated at the moment but sure I'll get there

leftatthetrafficlights

@Florafauna - it's been a major upheaval for you so it's not surprising that you're feeling a bit frazzled! 😔 are you in your house now or are you still in the rental? I hope that you're getting some swimming in as it always make you feel better 😉 

I've had another relaxing day today, I've done some writing and cooking and I've been listening to meditation music. I'm going to have a long, hot shower soon then do a yoga nidra practice. 

I've started eating my main meal at lunchtime now and after several weeks of eating rubbish with the celebrations and time away, I was desperate for something fresh!! I had a salad of rocket leaves, purple sweet potato, watermelon, lemon stuffed green olives, black grapes, mixed grains, chickpeas, avocado, hemp seeds and balsamic vinegar dressing. Very lovely!! 😁 

Florafauna

Dinner looks great. Still in the rental but legals going through for new house
I've been away from swimming for a week or so as I  had a medical procedure involving stitches . They are now removed and I'm celebrating by going swimming in a different lido on Saturday
Following that I'll be back in the sea next week

leftatthetrafficlights

@Florafauna, I'm so sorry to hear you've needed stitches! 😔 I hope that everything is sorted now - I think a lido swim is an excellent way to celebrate the removal! 😁 

I have had a lovely day - I've cleaned the house which always makes me feel content and I've done lots of writing and listening to 'new age' music on YouTube. I've been out in the garden to check what needs harvesting and we'll be having to bring in sweetcorn cobs, yellow and purple climbing beans, scarlett runner beans and courgettes tomorrow- tonight will be finishing up the leftovers so no point in collecting them today. I've got a bit of weeding to do in the winter crop bed too so I'll tackle that tomorrow - I am looking forward to getting back on top of it as it's gone a bit crazy with the recent weather!! 

Tomorrow I'm starting to get back into my daily physical practices - walking, asana, pranayama, meditation and yoga nidra. It was very erratic in August and I feel so much better when it's regular and consistent. 

My other weekend plans are to do a freezer inventory (I'll be making more courgette and tomato sauce tomorrow so it definitely needs a rejig!) and then sort a menu plan. I've still got my previous inventory lists for the storecupboards so I'll check them too. 

On Sunday I'm going to go through all my budgets and the funds I currently have in them and make sure that they are all still relevant and the current levels are sufficient. I may have to juggle a few bits around as I know that I've been spending a bit more than intended in some areas and less in others. 

Anyway, I've just had my lunch - mixed grains with barberries and chickpeas, purple sweet potato, steamed carrots and beetroot, rocket, hemp seeds and a mango chutney and greek style yoghurt dressing. All very lovely! 😁 

Have a fab slow weekend!! 😁

Florafauna

Another delicious looking meal 😋. A good day here, trip to the library , walk on the beach and family lunch. 
Lido trip tomorrow and I'm going to wear my favourite swimming costume! Very excited 😊 

leftatthetrafficlights

@Florafauna - hope you enjoyed your lido trip!! 😁 is it as scenic as your previous lido? 

Saturday was a busy day - we went grocery shopping then I came home and started to cook the courgette and tomato sauce. I also harvested most of the sweetcorn and cooked a job lot of ratatouille! I didn't get around to doing the freezer inventory as I made the decision to order a new chest freezer instead!! 😂 After putting some stuff that we had bought into the freezer, I just knew that there was no way that I can continue with our current capacity so bit the bullet. I will transfer the current contents of both freezers into the new freezer when it arrives and complete the inventory as I do so. Suffice to say that I have enough courgette and tomato base to last us for at least 6 months!! 😳😂 I wasn't expecting to be paying out for a new freezer until next year but it's a long term investment which will save us a fortune in the long run - the more we can grow and store, the better! 

The weather here is a lot cooler this morning than it has been lately so I'll hopefully be able to increase the amount of work I can do in the garden this week; dh sorted some branches out on our oak tree on Saturday while I was cooking to let more light onto the end veggie beds so I will be planting some green manure in those and I've got chinese cabbages to plant out too. The winter salads etc are coming on really well, lots of weeding to be done in those beds now that the plants are bigger, but I may have to get the plastic hoop cover on in the next couple of days if the night time temperature drops 🤔

Yesterday I had a really lazy day - I wasn't feeling great so I basically did nothing other than watch youtube. I caught up on all of the recent videos of the content creators I subscribe to and watched several music videos too. It was a nice day and I'm feeling a lot better today so will do some cleaning later and get out for a walk. 

Other stuff - I've got my grandbaby coming for a sleepover tomorrow and two family meals out this week so things are going to be much busier (and more expensive!! 😳) than normal but the family meal out at the weekend will be the first time we've all been together in 3 years so I'm looking forward to it all! 😁 

Have a fab slow Monday!! 🐌 😁

Florafauna

Hiya leftie, the Lido is in a beautiful Cumbrian village. Quite small but great fun. Had a sea swim today and despite it only being September, it's gone much cooler. Will need toget my thermals out again.
Have a sewing session and a pool swim planned tomorrow.  Have fun with your family and your grandbaby

leftatthetrafficlights

@Florafauna - the lido sounds lovely! 😍 I love Cumbria- I'm originally from the north-east but live in Norfolk now, I miss seeing hills!! One of my favourite places in the world is Aysgarth Falls - if I was in Cumbria I'd probably spend every day there 😂 

Yesterday was a nice day - I did my cleaning but didn't get out for a walk, by the time I'd finished cleaning I'd started to feel a bit ropey again 🙄 I think I must have picked something up from somewhere as I'm still not feeling 100% but I'm listening to my body and taking it easy; it's nothing major, more irritating than anything else, I just don't feel like I have any energy 🤦‍♀️ 

Hopefully I'll be back to normal tomorrow- I need to get some sugar and reboil the damson 'cheese' that I made at the weekend as its slightly too runny. I'm very excited by it as it's the first time since I was given the tree that it's had enough fruit to harvest 🙌 the flavour is lush, just need to get the consistency right. 

Anyway, today I'm just relaxing until I pick up my grandbaby - I've got some bits and pieces to do but nothing that will take more than 15 minutes or so. I want to do a bit of planning for next week- I like to have a declutter and deep clean of the house just before equinox so I'll do a room by room list and decide on the order I'll do them. I have no commitments next week so I should be able to get everything done and we're going to eat from the freezer so I won't be cooking either 😁 
 
Last night I made a buckwheat pancake 'lasagne' type thing - layers of buckwheat pancakes and ratatouille with a soya yoghurt top sprinkled with nutty parm - very yummy!! Piccie is prior to adding the salad 😁



Right, I'm off to make a chamomile tea - hope you have a slow Tuesday!! 🐌 😁