Going slow, yet doing more

Whoa, a brand-new year, and we're not going to rush it, even if we are going to do more? Sweet!

Accidental doomscrolling detox and finding my spark

I've just spent two weeks being so sick that my bones felt tired and achy. You know the feeling, when you can't even be bothered to eat or get up to take painkillers because it's just too much. It was like that, and I couldn't stand the loud, fast pace of my usual vice (TikTok scrolling), and so, I switched to watching videos on YouTube (like seeing Create-O Potatoe make collection cards, and Anna Lunak make sticker sheets & her gentle studio vlogs - joyful, calm content I love to watch no matter if I'm sick or not).

I guess, doing that for two weeks and then focusing on getting back to normal while still tired for another week gave me an accidental detox from the doomscrolling app. Oops and yay! Something Tiktok showed me before I closed it down was two warm-feeling snail mail clubs, and I decided to join them! I might share about them later when I've received the first letters. I've been eyeing joining two or three to go more analogue, while also having something lovingly created sent to me each month that shares a bit of someone else so tangibly, and in writing to boot! So, this was a stroke of luck, I believe.

I've dug in with creating my own snail mail club, too, during the past few months, while not sick or on holiday. I adore letters, but it's been a while since I received any, even if I've been penpalling on and off since I was eight or nine and sent a letter just at the end of last year to a friend in another part of Sweden, so twenty-five years of experience.

Jeez, I'm old enough to have a quarter of a century's worth of experience in something - I'll embrace the ancient vibe with exuberance.

In the spirit of being ancient, I've been using my phone less, and when using it, it's been in a planned, purposeful manner that has brought genuine value. One thing I've decided to do is use my digital calendar to actually organise my time, while my physical planner is the nugget of joy where everything I've done ends up; written in colourful ink and without many elements that would create pressure for aesthetics. It's to be joyous and useful for me. I think we need to get back to taking our needs seriously without fearing others' opinions in private.

Do you love it more when rushing through the experience?

About making things slower, taking time, and moving away from fast-paced content consumption - I've been lacking in the reading department, BUT it's going back to being an absolutely joyful hobby again. It's been infected by the fast-fashion vibe, spurred by the high pace and pressure of all the social media platforms I've been on for such a long time. It’s become a desperate race to consume as much as possible, if only to reach those crazy reading goals, get those wrap-up posts, have that packed reading calendar with all the covers on display - but that's not what reading is about.

We're not readers to consume books; we're trying to experience stories.

I'm guilty of feeling the pressure to keep up, to read more, to reach high reading goals, and share about it in every manner possible while keeping a professional disposition (given I'm an author myself, running a little publishing house, and all that good stuff). But, I've never hit my reading goal - I always crash and burn because of the pressure stealing my joy as I try to keep up.

So, how do I fix this?

Not so easy of a fix, but I'm not falling back into the trenches of "consume books" to hit goals/keep up with trends/keep up with new books/etc, I'm just going to experience stories at the leaisurely pace of a tea-drinking snail (I'm that slow of a reader, which makes no sense given...well, everything, but I am) and I'll have to be okay with perhaps only managing one or two books a month above all my work-related reading.

Don't hurry, be happy!

Wow, brilliant Rosana, a banger that one...

.No, but seriously, it's been a bit of a mantra of mine since the start of the year, as I  realised last year how stressed, anxious, and rushed I am in absolutely everything. I wrote about the grind and hustle culture getting us nowhere and how I don't want to hustle but live - and would start doing that by stopping (read more about it in this blog post) because it got to the point of affecting me physically, which is bonkers. But, I've realised it and am now trying to calm myself in as many aspects of life as possible (it's frikkin hard to change your entire way of being and thinking).

This blog was supposed to be super active, but I started it when I wasn't able to keep up - not because I have too much to do for the hours in the day, but because I was so stressed I couldn't do anything in a focused and organised manner. I was splintered, fractured, and just a bundle of chaotically stressed thoughts that went nowhere but took up all of my energy.

Now, I'm more centred, I've changed several aspects of my life, my mindset, and how I treat not only my time but also my soul. It's actually helped, and exercise, too (she admits begrudgingly). Some concrete things that help me stick with Don't Hurry, Be Happy and remembering/reminding myself to slow the heck down mentally and physically: 

☆ Take three breaths before reacting or acting

☆ Do not interrupt your current task with another; note it and deal with it later, no matter how small a thing

☆ Experience things at a comfortable pace, allowing absorption, rather than rapidly consuming and forgetting

☆ Your value is not connected to how much, how perfect, how quickly, or what you produce/create

☆ Structure life after how you function steadily in the long run, not to be as efficient as possible right now

☆ Ask yourself: Can I do this slower and/or more mindfully? (breathing, talking, thinking included - not just activities like reading, working, cleaning...)

☆ You're bouncing in place: Take 10 minutes to move and turn off your brain - excess energy becomes anxiety

But how are things truly going with work?

Glad you're asking! Due to everything I'm finding out, exploring, and realising, I'm actually MOVING FORWARD, and it feels amazing. I'm working on figuring out the kinks in my planning (since scheduling my days is pretty new and I've yet to find the balance between focused work, movement, and breaks while time blocking). Still, I've been getting things done and am steadily writing on my books, organising for the webshop, and educating myself in business avenues I want to explore. I'm investing in not only my creative work but myself as a hobby hoarding gremlin, too.

In short

☆ Writing five books

   ↪ two to be released this year

   ↪ three under a future pen name

☆ Structuring my (work)life

   ↪ using flexible time blocking    ↪ focused, single-task work

   ↪ re-discovering my joyful spark

☆ Snail Mail Club exploration    ↪ have begun product testing

   ↪ researching cost, time, & value

☆ Building my webshop from scratch    ↪ my books, stickers, bookmarks, trackers, etc.    ↪ will have the snail mail club subscription   ↪ account connection for easy overview/use

☆ Pursuing other business avenues I'm interested in    ↪ sticker making (getting a Cricut & new printer - whoop-whoop!)    ↪ making bookmarks, trackers, punchcards, reader scratchoffs, etc.

I hope my words have connected with you, and that you are experiencing the best of stories ❤