The Art of Slow Living

A letter from Sazan: 

This past month I’ve started to understand that there is great comfort in simplicity. There is beauty in the little moments. Magic in stillness.

To take things back a bit, the month of June was a doozy. Stevie and I try to live a pretty well-balanced life (key word: try) but it’s not easy. In fact, it’s more challenging than easy. Some days we feel on top of the world as two married parents and business partners. Other days we feel completely dizzy trying to simply catch all these spinning plates and we're left feeling underwhelmed as creatives and overwhelmed by life. We realize that the job we have is a pretty awesome one, getting to share our lives, inspire creativity, and show and share things around a God-filled “Good Life” message we feel so strongly called to do.

The actor Chris Pratt once said, “Where your mind wanders is where your heart is at.” That quote couldn’t have resonated more with me than in this past month. My mind kept going back to this place of desiring a new rhythm in life. A rhythm that was all about making memories, creating a margin for something new, feeling more connected to others, caring for something greater than myself and whatever today’s definition and expectations are of an “influencer.” I just needed to tuck away and go to that mountain top place in my heart where I could escape the noise and lay it all out to God. I found myself waking up a few times in the night and seeing God bring me vision after vision. Him guiding me while challenging me on what to do.

By the way, I had a dream my phone fell in the toilet and was covered in poop. Ha! As silly and random as this is, let me explain. I do not take any of my dreams lightly. I’ve seen God speak to me through my dreams and I knew even a silly one like this, carried a purpose. In the dream, I immediately go to pick it up out of the toilet and I kept trying to wipe it clean but it wouldn’t come off. I felt like after I had that dream, a series of events started to unfold in my life. A few small meltdowns left me questioning my habits and routines. Without getting into the details, it woke me up in a sense. I realized life was happening all around and while I’ve been more present in this life than ever before, something felt off. I read a quote that said something like, “If your life starts to feel off, don’t ignore it, because it is off.” Being an ambitious woman is my greatest blessing and at times what feels like a big curse. I constantly struggle with this back and forth notion of learning how to simply stop and just be still. And seeing the beauty in stillness. I needed to sit and reflect.

I have felt this nudge from God lately to switch things up and to not be afraid to quiet my mind, my feed, my calendar, my text messages. To allow myself to  simply walk away and let those distractions lurk in the shadows as I walk into a new kind of rhythm and routine.

I realize I am blessed to have the ability to re-structure and not get caught up in a 9-5 work mentality. I am hyper-productive and I enjoy being motivated by the product that can come from productivity. However, I have a deep deep desire to do the unseen things more. To get out there and enjoy the art that comes from slow living. Influencing the 2 followers in my house who need me most - my girls.

Friends, God has shown me that there’s no such thing as wasted time. Don’t let that fear of a deadline, or expectation, or anything give you intense anxiety to perform. There is beauty in meandering without a plan. I’m seeing this in my daily life in a more granular way than ever before. I’m realizing that we have free-will to choose a beautiful rhythm in the day. The world might tell you that wasted time is any time spent that doesn’t produce some sort of outcome, but be aware that that is an unhealthy thought pattern and don’t feed into it. Yes, some days in your life will be full of adventure and all these cool happenings and breathtaking moments, but not everyday (honestly, not most days) will be lived in this kind of way. And that’s okay - and totally necessary. Lazy days are necessary. Quiet moments are necessary. I’m seeing how these days too can bring so much meaning and color to your life.

I know I’m not alone with this message, which is why I felt really compelled to share it. I realize it’s not a rut I’m in, but navigating a new found desire to see what l can get out of life when the root waters me and not the other way around. Romans talks about this in detail and it really spoke to me. Life should not only be God-centered but also God-powered. It’s easy to get lost and unattached to life when you’re operating on your strength alone. Suddenly motives and decisions are powered by worldly comforts and wanting to please the masses. While I haven’t completely rid myself of this #ProductiveToTheFullest mindset, it is one that is getting stronger everyday.

God keeps telling me to practice and not to over-think life. To stop feeling pushed to rush through it. So cheers to taking the scenic route, and slow days filled with teeny tiny little pleasures. I’m currently challenging myself to some slow-living activities and realizing slow-living and bored are two very different things. Just because you are “going with the slow” that doesn’t mean life is boring. I have already seen the benefits from bringing to life a number of slow living activities, if that’s something you guys would like to see for a “part 2” on this topic, let me know below!