slow living feels like it prioritizes living for enjoyment rather than for accomplishments, there is a time and place for big goals and productivity but it shouldn’t be all we live for

I went to a business university, but it actually made me more anti-capitalist instead of more bussiness-man. The worst concept I was interoduced to was "creating needs". So you don't need something, but marketing experts trick you into thinking otherwise and bang - you just bought a product. The positive is now when I learned that I'm much less prone to such manipulations.

In these times I always think of Ursula K Le Guin's quote: 'We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable - but then, so did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art.'

That is very interesting, I have been slow living for years now. All of my friends and family denigrate me for my laissez-faire attitude, taking long walks in the woods, living in the moment, rather than keeping up with their expectations of me killing myself by climbing the corporate ladder and becoming rich. Never liked Capitalism, never liked Hustle culture, never felt that money and productivity made me happy. People spend their entire lives killing time to get to a point when they are old and grey before finally slowing down and appreciating all the things they missed, I dont want to do that, I want to experience life here and now

A couple weeks ago I saw a tumblr post about how much work living off the land is. I grew up in poverty with eight siblings in the country. Every spring we would plant a garden and tend to it until winter. We’d can and freeze as many vegetables as we could. We also raised chickens and turkeys and we’d butcher them and freeze that as well. We had berry bushes, grapes, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries. Keeping up on all of this was a lot of work. Every day we picked strawberries, peas, tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, or berries depending on what was in season. Everyday we fed the chickens and turkeys twice. My dad still had ten hours work days, most times six days a week. On top of this we had the normal housework which, if you have more than two siblings, you know is a fucking lot to keep after. I am grateful to have grown up gardening and living with lots of space to play in when I had time. My point is that slow living is not a countryside lifestyle. Slow living is community lifestyle, or a lifestyle where you plenty of make money easily. Living off the land is fucking hard work and making enough money to provide for a family is fucking hard work. We need communities that support everyone inside the community in every way, not just weekly gatherings. Where we share land and food and watch over each others’ loved ones and work together. Reading the book Work by James Suzman really helped me see community and work in a whole new light

As a Canadian who lives out in a basement in the suburbs I feel this. Their aren’t enough open community spaces it’s been designed that we live in a box to get into a box to drive to a box to work, shop for food or things, to visit someone else box but outside of this their isn’t much open active community. The monetary privilege to afford to enter another space outside of your home is high that many don’t and so we sit in our little boxes in north America trying to find some meaning.

Not only our souls needs us to embrace slow living so does Mother Earth. Our capitalist way of life is killing us and the planet. I’m making slow living more and more a priority each year 🌻

I recently read about a sociology theory called "the third place" which argues that humans need 3 places: A workplace, a home and a third place to relax and socialize. The third should be distinct from your home. While i was reading about it, i realized that, at least in my home country, Greece, the third place is always a local coffee shop for men and the mini market or the hairdressers for women. This is mostly true for older generations, nowadays most people meet, socialize, discuss, relax at the central square or some nearby coffee shop where they take life easy and relax. In my home city cofee shops near the sea are also popular. If you ask me, this carelessness is what i miss from my culture here in Germany.

When I lived the slow-life in the city, I felt like I couldn't talk about it. People would actually get a little angry when they found-out I only worked three days a week and wasn't looking for more.

I think what is missing from a lot of the slow living videos like Leah’s is that it is easy to parachute into places like an organic farm and sort of cosplay working the land. I am not doubting that helping with daily tasks is not challenging but it doesn’t show the full picture of how financially stressful it is to keep a small agricultural business afloat and how much time and work it takes to get to the point of bountiful production.

I'm so happy that you've eloquently explained this. 'The left' isn't about being lazy. It's largely about ensuring a *balance* between work and everything else: family, community, leisure, etc. It's about working for those things, rather than just working to make billionaires richer.

I was raised in small village in a farming family. I used to joke when I lived abroad and in big cities that when I finally snap I will move to the countryside again. Now at 24 I have returned not because I snapped per say but realised I just never fit in to the busy competitive environment. I spent a good chunk of my life envying the ones who naturally thrive there and felt like a complete isolated loser. I had the choice during the pandemic to reevaluate and start new. I up and left and feel immense gratitude. I feel at home in a small community helping elderly and kids, studying for a higher level of education so I can give back more. I never would have had this energy and motivation in the wrong environment to better myself for others.

When I was in university, I read a book called "Travailler deux heures par jour" (working two hours a day), from the 70s. It calculated that if we shared equally the necessary and unpleasant toil, we could all "work" only 2 hours a day. Then do whatever we want the rest of the time, including unconstrained productive stuff. I probably read it just at the right time, being lost as a student, having no idea where my life was going. Then I discovered the whole "décroissance" (degrowth) movement, which confirmed that our work-centered society was neither good nor sustainable. The "slow" trend never clicked with me, though. I think it seemes more centered on individual choices, and much less political, while the décroissance aimed to question our whole unsustainable way of life in a rich country, exhausting ressources, disturbing the climate, and making us depressed on the way. Since then I've tried to find the right balance between work and freedom. It seems that people are questionning work more and more, and as the government tries to postpone the age of retirement, the topic is hotter than ever.

I always hear about how work culture should not be changed because poor and middle class people will be lazy. But when CEOs get paid $20M salaries, I never hear anyone say "they don't deserve it because they'll just waste it on yachts and private jets."

I feel like capitalism really can try to enter every part of your life when you aren't looking and it can ruin things that may have been intentional activities that helped center your mind. I mostly say this because I come from a family that is very focused on how hobbies can be used for financial gain, everytime I pick up a new hobby my family encourages me to start selling the item I'm making. This takes away from a low stress hobby and makes it back into a stressful job, taking away the pleasure of the hobby. It has been realizing this that has helped me to better intentionally live more slowly, putting a barrier between work for money and hobbies for fun.

I don't live to work. Two years ago I reduced my working hours to 3 days. I was mentally exhausted, I felt like I'm constantly at work. Come Sunday afternoon, I was already thinking that the next day I will be back at work. I understand people are ambitious and want to have a successful career, but this is not for me. Yes, I earn less, but mental comfort has no price.

I often have the conversation with my housemates about how we don't like Work, like 8-5 sit at a desk and do tasks that are often very intangible and be micro-managed by a nosy boss, but we enjoy other types of work, cleaning the home, helping a friend put together furniture, woodworking, sewing, planting a tree. Even if it's more physically demanding than a desk job, doing this kind of work is immediately rewarding because you see the results immediately and see the benefits to you or your community much more clearly than sending off a report or an email you don't even know will be read.

I was a university professor for 5+ years, quit when I got pregnant. Became a freelance writer when my daughter was about a year old. I hustled. Worked with as many clients as I could. Published a book. Created a course. I lived that CEO life where I woke up at 4am, read a book, did my exercise... All of these while taking care of my daughter. It was financially rewarding but so incredibly physically draining. I broke down one day. Told my husband I needed to slow down. Let go of my clients except for one. Slept in until 10am. Lived a laid back lifestyle. I got pregnant with my second child and now have a 5 month old. I love my life. The hustle culture took me away from motherhood, which is really the one thing I genuinely enjoy.

I used to always think that I’m lazy, up until recently, but ist actually not true. I like work! Physical - I like building, constructing, crafting and repairing; intellectual - I absolutely love researching and systematizing information for others, educating others, writing and translating. Even emotional - I like supporting and comforting others in their time of need. I just don’t earn money with my work, which automatically means that it is irrelevant

i personally differentiate between money work versus life work. i want to do things, be creative, help others. the problem is that money work often does not align with these goals. if i could just volunteer for political organizations and campaigns forever i would work 50+ hrs a week, but that doesn't pay the bills because it is not considered valued by capitalism. really loved this video!!

Well said about the disappearance of public gardens. I am grateful that I was able to even find a community garden plot! There really is nothing else like it.

I'm a farmer and homesteader, but I fully embrace what is called slow living now. I work for myself, I don't "hustle" on anyone else's time, and I'm allowing myself to have a quiet routine in both the morning and the evening (especially in the evening, when I take some time to sit on my porch with a hot cup of herbal tea and just enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells of evening time in whatever season it is). But remember, I'm a farmer and homesteader. That often means long days in whatever weather we're dealing with doing a LOT of walking and manual labor. Farmers are some of the hardest-working people in existence, because what we're able to harvest is directly tied to the amount of physical effort we put in, no matter the season or weather. So saying that folks who adopt slow living are lazy absolutely doesn't make sense in my situation, and probably doesn't make sense in lots of other situations either. I just refuse to dance to someone else's music at this point. I work harder with longer hours now than I ever did when I had a job and worked for someone else, but the difference now is that I don't experience burnout. I look forward to the work I have to do each day, I actually feel accomplished when I look at what I've done, my work actually has a significant positive impact on my family and community, and I still have time to rest, rejuvenate, and appreciate the beauty and life around me. Sending a big hello from the U.S.! 👋🏾

As someone from a developing country with political crisis and civil wars going on in rural, slow living seems like a privilege to me.The social infrastructure of the country is so disputed and I see so many people have lost the awareness to embrace the little things in life. I will have to say Self-care, slow living, such things are not an individual concept but it’s rather related enormously to political aspects and the infrastructure of the society being created over time. I wish someday I could help the community in my country to at least be aware of this concept. Such a inspiring video.

"Being depressed as a kid --- why am I getting emotional?" Oh my dear. Because of course you are. It's a heavy memory and it is so human to respond with a welling up of emotion. I'm sending you a hug. It's okay. Be emotional. We all internalised that "getting emotional" is weak, feminine and thus silly and unnecessary and none of it is true. It's very much a work in progress for me as well. Much love! Let's be emotional together! Many others have written more on the actual subject on the video, and of course it was stellar work as always.

I have seen slow living videos associated with the Minimalist movement, yet slow living seems like an improvement on Minimalism. Slow living is a more accessible and attainable ideal for the average person. It relies less on banishing material goods but rather focuses on being attentive to your values. The old adage "Everything in Moderation" seems like common sense, but it is very difficult to enact in the modern world

I keep trying to remind myself of this but as a uni student in one of the most academically competitive countries in the world, is some difficult, but having friends who want to live slower with you, is always helpful

one of the things i hate with hustl culture, on a personal level, is that now i even see my hobby as something that has to be productive. I really love to draw, and i'm shaming myself when i don't do it and play video games instead because "it's not productive". I'd like to learn music and i discourage myself telling me i would be bad, and it wouldn't be profitable. I know those kind of thoughts are stupid but it's so engraved in my brain ; i wish i could live slowly. It's really complicated when capitalism is everywhere and you base your worth on it, especially for people like me who aren't tailored to live this way : i hate work, i just want to do art and be with the people i love all my life. This has so much grasp on the way we view ourself - the productivity thing i mean. I wish we could be nicer to ourselves, and other (as in content creators for a start ? idk we just seem to expect so much of them). Thank you for the video ♥ i kind of want to take thing slow from now.

It's crazy that partaking in slow living is pretty much rebellion. At university studying landscape architecture, I had to fight so hard to enforce boundaries on my time and energy just to be able to cook dinner, get enough sleep, and enjoy a little bit of downtime to read (reading? in university? the audacity) at the end of my day cranking out drawings and models in studio. I'm not going to get into the horrible things I've experienced in the workplace, suffice to say that achieving a life of slow living has become my ultimate goal. I just want to be left in peace! You're so right about the importance of inviting public spaces and gardens as places where people can come together and make things happen outside of commercial imperatives. That is part of the reason why I chose my field of study. But the reality is that the vast majority of built projects are funded by people and institutions who have no interest in helping 'people' who are not also their clients. More often than not the priority is reducing construction costs, which means fewer amenities, which means more sterile utilitarian spaces where nothing happens. In both domains the problem is money, or the lack of it.

This was a very insightful video! I love the idea of shifting the ideas around work to the necessary tasks that don't make money. Caretaking of the elderly, children or ill. Making art. Making food. Making space for quiet so we can think thoughts. The lack of rush really gets denigrated by the more conservative leaning people. It doesn't have to be this way. You are right, it is about infrastructure.

This video hit me hard. I've been trying to become a screenwriter for years, without success. I wrote script after script, but none sold. Recently I decided I would never make it and became depressed. In my mind, if I wasn't making a living from my art, I was a failure. But this made me think art can be valuable without the need to profit off of it. Art for arts sake. I'm realizing maybe I can be a screenwriter even if I never make a dollar from it. Maybe I've been one for awhile.

This is the lifestyle I've been feeling in my core that brings me peace. Our value shouldn't be how much money we make from working. You're right that creating art/music, caretaking, volunteering to garden or cook or take care of animals is all value we can also bring to the world. What you said at the end about being social creatures & showing the people in your town on tables was quite interesting. It got me thinking of how growing cities/towns only build what makes profit - malls, stores, houses, apartments. Parks are like 1 per city. It would be nice to have more courtyards like the ones in Mexico where people just hangout outdoors eating ice cream, drinking coffee, sometimes watching local performers.

I feel this in my soul. Humans were never meant to endlessly work and be productive. Even sitting too much is dangerous. We need those third places to come together. We need to feel alive! Cottagefairy is my *ahem* second favourite KZfaqr :) Do you have links to the channels of the other youtubers you mentioned?

Calling slow living a "consumer trend" is like calling never doing any exercise a "workout trend"

Slow living really changed my outlook on life and helped me connect with my artistic self in a way I always dreamed of. It has been about 2 years and now I working on a poetry book :) Slowing down helped me see life in all its beautiful shades; I regret nothing! 🌿 (also would totally go over bird species with you Alice! Thank you for your work

This is actually exactly what I've been doing with my life for several years now, I first started realizing that living slowly and for the enjoyment of life would be MY most productive choice when I found out that I could never earn enough to live 'normally' because of my chronic health conditions. Despite my conditions people regularly ask me what my 'plans' are, if I'm going to try studying again or if I'll try my hand at a regular job. I have explained to people around me that it would not be good for me, I know it's an expectation from society and especially so because I am living on government benefits but in reality I would never be able to work enough in a week to no longer be on benefits, my physical and mental health would suffer in the process. Because of these factors I have chosen to focus on my friendships, passions (I do a lot of art and handcrafting), I make things for people around me, I travel somewhere when I'm able (which is every couple years usually). My life is slow and quiet in comparison to that of most people but I'm happy and I truly hope that other people start to understand that it's not realistic to expect everyone to work beyond their means with the aim of a reward that might never come.

After a long time in academics, I worked for three years in a different country. The jobs themselves were alright and they did have a somewhat noble end goal (medical biotech) but I had to leave the most recent one due to work visa related issues. But in a way, it's been a blessing. I had managed to save up a decent amount of money and now that I've moved back home, I am planning on doing all the things I wanted to do but did not have the time to before. I'm going to do this until I can pursue other opportunities that will interest me and I feel the need to have a steady income. I call it temporary retirement. It certainly is a privilege but unless people who are in a position to do so take breaks from capitalistic careers or whatever else promotes slow living, it will not be normalized.

Aparna Sen, the veteran actor and director, once said that in order to be creative, you have to be in a state of free flotation. Living slowly really puts things into perspective.

I think this video is important to tell us our work in life is not just limited to our "professional work". I have ADHD and since I've entered the workforce I have struggled to find my place. Everything feels so restraining. It mostly consists of opening my laptop and writing and reading a bunch of text. Which is incredebly boring. I want to approach it differently. However in my personal life I've been alot more fulfilled. There is a communal park just 100m from my house. There I walk my dog out and I've met soo many other dog owners. We exchanged and shared many of our live's story. In the end we kinda formed (it was kinda spontaneous) our own community. And honestly I feel that I can help in that way talking about my experiences and listening to other people. I feel much more useful there, than at my job. This is more the kind of work I would want to carry out and , in my opinion, many others.

I live in the middle of nowhere in the countryside and it frustrates me seeing it so romanticised especially by Leah but I still enjoyed her countryside content but this slow life is heavily romanticised and from someone in their 20’s living in the middle of nowhere it’s pretty lonely, hard to meet people and have a community especially in the rural countryside and even if you do these gentle habits you’re still faced with isolation of the rural. Anyways that’s my point of view from someone who lives in the rural country that’s always romanticised and it definitely doesn’t look like the cottagefairy or Leahfieldsnotes version, if that makes sense. Even being a KZfaqr, I have to use my 4G hotspot to upload and many other things that aren’t in the cottage core aesthetic and slow living etx

This video made me emotional, i truly wish more people(myself included) had the opportunity to do slow-living. Most of us are just trying to survive these days, slow-living unfortunately isn't really a choice when you can barely survive.

As you are describing your way of being from childhood on, I remember when I learned that I am a high sensation seeker, a person who needs new and novel experiences. I am also highly sensitive, so my optimal level of arousal is narrow - too little stimuli and I am bored, too much and I am overwhelmed. But give me a slow living activity like gardening, writing, or volunteering and I will be deeply engaged without exhaustion. I actually find this type of ‘productivity’ to be energizing, rather than many of the useless tasks I was asked to complete when I previously worked a corporate, capitalist job. Glad you are out here, spreading the word, they more of us who advocate for, and choose this type of lifestyle, the quicker things will change💜

I grew up in the country side. Studied in a big city. Country side life is naturally slower -albeit not easier. But there’s something more…mindful of living that you don’t get in the city. And I truly believe there’s an innate human desire to experience that. And every time I read comments saying “only the rich can do that”. No. Most people aren’t rich here, they simply don’t expect the same materialistic accessibility city people expect to have.

My son and his fiancé have taken up slow living and it is hard as it goes against ALL society preaches. I'm doing all I can to support him and am working on shifting to "living small" as I prefer to call it...

One of the things I have found in my exploration of slow living is that one of the most powerful things I can do as a person pushing back against an extractive economy is doing the work of reducing my income dependence (things like growing food for my family and community or making my own cloth or clothing or furniture as a way to slow my rate of consumption). It has been an incredible antidote to hustle culture, because the processes there are inherently slow, steady, and responsive to the world around me, and because it is in many ways pursuing the same ends by inverse means, and when I have the two to compare, the 'fast track' of hustle culture seems impersonal, disconnected, and abhorrent, by comparison.

One way I’ve implemented slow living into my life is focusing on my religion and spiritual focus more. Since then I’ve found that I’m more grateful and enjoy the little moments even more than when I tried my hand at the typical self-care practices like gratitude journaling. I realized that I didn’t need to buy a notebook, stickers, fancy pens and markers in order to have gratitude in my daily existence. Living prayerfully has helped me feel less guilty for taking time to help other people rather than prioritizing time efficiency when working. Taking time to absorb the lessons of Christ (which I’ve found are super anti-capitalist and anti-consumerist) and find value and love my life even when things are hard has done wonders for my mental health. I’m in college and I changed my major, now I’m doing a degree (animal science) I really want and enjoy rather than sacrificing my mental clarity pursuing what everyone expected of me. I wouldn’t have made that change had I not started focusing on what I felt was right for me, and that began with my religion.

It seems when 'lazy' is used as a pejorative it usually means "unwilling to engage in profit generating activities". Lots of people that the mainstream ideology accuse of laziness are actually engaged in laborious activities all the time, they're just not engaged in laborious activities that capitalists can exploit, so they don't get approval.

Hope you're enjoying Barcelona! It's good to see more people of my generation embracing slow-living; self-care is the way.

oh my god, slow living is what i was looking for, ive been really tired out about the "grindset" i have committed myself to, because of the exprectations ive mentally set myself. Id love nothing more than to wake up and pick what i want to do that day without stuff getting in the way.

I've always viewed you as a genuine person but at 8:13 I teared up because that was such an endearing and wholesome moment. Great video as always, Alice.

I was your typical over-achiever when I realised two years ago that I probably don't have to work as hard as I did to reach my dreams (living with animals and children in the countryside while working in my dream field) and just stopped stressing as much. Funnyly enough, my academic performance has actually not dragged as much as I thought, I just don't spend more time then neccessary on topics I don't enjoy and in term study my favourite fields more. And most of all, I really enjoy studying now that I don't force myself to! :)

I am constantly feeling guilty for not getting more things done. But it's not just at my job - I frequently take days off work so I can catch up on personal projects. I love the idea of expanding the definition of work, but also I think there's value in truly doing nothing at all. Whether that means meditation, resting, taking breaks or naps, or taking time to enjoy a meal or chat with friends, there's incredible restorative power that can help us heal. If you want to put a "work" spin on it you can point to how rest and meditation can increase productivity, but I want to emphasize that it has value in itself. I also tend to be hard on myself for spending too much time watching KZfaq or Netflix, but on the other hand, as I grow older I've been coming to understand the incredible value of listening. I was feeling bad that I hadn't practiced the saxophone last week, but I realized I'd spent hours every day thinking about the music I was learning and listening to examples. Even when I think I'm totally "wasting time," I often realize that the way I spent my time was still very valuable. The most important thing for me is that I have the choice about how I spend my time. "8 [hours] for what we will" is a good start, but I want more!

While I was in Copenhagen, I actually saw a lot of cafés where laptops were prohibited during all days of the week. This slow living lifestyle is sth that feels very scandinavian to me

You've put my thoughts into words. I've always advocated for a slow life, I come from a rural area where life isn't rushed and you basically live in the present. I moved to a big city to attend uni and started suffering from mental health issues. I'm currently doing a PhD and life feels like a never-ending marathon. Achievement after achievement... I've stopped doing things I want to do only because I feel like doing them. Everything needs to have a purpose. That has made me reconsider my future. Thanks for your videos and for keeping us thinking. (PS: OMG you are in Barcelona!!!! Let's do a meet up PLEASE!)

This video really struck a chord with me, I was getting emotional right along with you! I constantly struggle to balance growth vs mindless productivity. You've helped me better grasp that slowing down can help me remember why I'm seeking productivity in the first place. Thanks for all that you do, Alice!

This video has really helped me articulate the thoughts and confusion i've been having with having to do with slow living lately. I am currently on a gap year and am in a fortunate position to be able to be working in hospitality and then having a fair amount of time off in between that. I've sensed in myself a desire to want to go outside more, go for walks, practise my guitar, shape up on my reading both sociology related and also to just finally finish that Zadie Smith on my bedside table. But i've felt this mental block; partially owed to the fact i am struggling with a short attention span and phone addiction. But also partly because I've felt a resistance and confusion as someone who identifies as a leftist to take that time for myself both physically, politically, and emotionally. I don't think i've fully been able to reason with myself why taking that time is so important, and why there isn't any shame in it, and moreover how it actually empowers what I believe in and have always told myself I believe in. This whole discourse just feels so important. This video on top of the Elliot Sang I have been watching lately has brought me so much clarity about what I've been feeling lately and in turn so creatively inspired. So thanks for the video i really appreciated it :)

All my co workers were confused when i said id refuse a "salary" position... its considered the best you can get,... but the problem with it is... the work never ends when youre on salary. I love my job, could do without overtime though, and i have no intention to "move up" in the company Im young (mid 20s) and everyone of my coworkers finds this odd The thing is! The higher you move up the more work consumes you. Id rather do a good job at what im doing now than worry about what opportunities i can get in the future. Sure theres some positions in the company that if i got the chance to id go to(mainly bc other areas dont have as much overtime, my goal would be to work less so i can work more on other things if that makes sense? I have a lot of stuff i want to do with my life not just my paid job), but im not worried about it one bit. Im happy with where i am and i make the most of the time i DO have I often end up spending my breaks at work working on my personal projects lmao.

8:02 Wow, Alice and I would be such besties because I hated blah holidays and I still have a book on birds while also knowing bird species.

I strive to live like this. I noticed I disliked the lifestyle of capitalism a few years ago. I was so depressed and felt so left behind I wasn’t “achieving” anything career wise. Then I realized it’s because of capitalism. I noticed this idea of slow living when I watched studio ghibli movies. The “slice of life” type anime. Enjoying and romanticizing your life the way it is. Just stopping and watching and enjoying this moment in time. I am an artist and the idea of not working a traditional job and just working on art and going on hikes, walks, enjoying nature, and architecture. I want to read and just relax. Capitalism wants us to be workers and will call us lazy because they don’t want us to stop working our life away for them. Laziness does not exist. We just want to enjoy our lives. Wonderful video it makes me feel more certain about my beliefs and who I am and being happy!!

This video paved a bridge in my mind closer to BALANCE. A type of balance where we still do the work we enjoy and serve the community by fulfilling a role in a healthy way but at the same time not reducing our value to that and also building a life around the things that truly matter to our happiness and wellbeing (other than out work ofc). Love it!!

The thing with capitalistic work it's that it's never just 9-5. I wish it was just 9-5 for me. It's not 9-5 for a lot of people I know. I generally work 10-14 hours a day on a 8h contract. I'm pushed to deliver projects on tighter and tighter deadlines so the company can grab more clients and make more money. They don't pay overtime. They make you feel like it's your fault you're not fast enough even if the work volume multiplied by 5 in 3 years. If you refuse to deliver no matter the impact on your persobal time they don't give you a raise in the context that food and everything is more expensive and you essentially get a pay cut. They don't hire enough people because "economic crisis, inflation etc.". If I though the 9-5 to letf me tired with little time to do anything on the personal side, this 9 to 9 or sometimes more leaves me feeling like a zombie. I've gained a lot of weight, I never have time to exercize, cook, do anything personal, the only life I live is during weekends and I'm too tired to do much. I clean my home, I cook, I watch some show on Netflix with my partner. Tell me if that's a life worth living. At the beginning the of year I told them it's enough with the unpaid overtime for me. I can't continue working like I'm a piece of machinery, I'm a human being. This is what hustle culture promoted by pro capitalists does. They make you into a cog that can't take any breaks, that is worthless in their eyes unless they're constantly producing something. It's a sick society. You can call me lazy, I'm not going to an early grave to make more money for a company that would replace me any second. I can't grow as a person if I don't have time to read, learn new skills, rest. When I talk to people about having the right to do those things they like at me like I'm asking for handouts.

This was such an interesting video. I found myself nodding my head all throughout it. And then to top it of you mentioned Aurora. I think the fact that artists like her are getting more and more popular, and the fact that we are discussing the topics you usually discuss in your videos, serve as proof that many of us want the same. We long for a community in where everyone lifts each other, and where living a life where stress is not the main motor is actually attainable. We deserve to live peacefully, we really do. We deserve to be the owners of our own life.

Keep it real Alice! I'm a big fan of the channel ever since I came across the videos and make it a point to recommend it to people. The fact you kept the moment at 8 minutes says a lot. You got this. :')

After a breakup a month ago I quit my big city life and went to a Greek island and it just been so good for me that I started thinking maybe that is where I belong from now on, even though I've been always dependent on living in crowded areas

Alice, I found your channel quite recently and I just want to thank you, all I've seen is quite enlightening and enriching. I'll watch the channels you've recommended, and to the extent possible, I'll try to prioritise a slow living life style and ideals. regards from Chile!!

New trend : being alive, living, eating food, walking about, going to work, paying bills, breathing air.

This is the sort of movement that I've always felt like I've gravitated towards. I'm in my first year of college, and during the first few months I'd walk alone into the small town close to campus, and just explore the shops, antiques, alleys, and farmers market. I'd always find something new and interesting each trip, like a funky mural, or a good restaurant. When I did start making friends and invite them to go off campus with me, I was surprised when I realized that most hadn't been in town yet, even on the weekends, and often stayed in their dorm rooms. At the same time, I was able to spend a lot of time in the wilderness and observing/exploring my surroundings while growing up. I spend a lot of time researching little interests of mine, particularly transcendentalism and the journals of John Muir and the writing of Ralph .W. Emerson and Walt Whitman. Currently I'm studying horticulture, with a focus on sustainability and permaculture with the hope that one day I can live a slower life. I think that I'm still very idealistic in many ways and aspire to make a positive impact, although, I don't think that is necessarily contrary to "slow living". Perhaps if we all lived a little slower, we'd feel more inclined to help those in our communities and elderly family members through general reciprocity!

This is such a great video! I'm very glad I found your channel, I too follow the influencers you mentioned and because of that my dream when i grow up have been to move to a beautiful countryside and have a nice slow living life where I prioritize spending time with my family and pets, making my own garden and flowers, hobbies, learning and my work, but this inspired me to start taking this lifestyle into accountability right now, only as a teen living in the capital that I current am:) I'm going to organize my routine for next week right now and make sure to try to incorporate those nice things in it💕

Love how you're adding a new perspective to the conversation, trends can often overshadow the message behind the intention of what's trending. Slow living can be so purposeful and even healing!💛💛 (I also find it funny that we watch the same KZfaqrs 😂)

It seems that the people who embrace slow living are often converts from a high productivity mindset, a mindset which put them in a financial situation that then allows them to slow down. How does one live slowly from the beginning with out the infrastructure that supports it?

I feel this with the lack of open spaces. As a kid, there was no open area to hang out in with my friends. We would meet up by the library and sit in the space between the wall and the road since there was a picnic table. All of the parks in town were private property of schools. We never really saw people outside other than us. Even having a dog park with a gazebo is better than nothing.

finally a word that describes the kind life i love to live. I just graduated from uni and am job hi ting and it’s kinda depressing but im not to stressed bc thankfully i live w my family which has its ups and downs, but im taking it as a chance to nap and read and cook. Just taking the time where i have nothing g going on to love as i’ve always wanted and not putting myself down for it.

Aurora's the seed is definitely a gem that everyone needs to listen to and learn from. I've been slow living all of my life and everyone around me has tried to "wake me up", in vain. It's a nice way to live and I recommend it to anyone and everyone. My life is happy and fulfilling. Both my husband and I work part time, which gives us time to be with our children, grow our own food and meet up for coffee and conversations with each other and with family and friends. We also live within walking distance from our places of work, so there is no commute and we know the people living in our neighbourhood, which is quite rare when living in a metropolis. Living more intentionally has also made me better at my job, so it's definitely a plus for society to work less and be less stressed.

I work as a software engineer, and find the work itself to be engaging, challenging, and fun...I like the puzzle-solving part of the job. Unfortunately, in the United States, it is improbable find work like mine without being forced to work for a corporation and do 40hrs minimum a week and with little vacation time. The power structures are set up in a way where it is discouraged to anything different than the norm. Although I can find fulfillment in doing the work, I want the power to choose flexibility and incorporate more "slow living" habits into my life. Maybe that would mean starting out with a 4day work week or 30hrs a week. Although I would like more vacation time, I think we currently have so little that even moderate increases wouldn't change the typical week to week hustle of the pace the corporation wants us to work at.

As a graduate student, I relate to the concept of mentally expanding what "work" means so much -- I find that many activities like organizing seminars, mentoring, building community within my academic field (usually with the aim of dismantling the inequities that exist there), or even teaching aren't considered to be (important) "work". These tasks are devalued and seen as distractions to the "real" work of research. Of course, the mental and emotional labor that these activities require usually falls on women and other people belonging to groups historically excluded from academia...

We also need to talk about vanishing scarcity - food being destroyed to maintain market value, houses standing empty to maintain their value, and the rapid growth in cheap, environmentally safe power generation. In this 'post' industrial world, scarcity is being maintained for power and profits for a small handful and we're forced to hustle for these things that are actually widely available and only kept from us by the political economy. Recognising a post-scarcity world also means recognising the end of productivity _for survival_. What kind of activities will we engage in when activity isn't required to have a roof, food on the table, and lights on? We'd be asking that question now if it weren't for a host of grifters keeping us from the overwhelming results of our growing productivity over the last 300 years.

Thank you for putting this into words for us! you are always right on the edge of the zietgiest riding ahead and letting us know what you see

I always thought about myself as unambitious and even bad people around me used to call me lazy. It took me long time to reframe ambition in other sense than in money terms. Ambitious used to mean for me someone on path to more money and more career power. But I realised that I'm ambitious too, but in a different sense. I'd like to understand philosophy on the complex level, go as much deep as my intellect would let me, I would like to be able to analyse cinematography across the 20th and 21st century with analytical skills that I will hone across the years and decades. I now know that those are valid ambitions, real as any other, worth of living them. Yes, there is little money in it, but that's not argument to diminish it. And to spent four hours reading and writing down notes is as tiring as when I worked in warehouse for seven hours.

I think it’s important to consider that not everyone has a choice to live this way. It can be a choice but it isn’t always possible

Alice is back! I’ve really missed your videos. I hope your sister and you are well.

I love how you’ve grown more confident (and audio is actually loud enough haha). I remember I used to comb my arm hairs every time I used skin lotion and they eventually stayed combed… More importantly I really like these dissertations and you leave me with more questions and references to look, a little overwhelmed on how you’ve read so much too. I think that can be a good thing. Thanks for your work.”, keep it up!

I'm just settling in Mexico City now and am picking up skateboarding again, cruising through the city exploring the endless beauty here... that's my casual magic and I love it.

i highly recommend the book "The Serenity Passport: A world tour of peaceful living in 30 words" by Megan C Hayes. Its a short and easy read that really inspired me with multiple little way i could incorporate slow and peaceful time for myself. Honestly recommend

8:39 I’m so happy that you could be so vulnerable and share that detail with us.

When you were speaking about how learning, doing new things was the way you used to be an happy kid it's made me emotional. Because so am I, when I was a child, I always hated school but I loved learning new animals species, playing, drawing, making stories and when I grew up I loved to learn new things, but I get caught by my phone and now I'm totally addicted, even with my best try, even with self discipline, and I have some, I loose weight, I quit smoking, my phone, internet is everywhere and even if I'm still learning new things, even If I'm craving for a slow life in nature. I know it's my brain that needs to be slow more than my life, I really need to loose internet access

May i just say i Love how french people know how to protest. In Italy, people are already retiring at like 65 at least. If you start working now at 25, you'll have to work until you're 75 (unless a lot of things change until then, which i really hope lol) and yet, nothing. No protests, no strikes, nothing

I just wanted to let you know that I really enjoy your videos, and that you are amazing at discovering channels for me. Thanks for speaking about a wide array of themes!

Always enjoy your videos Alice. This video's tone seems like a subtle departure from your other works. Love it!

I have been thinking something like this for weeks now but was unsure of how to word it. I am an American living in Seoul, South Korea. Both places in which capitalism THRIVE but I found The Cottage Fairy and I have been slowly thinking of things quite differently. I absolutely love Seoul, but as a person with ADHD I am always needing a freaking break from internally and externally going a million miles an hour. I am and will continue to make slow living more of a priority and staple to my everyday life. Thank you Alice.

The employment to retirement pipeline reinforces this idea that we must work ourselves way harder than we should at jobs that don't give us any real sense of fulfillment because of the promise of the golden ticket of retirement waiting for us at the end of it. People are told that the one thing you have to look forward to in life is not having to work anymore and then when they get there they realize it's not all it's cracked up to be. A life of pure leisure is BORING and so often people are either depressed and dissatisfied with their retirement or they worked themselves so hard for all those years that many become sick and/or drop like flies shortly after retiring. I don't ever want to retire under this structure. What we consider "work" shouldn't be relegated to only that which our capitalist structure is currently paying us to do. Being productive shouldn't be about producing a product to be sold but producing community, connection, meaning, and fairness for all. Caring for others and for yourself (ie. community gardens, making art just for fun, going for walks) IS work when these are the things you're aiming to produce. And if that's the case then I don't ever want to stop working ✨

This is a lesson I'm having such a hard time learning. I've just moved to Paris, and I'm really trying to incorporate a slow-down into my life. It requires a real rewiring of my mind. Thanks for this.

Just the "I'm actually getting emotional... why am I getting emotional?" is really cool to hear. I haven't watched your stuff in a while but I've noticed the quality increase, good on ya.

The idea that the Left is "lazy" is so strange to me, in Sweden we are the only party that have in our political goal "the right to have a job". Still the Right belive that we don't want to work? What we want is to be able to live a full life from our 9-5 without feeling burnt out. We want to contribute to our community because it's importent, not work becauce we want to win capitalism.

watched this after taking myself out on a sushi date and taking 20 minutes to drink one beer at the end of the meal. thanks for the video. it's the sort of thing i need to hear right now. too in my head over 'productivity' and 'accomplishment'. going to go read a book now. 🦊🤙

I’m loving this so far as I am new to the content and love the way it makes me slow down rather than focus on attaining the living the life of others. I like that you’ve used the word cultivation as with productivity wherein everything you do must yield something that can be sold cultivation is invisible to those witnessing and doing it. It makes it difficult to perform but rather every medium: visual, sounds etc are to communicate something than pure aesthetic.

loved this video alice! i appreciated so much that you didnt cut out getting emotional. you’re one of my favorite youtubers and it was nice to see a different side of you, even for a koment. i appreciate your vulnerability!

For me, slow living is a coping mechanism. Having ADHD and being HSP, conventional capitalistic life is extremely overwhelming. I gave up on having a career a few years ago, because I kept getting burned out and got depressed for two years. I can't live that way for the rest of my life. The capitalist way of thinking about work, and if you don't work 40+ hours a week, you're lazy is very ableist. I'm very lucky I live in western Europe and have a boyfriend with a good job, so I can get by with working 20 hours a week and spend the rest of the time resting, doing house work and working on some hobbies.

I don't know, it's good as an ideal, but as someone who's self-employed (sewing repairs), even when I want to practice my one hobby (also sewing) I need to rush cause there's always something work related left to do... so I just try to keep my 3 plants alive (at work) and call it spending time with nature... I can't even imagine how I would be able to sustain myself without 60h/week work... Well, some lines of work are made to disappear in the short term, and I'm one of those I guess, I'll have more free time then.

I absolutely love to hear your voice, tbh sometimes i don't even care about the subject (despite it being interesting in itself), but just hearing you speak is so pleasant. I also love the way you think : sometimes, you can take an idea or concept, and explore it through a video ; initially i would not care about it, but you make it interesting and as a result make me interested in the subject. That's a really great skill, even tho it's hard work 95% of the time. So, congrats.

This was an interesting watch, really enjoyed it. Cool thing is the world is so small! Leah is actually a friend of mine from uni, she’s always talked about wanting to live on and own her own farm in the countryside since the early days of meeting her

4:32 The French language taught me a great word: ‘Néoruralisation’.