Classically Abby - Embrace SLOW LIVING And Stop Feeling Like A FAILURE

00:00:00.000 Hello Classic Crew, and welcome to today's video where I'm going to be talking about

00:00:04.560 embracing the idea of slow living.

00:00:13.360 If you are new to my channel, here we talk about classic living and traditional values,

00:00:18.480 and I would absolutely love if you would consider subscribing so that you guys can see

00:00:22.720 all of my content as well as follow along with my pregnancy journey. I'm about 32 weeks

00:00:28.800 when I'm filming this, and it's just been an incredible journey. So I would love if you guys

00:00:34.240 would consider subscribing to my channel and ringing that notification bell so you can get

00:00:37.600 notified of all my new videos. And I would also love if you would consider subscribing to my

00:00:41.760 Substack newsletter, where you will get access to a ton of exclusive content that comes right

00:00:47.440 to your inbox, including my weekly article, my book club, and my exclusive podcast. So now that we've

00:00:54.240 got that out of the way, I'm really excited to talk to you guys about this idea that I am just

00:01:00.480 now learning of slow living. I am not someone who has really thought about this in the past,

00:01:07.840 and so this is something that I've all of a sudden kind of been a part of my life,

00:01:13.680 and I think a lot of that has to do with being pregnant. So I'm excited to share my thoughts on

00:01:19.280 this with you guys today. Hopefully, I can inspire you guys to incorporate some of these things

00:01:23.600 into your daily routine. So now let's get into it. So I think it would be valuable for us to first look

00:01:30.000 up the definition of slow living according to the internet, right? Of course, there's a lot of

00:01:35.760 different ways you can interpret that phrase. So this is just one that I came across that sort of rang

00:01:41.120 true for me in some ways. And I want to talk about kind of the way that I think the internet

00:01:46.960 term slow living and the way that I would view slow living. So let's start there. So the first

00:01:52.000 thing I'm going to talk about, this is from a website called Vanilla Papers, and they made like

00:01:56.720 a graphic and it says, what is slow living? A slow approach to everyday life, mindfulness or being

00:02:02.960 present and aware of your surroundings, a connection to community, a commitment to purpose, knowing that

00:02:09.360 faster isn't always better, and consuming less. Now, I think all of those things are great and

00:02:16.480 wonderful ways to just live and things to incorporate into our daily lives. I think that

00:02:22.800 really does go hand in hand with so much of what we talk about here at Classically Abbey.

00:02:28.560 But one of the things that I think isn't mentioned, and what I'm realizing, is that slow living,

00:02:34.960 a lot of it has to do with trust in God. I used to think that slow living was more of an aesthetic

00:02:42.240 thing. Like people would talk about, in the same way that you can talk about so many things from an

00:02:46.560 aesthetic perspective, like minimalism or cottage core, or like all of these things that are very

00:02:54.400 pretty to look at and aesthetically pleasing. I used to think that slow living kind of went into that

00:03:00.160 category. And the thing is that what I'm realizing is that slow living is, can be an aesthetic. But I

00:03:06.720 think what's more important is that it's allowing you to be relaxed because God can take the lead,

00:03:13.120 in the sense that you trust God. You know that things are going to happen, things are going to

00:03:16.960 get done, because with God's help, everything will be okay. And once you're in that perspective,

00:03:23.920 in that mindset of trusting in God, relying on God, relying on God's help, you can approach life

00:03:32.800 from this slow living perspective. And it's less intimidating, it's less about controlling everything

00:03:39.280 in order to make sure everything gets done. You can recognize that sometimes things aren't going

00:03:44.000 to get done, but that's okay, because you will have God's help. So I think that's like the first place

00:03:50.000 I started with slow living, was realizing that, okay, God is going to be the one in control here,

00:03:57.600 I don't have to be the one in control. And that really allowed me to take this step back from like,

00:04:01.360 oh my gosh, I'm stressed and everything needs to get done, to, you know, if everything doesn't get

00:04:07.200 done today, that's okay. But the really big thing that pushed me into this thought process

00:04:13.520 was being pregnant in the third trimester. I have been loving being pregnant. I've talked

00:04:19.600 about that a lot on my channel. I feel really blessed that this has been a really beautiful

00:04:24.400 experience for me. But the third trimester, I don't think it's like easy for anyone.

00:04:30.240 It's uncomfortable. I get tired so easily. We moved during the third trimester. So me trying to like

00:04:38.320 help at all just was not a thing. And when I did try and help, I hurt my back, bending over was just

00:04:42.880 not happening. I tried to do it and I couldn't do it. And it was not, it was not good. And I pulled a

00:04:48.240 muscle in my back. So with all that in mind, I had to embrace slow living in a sense, because normally

00:04:56.560 I'm the kind of person who's like, go, go, go get everything done. And I get overwhelmed because I

00:05:03.040 push myself to get so much done. Now I'm at this point where I cannot physically get everything done.

00:05:09.600 It will not happen. I can't get the house unpacked, even though I would really love to.

00:05:15.920 I can't get all of my work done. I can't clean the kitchen every night, because I don't physically

00:05:22.320 have the energy for it. And I don't physically have the capability for it in a lot of ways.

00:05:27.840 So I had to come to the realization that either I'm going to live the next eight weeks of this

00:05:32.880 pregnancy, and after that, because I'll have a new baby, feeling constantly like a failure,

00:05:39.360 because I didn't get everything done on my to do list. Or I had to realize, you know what,

00:05:45.920 if it doesn't get done today, it will get done tomorrow. This is the first time I've ever felt

00:05:53.200 like that. And I'm okay with it. And I'm happy about it. I'm like, you know what, it'll get done.

00:05:59.440 Everything will get done, even if it's not today, even if it's not on my original schedule.

00:06:07.120 I am so at peace with this, with this philosophy, with this feeling of I don't need to rush all the

00:06:15.040 time. I don't need to move fast. I don't need everything to be on this schedule that will make

00:06:20.720 me feel like I've failed if I don't get it done. I don't need to do those things to be happy,

00:06:27.120 to be fulfilled, because everything will work out in its time. Guys, embracing this perspective

00:06:35.760 is so freeing. And I really recommend considering trying to incorporate some of these thoughts and

00:06:42.560 practices into your life of, if it doesn't get done today, it will get done tomorrow. I wrote down in

00:06:50.160 my notes, still being tidy, clean, and deliberate, but now your intentionality is even more directed

00:06:57.840 because you know you might only get one or two things done on your to-do list. I think that is a

00:07:03.760 really good way to view things. It's not that you're going to be a mess. It's not that you're going to be

00:07:10.480 lazy. It's not that you're going to let things slip through the cracks, but you have to be even more

00:07:16.480 deliberate when you recognize that there are demands on your time. And there are things you

00:07:23.120 just are not physically capable of doing. And when you realize that stuff, then when you actually go to

00:07:29.520 look at your to-do list, you're going to be like, okay, well, this does have to get done today. So that

00:07:35.040 top of my list, and I will get that done today. But if the 10th thing on my list doesn't get done today,

00:07:40.240 that's okay. I think there's, at least for me, there was confusion of, okay, well, if it doesn't

00:07:46.960 get done today, then that means I'm just going to end up being a mess. And I don't think that's

00:07:51.680 how things have to be. It actually forces you to be more intentional than otherwise, because you have

00:07:58.560 to use your time wisely. I'm honestly really looking forward to taking this perspective through

00:08:04.400 motherhood. And I feel really blessed that I'm starting to learn it now before having a newborn.

00:08:11.600 Because I think if I was trying to juggle this emotional feeling of feeling overwhelmed, like I

00:08:17.360 can't get anything done with a newborn, I would feel like really bad about myself. But feeling it now,

00:08:24.240 in late pregnancy, and hopefully carrying that perspective through to motherhood,

00:08:29.040 motherhood, this is something I'm going to need in motherhood. I know I'm going to have less time

00:08:34.960 with a baby. I know that there's going to be maybe one thing on my to-do list I'll be able to get done

00:08:39.280 every day with a newborn. I'll be tired. I'll have a little one clinging to me. I'll have to nurse all

00:08:44.400 the time. You know, it's not something that I'm going to be having like tons of time to do all of the

00:08:50.480 other things I need to get done or want to get done. But viewing my life from this slow living

00:08:56.400 perspective is going to make being a mother so much better, I think, for me. I won't have to

00:09:02.240 constantly be worried that things aren't going to get done because it's not about everything getting

00:09:08.240 done at once. It's about things getting done in time. So that is my video for today. I hope I gave

00:09:15.840 you a little bit of inspiration for your perspectives on slow living. I think that slow living is something

00:09:21.920 we can all incorporate into our lives a little bit more. And depending on where you're at and what

00:09:26.080 stage of life you're in, you can incorporate it more or less. But even just changing the way

00:09:31.120 you understand things, I think, can really give you a better way of approaching it. And that

00:09:38.960 is invaluable. So that is my video for today. Thank you so much for watching. Let me know your

00:09:44.320 thoughts in the comments below. I'd love to hear. If you're not already subscribed to my channel,

00:09:48.560 go ahead and subscribe and hit that notification bell. Don't forget to check out my Substack newsletter

00:09:52.960 at classicallyabbey.substack.com. And if you'd like to follow me on social media,

00:09:56.960 it's at classicallyabbey absolutely everywhere. Thank you so much for watching,

00:10:00.560 and I'll see you guys in my next video. Bye!

Classically Abby - February 01, 2022

Embrace SLOW LIVING And Stop Feeling Like A FAILURE

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