I first learned the term “slow living” once I moved to Italy. I was fortunate enough to live in this beautiful country for 3 years. After my first few months there (and many hard lessons), I started to understand that anything you must get done will either get done “slowly” or “tomorrow.” Whether it was setting up your internet, having a repair fixed in your home, or checking out at the grocery store – the Italians conquered each task at a slow pace and with much passion. I started to adapt and captured myself walking slower in the streets, not stressing out about getting tasks accomplished in a day, and enjoying each meal leisurely.

My favorite habit of the Italians is their passeggiata. A passeggiata is: a leisurely walk or stroll, especially one taken in the evening. Around 6 PM to about 8 PM, what seemed like everyone that lived in the city, would stroll, very slowly, down the main street in the city center with the WHOLE family (dogs included). The street would be so crowded that you had to keep the pace of the slow walking because you could not get through the crowd otherwise. I fell in love with this ritual – of spending time as a family or with friends catching up and having a nightly stroll.

On my walks to work early in the morning, I would notice people at the local café enjoying a cappuccino and brioche, not hurriedly ordering a coffee to-go and walking down the street with it in hand. Take away food and drinks were frowned upon, why not sit, and take the time to enjoy your meal?

During the past couple of months in quarantine we have had a lot of time on our hands. Albeit, and I admit, a lot of this time has not been productive. There has been a lot of watching Netflix, eating snacks, and motivating myself to exercise. BUT there has also been a ton of slow living. This time has reminded me so much of my time in Italy. I see people enjoying the most simple of moments each day, cooking at home more than ever before, taking walks with family each day (passeggiatas), and sitting down to deliberately eat meals as a family. Did we need this slow down? Instead of feeling bored should we be feeling relieved of being hurried all the time? I wish that a vaccination for the virus will be successful soon. I also wish that this is a wake-up call for our society. There’s more satisfaction in baking you own bread, there’s more fulfillment in taking a walk in the evening versus sitting in rush hour traffic, there’s satisfaction in living slowly. So much that a whole country has been doing it for years and years….