Our life away from the U.S. for the past two years has held many similarities to our life in the USA. We still love watching Netflix in the evenings, connecting with our friends, and drinking a really good cup of coffee. Our life has also been full of contrasts, from the slow, rhythmic pace of our live in Dar es Salaam to our more bohemian life on the road these last ten months. And while we are bringing our physical bodies home to live in the faster pace of life in the States, we want to carry with us some of the practices we have picked up along the way.

Months ago Jason started a document called ‘Slow Living’ to capture his burgeoning ideas. Because he doesn’t spend as much time on Instagram as I did, he didn’t know that Slow Living is a bit of a thing already. These are our ideas for how we want to live slower. They are, of course, aspirational. And will require the remolding of a lot of old habits into new ones. The ultimate objective, beyond the line items, is to create a life that is is more focused on being present.

Feel free to ask us how we are doing on these goals over time, or share your own strategies for living a more peaceful life in the present.

Community Life

• Work where we live
• Limit community engagements to one at a time (community choir, political campaigns, neighborhood associations, etc.)
• Re-imagine/extend the acceptable minimum distance to walk somewhere, and leave time to do so
• Support businesses owned by people of color and immigrants (which means know who owns what)
• Question each Amazon purchase and accept paying a few dollars more to buy local, from small businesses
• Consider our neighbors and their needs, and host/organize a block party each year
• Try to purchase clothes, furniture, products etc. that are good for the environment and the people who consume them, as well as for the people who make them

Home Life

• Meditate daily in the morning (Jason) and do yoga most days (Olivia)
• Leave time for coffee and the newspaper in the morning
• Put the phone away from the bed, preferably in a different room
• Move the TV out of the living room and into the basement
• Turn off notifications on the phone for everything but text messages and essential notifications
• Keep our common spaces (and house) clutter free
• Read in bed every night and maintain a culture of reading books in the house
• Watch Netflix outside the bedroom  😉
• Prioritize 8 hours of sleep each night
• Buy used cars as infrequently as possible
• Keep our guest room available for anyone who might be in need of a place to stay, sleep, or even nap

Food Life

• Meal and week plan on Sundays
• Walk to the grocery store once per week for major shopping
• Prioritize restaurants within walking distance
• Eat vegan as much as possible
• Cook a new recipe once each week together

Travel  and Learning Life

• Begin to see the US as a travel destination, and take the train
• Buy a subscription to one newspaper and magazine
• Speak Spanish with someone every week, face to face
• Do yoga in the community 3 times per week
• Get away every 3 months for the weekend to reflect on our priorities and values together without internet (work commitments, invisible labor distribution, next 3 month/1 year goals, etc.)