The Art of Slowing Down

lifestyleanalogmindfulnesspersonal

An Era of Convenience

In a world filled with convenient technology and services, I find myself seldom taking the time to slow down. There's always more content to consume: books to read, shows to watch, feeds to scroll... the list goes on.

But, what's even scarier is the fact that I don't notice that I am going at speed. Convenience is so built into our everyday routines and surroundings that it's actually harder not to choose the convenient path.

Resurgence of Analog

Yet, I've been seeing a surge of people online (yes, the irony is not lost on me) that are going back to the "old ways" of doing things. People buying vinyls, taking physical photos on Polaroid cameras, writing with fountain pens -- it's the resurgence of analog.

I see this trend especially in the younger generations -- myself included; a shift in the generations that never had the "analog" technology.

As a 2000s baby, I can kind of say that my toddler years were still a little analog. My parents were playing VHS tapes and CDs for me as they created physical photo albums of my development. But as long as I have been... conscious? Had memory? The digital world has been a big part of everyday life. So I am fascinated by that "analog" technology.

What Analog Means to Me

I love tech and gadgets -- I will always be fascinated by the latest and newest things. But I'm finding that there is a lot of beauty in the analog things of the world.

It's inconvenient most of the time -- you need a record player to play music, you can't retake photos as easily, you need to wait for the ink to dry -- but it forces me to slow down in a world that demands me to be active all the time. There's beauty to that; There's something special about being present in the moment.

I am well aware that the deeper problem here is that I cannot slow down without a "reason" or spark. But that's something that'll take a lot of time to unpack and rewire. So in the time being, I'm going to enjoy the few extra seconds it takes for my journal entries to dry.

Thanks for reading. See you next week!