21 Ideas for Slow Living in the Fall + Winter Season.

These are my top 21 ideas for slow living in the fall and winter months when the weather is usually colder and life can be a bit more hectic. I hope you can try a few of these ideas and enjoy some peace in this season.

Before we get to my list of 21 low living ideas for the fall and winter,

What is Slow Living?

That’s a great question and a wonderful place to start. For me, Slow Living means doing life at my own pace.

It’s about savoring the day before me, not comparing myself to others and flys in the face of our culture’s obsession with busyness. It means living in connection with the people around me and with the natural world around me. It means living intentionally and enjoying simple, natural, organic, things more mindfully. It’s said that the slow living movement began in Italy with the slow food movement, which emphasizes traditional, handmade food production techniques in response to the emergence of fast food. I kinda love that.

Much like minimalism, I think we can each craft our own definition to what exactly slow living is and what it looks like in the everyday practice of our unique lives.

Instagram can make it seem like you can’t possibly take part in slow living if you don’t wear all linen everything and own beautiful wooden cleaning supplies that hang on vintage hooks against white washed walls in your pristinely quiet irish cottage. But that’s not true. The temptation to make life look a certain way by buying a bunch of stuff you don’t need (or want) is the very comparison trap slow living is supposed to free us from!

The truth is, we each get one wild and beautiful life and you get to spend it however you decide to. I’ll give you one last little affirmation, It doesn’t matter how it looks or what everyone else is doing or what anyone thinks of your life. You are free to live life at your pace in your lane.

Why do the holidays have to be hectic?

For the past year I’ve taken a few moments at the turn of each season to list out some simple things I’d like to spend my time doing. That way, when I’m planning out my week I can flip to my list and see where I can incorporate them into my days. It’s a simple practice that rewards me with less stress and more balance. Planning doesn’t have to just mean scouring over obligations and to-do lists, it can be life-giving too! So here it is! Here’s my list so you can jot down ideas that sound fun and relaxing to you!

21 Ideas for Slow Living in the Fall + Winter Season.

1. Hot Cups of Tea on the porch.
2. Transition capsule wardrobes for colder weather.
3. Big crackling beach bonfires with friends.
4. Go thrifting for big fuzzy warm sweaters.
5. Open the windows and feel the cool breeze.
6. Meal prep seasonal food like winter squash, root vegetables and warm soup.
7. Make hot chocolate and go for a fall foliage drive.
8. Bake bread and enjoy the smell of fresh-baked bread in the house all day.
9. Take Mallory on a rainy day hike and let her get as muddy as possible.
10. Forage for fall flowers and stems and make seasonal arrangements.
11. Make homemade salt dough Christmas ornaments.
12. Tend my fall garden. (and sprouts!)
13. Spend a weekend in the mountains when it snows.
14. Make hot chocolate and drive around to look at Christmas lights.
15. Bake Vegan pies and cookies.
16. Decorate for Christmas while listening to cozy tunes.
17. Light a candle and read a book under a cozy blanket.
18. Host a Christmas party with good friends.
19. Go to a Christmas Tree Farm.
20. Make cider in the instant pot.
21. Play cozy Chritmas tunes all day! (Listen to my cozy instrumental playlist here on spotify)

“You would think the year was resting too, it’s work done and I whispered to myself that, I too, would begin to rest.”

— c.s. lewis, till we have faces

Some of these things likely sound more like a chore to you than life that’s truly life and so I hereby invite you to take what you like and leave what you don’t. Here’s to leaving room for more wonder this season.

What are some of your favorite fall + winter seasonal traditions? What helps you to slow down and savor this time of year?

Thanks so much for stopping by the blog, I hope it was time well spent.