Living the slow life in the city

14 05 2012

I agree with you when you say that I have a Type-A personality. I am in constant motion, in constant movement. I hide it well, under the facade of yoga and meditation, but I am on the go for 18 hours a day, straight through, every day, even on weekends. Eventually the system breaks down and cries out for rest, which is what happened when I got an infection last week. Any illness or sickness in general means the system’s run down, as the immune system is not up to par.

I was thinking on my way to the office today – what about the slow movement? Why hasn’t it pervaded any of my friends’ circles? Is it because we are the generation of Internet and fast food, and iPhones and High definition? We are moving fast, and faster everyday.

Is it possible to live the slow life in a big city? Or do we have to move to a farm outside cities, and give up everything in order to live a slow life? That’s a question that I really want to answer.

I know it doesn’t seem like an important question to some, but to me, it is THE question to answer right now. I am living a fast life, but I believe, I really, truly believe, it is possible to live a slow life in a big city. How do we do that? Some suggestions are below, but if you have any more, please add them into the comments section.

1. Give up your car. Just having a car means you want to get to places faster. Taking the bus, biking or walking slows things down significantly.

2. To follow giving up your car, you have to live close to your work. Walking or biking just doesn’t work, when your commute by car itself is an hour long.

3. Reduce your wants – that means you are not spending a lot of time working in order to pay off your bills. You are using your time to live, instead of living to pay off bills, for things you do not have time to use.

4. Slow food – cooking a meal and sitting down to slowly savor it is in my opinion one of the best ways to live in the moment.

What else?

 


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Categories : Life

Need for speed

16 05 2011

Yesterday, standing in the pouring rain, no ballads or love songs poured forth from my lips. Instead, all I could think of was, ‘I wish I had a car. I wish I still had my car. I wish I had any car. I wish I had a car.’ The rain had soaked my ballet flats, totally inappropriate footwear for the rain. My dress wasn’t soaked, but it was cold in it. I was cold, hungry, in the middle of nowhere, at a bus stop, waiting for a bus that never seemed to come. I was miserable and suddenly, doing good for the environment seemed a tad bit too much. I felt put upon and I wanted luxury. I wanted a big ass car with heated seats, and a glorious heater, which would warm my frozen feet and head. I wanted to loot from Mother Nature hundreds of metals and petroleum, so I could build myself a glorious machine which would take me from point A to point B, without any contact with the dangerous elements of Canada.

Of course, most days when the weather is cold, but acceptable, I am fine with my fate of taking the bus. Only on days when I dress inappropriately for the weather, and then get stuck in the middle of the night with no transport, do I curse the fates.

I guess environmentalism in my world only goes as far as I am comfortable and warm. :(


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Clothing swap

21 03 2011

I am really, really excited about a new event that I am attending and possibly volunteering at. It is the biggest clothing swap in Toronto, in April, Take off your clothes. This is something I have been looking to do for a while, but no one ever seemed interested in wearing their friend’s throwoffs. Now, I can finally go to an event, and get a whole new wardrobe, or at least some good new pieces, without spending a penny. It benefits the environment, my wallet, and the other person. Everyone wins. This is one of those few situations where that is a possibility. I love it!

I have emailed the organizers to let me help. They are doing such a great thing, I want to be involved in it. Helping people save money and the environment, is something that is always at the top of my list. It makes my heart sing to think of all of those clothes that will be diverted from landfills, that will not be bought from companies that make their clothes in poor conditions from poor labourers in poor countries, and that will be treasured even more because they were fought over by several fashionistas. Environmentally-friendly fashionistas.

This makes me additionally happy, because it proves that you can wear nice clothes, you can be a fashionista, and still be environmentally-friendly. I was beginning to think that the two of them were mutually exclusive. Please go to their website and check out their events. They have them in a few major cities, so they might have one in yours. Go to it, and give some of your clothes that are just sitting there taking up space to someone who will enjoy it for a few more wears before bringing it back to the swap and giving it to someone else. I love it!

The possibilities indeed are endless.


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Categories : Life, Money

Waste of water!

14 08 2009

I hate it, I am going to warn you before you start reading this, I’m really pissed. I can’t believe the blatant waste of water, that is going on outside my building right now. It just makes me want to punch something, me, a person who is normally totally non-violent wants to punch something. The irrigation sprinklers are on and the water is just running off into the sewers, as if we have all the water to waste in the world. Why? Why are they doing this? As if its not enough that they have these sprinklers on in the middle of the day when the water is just going to evaporate away anyways, and as if it isn’t enough that there has been enough rain in the last few days, for the grass to be green for the rest of the century. Why are the stupid sprinklers on! Whoever I chat to about it, they say, its on a timer, its on a bloody timer, and the timer runs for apparently 3 hours. Arrghhhh!

It really makes me so sad, I could cry with frustration. Its not as if I could just go and turn off the stupid thing, its on a timer, thats behind a lock and key system. At least, I know that all of this anger is making so hot that I will not be complaining about the cold at least.

Anyway, hopefully these stupid people realize that water is being wasted and do something about it!


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Location, location, location

21 07 2009

If you have been reading my blog, you know that I have been biking for the past few weeks. Trying to do my part for the environment and my wallet, instead of spending $200 a month on gas, I save that money. I have noticed a shift in my thinking patterns in the past few weeks. Ever since I have decided to tramp half way across the world, I have noticed, that going 50 miles north or west in my city, doesn’t seem like such a big deal to me. I am going to be travelling 10,000 kms to Australia soon and then travelling around Asia, or at least thats the plan. If I am planning to do all that, going around a little part of my city, a little part of the Earth, doesn’t seem like such a big deal to me.

Before, even going downtown, would have seemed like such a big deal, its so far away, it takes an hour to get there. Now, it seems like its around the corner to my different mindset.

Nights have taken on a whole new meaning to me as well. Before I would be afraid of being out at night, I had to be home by a certain time. I was afraid of the dangers that the night presented in my head, probably a by-product of my parents’ teaching. But now I know that I will be travelling at night often in strange cities, and I have already gotten used to that fact. I know this city of mine, so I do not worry about being out late at night, without any transportation or money. I know everything will be fine, and everything will work out for the best. Just have to be alert and in tune with my environment.

In addition, time itself has changed in my mind. Because I know that I will have so much time to myself, not working, and just travelling, time has taken on a whole new meaning to me. I dont worry about time passing, I dont worry about not using every second of the day as much as possible. I dont panic about not going dancing one weekend. I know that in the next year, I will have lots of moments to enjoy, to dance, to be on my own, I will be able to do what I want. Every day will be a Saturday and thus, weekends are changing their ways as well. I do not worry about packing as much as possible into the weekends, because the weekdays are going to be hard to do stuff in, with work. I know that I have a whole year full of weekends, or more coming up and I don’t need to worry about that.

I love how my mindset is changing in so many different ways, just because I have decided to go. I haven’t even left yet, I can’t imagine how I am going to change when I actually go on this trip.


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