Slowlife

Whenever you ask someone where they want to live, the usual answer is a bustling city filled with shops and good opportunities. Everything is at hand, you don’t need to travel far and getting around via public transport is easy. This sounds very nice, but I’ve honestly never truly shared this sentiment.

Big cities have their uses, but frankly, if it weren’t for the lack of jobs outside of these locations, I’m fairly certain a lot more people would move outwards to less populated areas. While I too have grown up in one of said “Big Cities”, it was still in an area that was somewhat removed from all the action, essentially making it seem like you were living in a satellite town. Sure you had the same facilities available to you as like a capital, but it was less crowded and you could actually find some greener areas nearby.

In a way some would call it a perfect mix, but you still had to deal with annoying problems, such as a heavily condensed living space, loud environment and a generally distant public. Let alone problematic folk who were loitering around day at night, making you question the sanity of the average person. Especially yours, considering you were “fine” being close neighbors to some, even accepting the fact that from time to time, they were beating the heating pipes all night long with a wrench and screaming like madmen, eventually setting themselves on fire somehow. Multiple times.

Yeah, no thanks, I’ve had enough of that.

When I was young, I had the opportunity to visit friends, family and acquaintances living in the outskirts and it’s literally a completely different world out there. People are more relaxed, not chasing after time all the time, easier to talk to and in general more friendly. We’re talking clichés here, but honestly, walking around on a dirt road, meeting a random elderly couple can easily lead to some chit-chat, where as you try to do that at the main road of a city, most of the time people will either ignore you, or ask you if you’re mental for trying to talk to strangers. Somehow City Slickers are more self absorbed and harder to get along with, it’s very hard to get to know them at all, even if you try. Yet you can practically strike up a conversation with anyone in a village, because they’re more welcoming, and well, in a way live a calmer life.

Part of it is their mentality, but also because of their surroundings. Connections are more easily formed in smaller groups and in places where no one is hurrying towards their own demise. There’s less value to collectible assets and more towards nature, while still appreciating and caring about what one has. Yes, there’s problems, it’s not as if I’m thinking about such with rose tinted glasses, but I’d much rather deal with the one’s that come up in a village than in a city.

I’m fairly aware that I’m also somewhat idolizing a lifestyle, but I don’t think anyone can blame me for wanting to have a more chill environment to live in. Truth be told, I’m at a point where city life just annoys me, and in a way I even find it repulsive. It’s weird how “country life” is looked down upon, yet it’s better for your health in more than one way, and the toxicity of a city is “perfectly normal”.

Media used to also have this problem or normalizing such, but lately I’ve noticed an increase of more laid back material becoming available. It’s probably because more and more people are coming to appreciate the “Slow Life” aspect of living, realizing there’s absolutely no point in rushing things. The “Simple Life” movement is also somewhat part of this, focusing on a barebones, albeit not neglectful way of life. Both of these are easier followed in an environment that actually endorses this type of thinking, which leads to some longing for and eventually moving to the countryside.

Imagine going on a hike in the nearby forest on your day off. As you listen to the singing birds, you dip your feet into the flowing river, enjoying the tickling sensation between your toes. A lone deer walks by, stopping only briefly to quench it’s thirst. The gently blowing wind caresses your cheeks as the sun moves closer to the west. You have not a single care in the world. You’re perfectly relaxed. You doze off.

Now image the same, but in a city. You can’t, as your thoughts are being filled the endless amount of noise, coming from the bus stop, the people stuck in traffic, the screaming homeless arguing with junkies. You go home instead, shutting doors and windows, closing your blinds, hoping you can get away from it all. But you can’t. The guy across the floor is beating his wife with a rolling pin, while their child screams for the police. You start getting a headache, take some painkillers, lie down on your sofa, and fall asleep to the approaching sirens. A few hours in, you wake up covered in sweat, hearing the smoke alarm go off. Big commotion outside, there’s a fire, but you’re too tired to care. You try and go back to sleep. You don’t care what happens anymore, you just want some peace and quiet. But you’ll never get it. Not in a million years. You’ll never be truly rested. Why? Because you live in a city. And the city never sleeps.