The Joy of a Slow, Soft Day

Dreaming a little dream.

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Hello! :) I’m Nospheratt, and this is Joy Every Week - a weekly quest to find joy in everyday things.

I need a slow day. A soft day.

Wake up a little later. Stay in bed a little longer, reading. Get up without hurry. Pausing to feel the bedside rug under my toes.

Brush, wash, moisturize, with patience. Look myself in the mirror and smile.

Extra care to prepare the mate.

Another pause, on my way to my office corner, to appreciate my couch, so cozy with the red throw pillows and the striped blanket. The plants and the photos. It’s my favorite corner in the apartment.

Take a few minutes for journaling. Update the One List a Day journal. Read, connect, take a breath. Follow the rabbit holes without guilt, have fun with the distractions.

Write for the pleasure of it. Essay, poetry, fanfic — whatever feels joyful.

The rest of the day, what could it be? Curling up on the couch with a book. Coloring — and allowing myself to be bad at it. Watching the trees dance in the wind, listening to the magpies and the whispers of the rain.

A nap after a late lunch.

Tea in the afternoon. A hot shower to close the day early. Snuggle under a blanket to watch a movie. Go to bed and read until I fall asleep.

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Reality is quite different, of course.

There’s work to be done, laundry to take care of, food to be cooked. Groceries to shop and emails to be answered. Insomnia and anxiety lurking at the corners.

But I can dream of a slow day.

And maybe, maybe, find the courage to plan for a day like this. Add it to the calendar and see what happens.

Maybe.

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This Week’s Quest - The Joy Of Slow Days

Ideas & inspiration to find your joy.

1 - What does a slow day looks like to you?

I wrote what an ideal, peaceful, cozy day would be — for me. What are the things you would enjoy the most if you had a day of no commitments, no pressure, no responsibilities?

2 - If you can, schedule it.

I truly get how hard it is to even think about “stealing” a day for yourself. It feels like a transgression, it feels selfish. Like something that I don’t deserve, haven’t earned, and will certainly deserve punishment for if it happens.

I truly think not only we deserve slow days, we need them.

To recharge, to reset, to find energy and courage to keep going.

So, if you can, fucking schedule it.

3 - If you can’t….

Think about adding some elements of your slow day to your everyday (or every week, or whenever possible).

Maybe a slow start of the day. Maybe slowing down in the evening, after you close work or arrive home. Maybe a slow, quiet Saturday now and then.

Every little bit of joy and rest you can add to your life makes everything better. Every little bit counts, even if it’s 10 minutes of doing nothing but drinking coffee and looking outside your window every morning.

It counts. It helps.

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📚Reads

➡️ Winter squash, bulb onions, and carrots

gardening to cure a homeless heart

But trouble gets hungry, too, and the world needs our appetite so that it remembers to grow for us. All these rituals of autumn are a celebration of success and failure for another year, another larder, another full pantry. This unfathomable wealth is still out of reach for that hungry thing I once was, and I think of that version of myself every autumn when I count the winter squash and dry the shelling beans. And for them I leave the garden gate open, the carrots vulnerable. For them I don’t rush to harvest all the ripe peppers. For them I will celebrate the cold days, the decay, the warmth of fires I will build, the comfort of tea made with my own hops and chamomile.

My favorite writing about fall this year. Beautiful, sharp, full of hope.

➡️ Mondays are always slow

I never get as much done as I’d hoped. The day flies by faster than expected. It happens so often I have a mantra now:

Mondays are always slow.

I’m trying to shed the guilt and self-blame I feel about this. I’m trying to embrace my slow Mondays for what they are — a necessary part of my weekly rhythm. I’ve always worked like this. I will probably always work like this. And that’s okay.

Another way to look at a slow day.

➡️ How to Create a Slow Morning Routine for Quiet Days

I’m not here to tell you how to live your life, your morning routine should be completely tailored to you. So let’s just ignore all the advice telling you to meditate or make drip-filtered coffee and let’s create something that’s yours.

Below are four questions to answer before you start your slow morning. These would ideally be thought about the day before so that you can make the most of it.

• What will you prioritise?

• When will you wake up?

• What aspects of your morning do you want to do slowly?

• Is there one thing you’d like to do that you usually don’t have time for on busy days?

➡️ How to take a “Slow Day”

The benefits of an extended break- in a single day.

So I planned a Slow Day. Sort of like a Sick Day but not sick. Sort of like a Snow Day but doesn’t require flurries. A day that would have no appointments, no requirements, no deadlines. A day where no one counted on me for anything. A day where I didn’t have a list of things I would try to get to the end of. But importantly not a lazy day. Not a sit on the couch with a Ball Jar of Skittles day.

A day where everything was just: slow.

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🎥 Watch

I’ve been thinking a lot about disconnecting and offline days lately. Today I saw this —video and I want to do it so, so badly. It feels to me like the ultimate luxury — no internet, no screens, no social media. Just nature and the quiet.

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That’s It For Today!

Thank you for being here. I appreciate you so much! 😊 I’m still fighting to find time to answer all your lovely comments, but in the meantime, please know that I read and cherish each and every one of them. 🧡

Coming up in the next few weeks (in no particular order):

• How to create a joy box, and what the hell is that

• The joys of physical media

• Letting go can be joyful

• Emergency joy kit for election week

Don’t want to miss it?

Until next time. —Nospheratt