The Art of Slowing Down

When was the last time you gave yourself permission to move at half-speed?

If you’re anything like me - and so many women I know - your days fill up faster than you’d like to admit. Work, family, errands, volunteering, “self-care” squeezed into the edges… and before long, the week is gone, leaving you wondering where all your energy went.

Slowness feels impossible. But I’ve learned in my own life that:

Slowing down isn’t wasted time. It’s how we create space for what matters most.

I shared a bit in my blog post, “Rest as Resistance”, but in my home studio, there’s no way to rush. A linocut takes hours of carving line by line. A ceramic cup is built slowly, slab by slab and letter by letter. That pace, the steady rhythm of hands moving with intention, has become its own reminder: slowing down is a strength. It’s a muscle you build over time.

I’ve made my process slow by design. And it’s made all the difference in the world.

So I sat down to write you this reminder:

You don’t have to keep up with the pace this culture demands.

You can choose to move differently. You can practice small, everyday pauses in your own life. You can schedule tiny acts of slowness to remind yourself that you’re not at the mercy of hurry.

3 simple ways to slow down this week:

1. Trade multitasking for monotasking

Pick one task, set a timer, and let yourself do only that. Wash the dishes without the podcast. Answer emails without your phone buzzing nearby. You’ll be surprised at how much calmer and more focused you feel.

2. Build in a pause

Between your morning coffee and your to-do list, give yourself five minutes of stillness. Breathe. Step outside. Stretch. That pause becomes a reset button. It’s tiny, but it’s powerful.

3. Add a slow ritual to your daily life

Find one daily act you can slow down on purpose: journaling, watering the plants, reading a chapter before bed. Then, guard it fiercely. It doesn’t need to take long. What matters is that it anchors you in rest.

Slowness isn’t about doing less. It’s about giving yourself space to be present—to live at a pace that makes joy and meaning possible.

That’s what I want my art to remind you of, too. Every print and ceramic piece I’m creating for my next collection (coming in November) is made slowly and intentionally, to carry words of rest and resistance into your daily life.

If you’d like to read more on this topic, I highly recommend Slow Productivity by Cal Newport*. I’m on my 3rd read-through, and it gets better every time!

And so, as we step slowly towards a season that pulls us in a hundred different directions:

May you find joy in moving slowly.
May your pauses become sources of great strength.
And may your life be rooted not in hurry,
but in the quiet power of rest.

With love,

Sarah K

PS - I’d love to share the new work that’s growing out of this season of intentional rest. Make sure you’re on my email list so you don’t miss it.

*This post contains an affiliate link to my favorite online store, Bookshop.org