Good morning, everyone 🌞 welcome to The Sunday Slowdown — your weekly invitation to pause and recalibrate for the week ahead with a collection of inspiration, prompts, recipes, and approachable practices to live well, one day at at time.
Does anyone else feel a bit uncomfy with the passage of time, sometimes?
For example:
you wake up and thing “wtf, how is it May already?”
sometimes it hits you that the collective trauma of 2020 was SIX years ago and it seems impossible
or, perhaps you have a M-F job. It’s fine most of the time—but you’re simultaneously aware that each day can start to feel exactly the same and you sometimes feel the cycle of looking forward to weekends and dreading Mondays
To be honest, all of these are me sometimes.
I’m certainly not writing this as someone who has all of the answers or an in depth how-to on not feeling this way (I actually think it’s normal to feel this sometimes), but more as an open exploration of the delicate dance between routine and novelty—of being immersed in life and not letting it fly by without noticing and redirecting ourselves as needed.
We can’t slow the passage of time, but I do think we can purposefully create a life that feels more meaningful along the way (and less like a blur of big screens, little screens, and watching life happen for other people).
I suspect and know from experience that it also helps to add whimsy, gratitude, novelty, mindfulness, and connection.
There’s way more to explore on this topic, but for now, an invite to slow down and explore this week:
How do you feel about the passage of time in your life?
Can you think of periods of your life that flew by, and of some that felt a bit slower or full of memories and milestones? What was the difference in your lifestyle and routines between those two?
Look ahead at your week and incorporate one instance of novelty, whimsy, opportunity for mindfulness, or connection. Maybe it’s taking your morning coffee to the nearby park instead of scrolling on the couch, walking with a friend, or breaking out the watercolor set collecting dust in a drawer somewhere.
A special note, too, that if you’ve been feeling the weeks and months fly by this year so far—I’ll be sharing my favorite monthly journaling prompts here on Substack soon. They’re what I use to pause, reflect, and redirect.
Here on the East Coast of the U.S. we’ve slipped back in to some lovely cool spring weather, so it’s had me craving bright and fresh dishes that are still cozy:
In a soup pot, sauté some onions or shallots until translucent. Add fresh ginger and garlic for 1-2 minutes, then your desired amount of curry paste (red or yellow works great—I usually start with about 2tbsp). Toast the curry paste until it’s fragrant, then add one can of full fat coconut milk, followed by your go-to broth or stock*.
Simmer, covered, for around 10-15 minutes to let the flavors mix and mingle. Taste and adjust as needed—you may want a splash of lime juice for acidity, salt, pepper, or more spice depending on your broth.
If you’re serving this up right away, you can throw in noodles and veggies to simmer and become tender. If you’re planning on having any amount leftover, I would recommend cooking your noodles separately as needed, and even pouring this over some air fried tofu + noodles.
When adding veggies to the pot, use what you have and like—peppers, napa cabbage, broccoli, carrots, etc.—simmering until they’re your desired tenderness.
*a broth note: I like to make my own veggie broth using scraps that I’ve saved over time in the freezer for recipes like this—it’s a good way to reduce food waste and the payoff is big in terms of nutrients and flavor.
Slowly & surely,
Mb
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