How to Slow Down Life – Nordic Simplicity and Rural Traditions + VIDEO

Lately, things have been moving pretty fast for me—in a good way, of course. But we all know that even good things can’t be rushed too much, or they’ll backfire. Maybe that sounds a bit dramatic, but still. As they used to say when we were kids, "Too much fun always ends in tears" (at least in Finland, this is something often said to children).

Luckily, I’m not at that point yet. One nice thing about being an adult is that you can reflect on how you're feeling and how fast you're moving—you don’t have to push yourself to the breaking point. At least not always.

But I’ve been close to the point where I know I need to slow down. Why?

My everyday life revolves around a few key things. I still have a “normal,” full-time day job—yes, a real one. Every now and then, someone in the comments section of my videos feels the need to shout, “Get a real job like the rest of us, girl!” Yeah… I have no idea what they’re trying to accomplish with that, but I guess freedom of speech on the internet includes this kind of thing too. Sigh.

Anyway, I do have a “real” job—one I studied for a long time to get, and one that I genuinely enjoy every single day.

On top of that, what started as a hobby—blogging and photography—has now, at least in the eyes of the authorities, turned into an actual business, complete with tax filings, VAT, insurance, and all the other delightful paperwork that comes with it.

Thankfully, I recently had the brilliant idea of hiring an accountant (seriously, the best decision ever!), which has made my life so much easier. Now, I don’t have to struggle with numbers (which, for the record, is not my strong suit) or personally notify every government agency about my global business empire.

I’m still trying to figure out when entrepreneurs actually get to enjoy this so-called “real” entrepreneurship. So far, it mostly seems to involve an endless stream of paperwork and invoices—but maybe that day will come.

This so-called business of mine (because I’m still wrapping my head around the whole entrepreneur thing…) now includes not just writing, but also photography and selling prints of my work. Then there’s planning, filming, editing, and everything else that goes into making videos.

And because apparently, I didn’t think that was quite enough, I’ve also started designing and selling knitting patterns.

All of this sounds absolutely amazing (okay—let’s be real, it is amazing), but it takes about five million times more time than I naïvely imagined.

On top of these two “main jobs,” we also live in an old log house—which, as you probably already know, is basically another full-time job. Keeping it warm and sorting out firewood have been, if not exactly major headaches this winter, then at least fun little puzzles that have taken up a fair share of extra time.

And now, after nearly two years of living here, it’s becoming clear that, yes—when you own an old house, you will have to start fixing and renovating things.

But just so this doesn’t sound too pessimistic—honestly, all of this is so incredibly fun and engaging that I can hardly believe it! I genuinely enjoy (almost) every single moment of it.

And that, right there, has been the core of the problem.

When I start creating or working on something—knitting, photography, filming, writing, baking, anything—I throw myself into it completely. I lose all sense of time, barely noticing anything until hours later when I suddenly realize I haven’t eaten, rested, or even paused for a moment. And if this keeps happening day after day… well, even I can do that kind of math—it’s not a sustainable equation.

So, I’ve had to make a conscious effort to slow down.

Since I don’t want to (at least for now) give up any of these parts of my life, I had to figure out a way to keep them all in my daily routine without completely burning out.

I’ll share more about this in my video—along with some glimpses of my crafts, baking, nature, and even a bit of traditional basket weaving!

🖤 Sanna