I Moved From a Busy City to a Small Town — Here’s What Slow Living Taught Me
I grew up surrounded by noise, crowds, convenience and everything I could possibly need. Then I moved to a small town in Kerala — and suddenly, even getting something delivered felt like a task.
At first, I hated it.
Now, I sometimes wonder if this is the kind of life I didn’t know I needed.
Maybe that’s why so many people today are craving a slower life.
Not because they want to give up their ambitions, careers, comfort or dreams.
But because somewhere between constantly rushing, constantly scrolling, constantly working and constantly being available, we forgot what it feels like to simply be.
And I didn’t really understand that until I experienced both sides.
I Grew Up in a CITY— Where Everything Was Within Reach
I was born and brought up in Lucknow.
For me, city life was normal.
Lucknow is a metropolitan city, and while it has its peaceful corners, my everyday life was surrounded by people, traffic, shops, restaurants, noise and constant movement.
If I wanted something, I could usually get it.
Need groceries?
There were shops everywhere.
Want food?
Restaurants and delivery apps were readily available.
Need something urgently?
There were plenty of options.
Want to go somewhere?
There was always transportation.
Want to meet people?
There were always people around.
Even simple things were convenient.
And because I grew up with this convenience, I never really thought about it.
I considered it normal life.
I had a good childhood and a comfortable life.
Things were accessible.
There was always something happening.
There was always somewhere to go.
And there was always someone around.
I never thought of myself as someone who would enjoy a quiet, slow life.
In fact, I thought I would probably get bored.
Then I got married.
And my life changed in a way I wasn’t expecting.
From Lucknow to Pathanamthitta
After marriage, I moved to Kerala.
More specifically, to Pathanamthitta, a town very different from the environment I had grown up in.
And my first reaction?
“Where is everyone?”
😂
There wasn’t the same crowd I was used to.
There wasn’t constant traffic and honking outside.
There wasn’t noise everywhere.
There weren’t endless shops and restaurants around every corner.
And then came the biggest shock:
Rapido wasn’t readily available.
Neither was Blinkit.
And suddenly, the things I had considered completely normal parts of life weren’t easily accessible anymore.
If I wanted something, I couldn’t just open an app and expect it to arrive.
If I wanted to go somewhere, I had to actually plan it.
If I needed something from a shop, I couldn’t always expect a store to be five minutes away.
If I wanted to meet people, there weren’t thousands of people constantly moving around me.
It was…
quiet.
Very quiet.
And initially, that quiet didn’t feel peaceful.
It felt inconvenient.
I Missed the Convenience
I think we often romanticize slow living from a distance.
We see pictures of a beautiful little house surrounded by greenery.
A cup of tea by the window.
A book.
Soft sunlight.
No traffic.
No noise.
And we think:
“This is the life I want.”
But when you actually move from a busy city to a slower place, you realize that slow living comes with a few inconveniences too.
There are things you can’t get instantly.
There are fewer choices.
You sometimes have to wait.
You have to plan ahead.
You may need to travel farther for certain things.
And sometimes you genuinely miss the convenience of city life.
I did.
There were days when I would think:
“Why can’t I just order this?”
“Why isn’t there a store nearby?”
“Why does everything require planning?”
I missed Lucknow.
I missed the accessibility.
I missed the choices.
I missed the feeling that everything was just a few minutes away.
But something else was happening at the same time.
Something I didn’t notice immediately.
I Was Becoming More Comfortable With Silence
Slowly, the quiet started feeling different.
I began noticing things that I had been too busy to notice before.
The sound of birds in the morning.
The greenery around me.
The sky.
The rain.
The sound of wind.
The fact that I could sit outside without constantly hearing traffic.
There wasn’t always something happening.
And eventually, I realized:
Maybe nothing happening isn’t a bad thing.
Maybe we have become so accustomed to stimulation that silence feels uncomfortable.
We reach for our phones when we’re bored.
We put something on in the background when we’re alone.
We scroll while eating.
We listen to something while walking.
We check notifications while waiting.
We’re almost always consuming something.
And when everything suddenly becomes quiet, we don’t always know what to do with ourselves.
I had to learn that.
What Is Slow Living, Really?
Slow living doesn’t necessarily mean moving to a village, quitting your job, growing your own vegetables and spending your days reading books.
That’s one version of it.
But I think slow living is much simpler.
It’s about not treating every moment like something you need to rush through.
It’s having breakfast without simultaneously scrolling through your phone.
It’s drinking your tea without checking five notifications.
It’s taking a walk without feeling like you need to turn it into a workout.
It’s cooking because you enjoy cooking, not because you’re trying to become a perfect homemaker.
It’s reading a book without thinking about how many pages you need to finish.
It’s sitting with your family without checking your phone every few minutes.
It’s allowing yourself to have an ordinary day.
And perhaps most importantly:
It’s understanding that not everything needs to happen immediately.
Why Are We Craving a Slower Life?
I think part of the reason is simple.
We’re tired.
Not necessarily physically tired.
Mentally tired.
We live in a world where we’re constantly reachable.
Messages arrive at every hour.
Emails wait for us.
Social media never ends.
There is always another video.
Another notification.
Another trend.
Another thing we should be doing.
Another person to compare ourselves with.
Another achievement we’re supposed to chase.
Even our free time has become productive.
We want to exercise.
Read.
Learn a skill.
Build a side hustle.
Travel.
Create content.
Improve ourselves.
Maintain relationships.
And somehow we’re expected to do all of it while looking happy and put together.
No wonder people are craving slower lives.
Sometimes, we don’t want more.
We just want enough.
The Difference Between Convenience and Peace
My move to Kerala taught me something I had never really considered before:
Convenience and peace aren’t the same thing.
Lucknow gave me convenience.
Kerala gave me something different.
It gave me space.
Space to slow down.
Space to notice.
Space to wait.
Space to spend time with myself.
And I’m not saying one is better than the other.
I still appreciate city life.
I still love being able to order something quickly.
I still appreciate having restaurants, shops, transportation and everything nearby.
There are genuinely wonderful things about city living.
But now I understand that convenience comes with its own kind of speed.
When everything is available immediately, we start expecting everything to happen immediately.
And when everything is moving quickly around us, we start moving quickly too.
Slowing Down Changed the Way I Experience Ordinary Days
One of the biggest changes I’ve noticed is that ordinary things started becoming more noticeable.
Earlier, I might have considered a quiet evening boring.
Now, I can sit with a cup of tea and actually enjoy it.
Earlier, waiting for something might have frustrated me.
Now, sometimes I see waiting as an opportunity to pause.
Earlier, silence felt empty.
Now, it can feel full.
Full of thoughts.
Full of observation.
Full of rest.
Full of nothing — and that’s okay.
I think that’s one of the most beautiful things about slowing down.
You start finding joy in things that aren’t designed to entertain you.
A Slower Life Doesn’t Mean a Smaller Life
This is something I really want to clarify.
Choosing a slower life doesn’t mean becoming less ambitious.
You can still have big dreams.
You can still build a career.
You can still run a business.
You can still travel.
You can still create content.
You can still want financial freedom.
You can still work hard.
The difference is that you don’t have to live every single moment in hurry mode.
You can work hard and still rest.
You can be ambitious and still enjoy your morning tea.
You can have goals and still have slow Sundays.
You can love technology without being available to it 24/7.
You can want success without making your entire life about achieving the next thing.
Slow living isn’t about doing nothing.
It’s about being more intentional about what you do.
What Living in a Quieter Place Taught Me
Moving from Lucknow to Pathanamthitta made me appreciate things I had previously overlooked.
1. Not everything needs to be instant.
Sometimes waiting is simply part of life.
2. Boredom isn’t the enemy.
You don’t need to fill every empty moment.
3. Silence can be restorative.
You don’t always need background noise.
4. Convenience is wonderful — but it isn’t everything.
Having access to everything doesn’t automatically make you happier.
5. Nature changes how you feel.
Being surrounded by greenery, open spaces and quiet can make you slow down without even consciously trying.
6. Your attention matters.
Where you put your attention every day eventually shapes how your days feel.
7. Ordinary days can be beautiful.
Not every day needs a trip, celebration, achievement or exciting story.
Sometimes a quiet day is a good day.
Maybe We Don’t Need to Move to the Countryside
You don’t have to leave your city to experience slow living.
You can start where you are.
Have your morning tea without your phone.
Take a walk without checking notifications.
Cook a meal from scratch.
Read before bed.
Sit on your balcony.
Spend an evening without Instagram.
Have a conversation without your phone on the table.
Go to a café and actually enjoy your coffee instead of working.
Take yourself on a slow weekend.
Spend time doing something that doesn’t make you money.
And occasionally…
let yourself do nothing.
Not because you’re lazy.
Because you’re human.
What I Thought I Would Miss vs. What I Actually Miss
If you had asked me when I first moved to Kerala what I would miss about Lucknow, I would have given you a long list.
The convenience.
The shops.
The food.
The transportation.
The crowds.
The accessibility.
The familiar life.
And I still miss some of those things.
But now, when I go back to Lucknow, something interesting happens.
After spending a few days surrounded by traffic, crowds, noise and constant activity, I start craving the quiet again.
I start missing the greenery.
The slower mornings.
The peaceful evenings.
The feeling of having nowhere I urgently need to be.
And that’s when I realized something.
I don’t think I want a completely fast life or a completely slow life.
I want a balance.
I want the convenience of a city when I need it.
And the peace of a slower life when I need that.
Maybe that’s what so many of us are actually searching for.
Not a completely different life.
Just a life that doesn’t constantly feel like it’s running away from us.
Maybe Slow Is the New Luxury
We often think luxury means having more.
More money.
More clothes.
More travel.
More experiences.
More technology.
More choices.
But the older I get, the more I think another kind of luxury exists.
Time.
Having time to drink your tea slowly.
Time to watch the sunset.
Time to read.
Time to cook.
Time to talk.
Time to rest.
Time to think.
Time to simply exist without feeling guilty about it.
And perhaps that’s why slower living feels so attractive today.
Because when everything around us is becoming faster, being able to slow down becomes a privilege.
My Version of a Slower Life
I don’t know if I’ll always live in a small town.
I don’t know where life will take me next.
Maybe I’ll live in another city someday.
Maybe I’ll want more convenience again.
Maybe I’ll find a balance between the two.
But I know one thing now.
I don’t want to forget what this slower chapter of my life taught me.
That life doesn’t always have to be loud to be exciting.
It doesn’t always have to be busy to be meaningful.
It doesn’t always have to be productive to be valuable.
And it doesn’t always have to move quickly to be going somewhere.
Sometimes, life is allowed to be slow.
Sometimes, the quiet morning is enough.
Sometimes, a cup of tea is enough.
Sometimes, sitting outside and watching the world go by is enough.
And maybe that’s what we’re all craving.
Not less life.
Just a life we actually have time to experience.
A Little Note From Me
Moving from a metropolitan city like Lucknow to a quieter town in Kerala wasn’t something I initially thought would teach me much.
At first, I was focused on everything I had lost — the convenience, accessibility and familiar pace of life.
But slowly, I started noticing what I had gained.
Peace.
And perhaps peace is one of those things you don’t fully appreciate until you’ve lived without it.
I still love the energy of a city.
I still love convenience.
I still miss being able to get almost anything whenever I want.
But now, I also know what it feels like to sit somewhere quiet and realize that nothing is happening — and you’re completely okay with it.
And honestly?
I think everyone should experience that at least once.
Maybe not forever.
Maybe not even for a year.
But long enough to remember that life doesn’t always have to be fast.
Sometimes, slowing down is how we finally catch up with ourselves.
Welcome to my little corner of slower living. 🤍
— Harshita
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