Introducing “Slow Character”

Exploring ideas and questions of values, identity, ethics, existence, conflict, and communication

I worked away my 20s building a business.

I unhooked myself from workaholism in my 30s, slowing down to make time for fun, hobbies, causes I cared about.

I slowed down further in my 40s when I became a mom, buoyed by bliss hormones as I learned patience, mindful parenting, how to tend to a tiny human. Very reluctantly, I also in my 40s gave up my hold on the bustling big city of my birth and affection, and agreed with my husband to put down roots — for now — in a smaller city where things were slower, much slower. And almost everything about our lives at this slower, much slower, pace became easier. Which, in some important — but not all — ways, meant better.

Now I’m over 50 and the tug of slowing down continues.

Slowing down over the decades has always come with de-cluttering. Culling. Curating. Getting rid of crap in its various forms and making more room, physical, mental, emotional, for the good stuff, what matters. Along with more space and time for priorities came dimensional and experiential differences. More feeling, more thinking, more processing, more appreciating, enjoying, savoring.

Self-employed my entire adult life, I recently cut my workweek to 30 hours (we’ll see if that holds) and my housecleaning to no more than 30 minutes a day (that better stick), leaving more open time for…well, everything, anything, else.

I already had plenty of time in my slowed-down world for some of my favorite things…walking, exploring, reading, conversations, parenting, keeping up with current events…and goals like going back to grad school one class at a time, dabbling in a new business, and getting involved with community things here and there.

But something has long been nagging at me. Something I’ve been avoiding, maybe because it becomes harder with each passing year — and it’s already a hard thing — and I had assumed it would get easier. That is, taking the time and nurturing the ability to think more deeply, more thoroughly, about the ideas and questions that are always pushing themselves onto my radar. Awaken the shrinking, shrunken philosopher within. That’s one specific thing I want for this new free space in my schedule.

In the spirit of other Slow movements,[1] I’m calling this endeavor Slow Character.

I’ll be writing about the slow lifelong journey of building character and being, becoming a character, one individual of nearly 8 billion humans living alongside the multitudes of nearly 9 million other species on the planetary stage; exploring ideas and questions of values, identity, ethics, existence, conflict, and communication.

Finally, I hope you’ll join my effort by participating in conversation in the comments, asking your own questions, and sharing your insights on the ideas and issues at hand.

[1] Slow movement (culture), Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_movement_(culture)

Sharon Woodhouse is the owner of Conspire Creative, which offers coaching, consulting, conflict management, project management, book publishing, and editorial services for solo pros, creatives, authors, small businesses, and multipreneurs.