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For introverts and highly sensitive people (HSP), the world can be a loud, chaotic place, making life feel difficult and overwhelming at times. As introverts we find peace in solitude and quiet. And one of the quickest, and most reliable ways to get more solitude and quiet is to embrace a slower pace of life.

Before I started reading and understanding introversion and high sensitivity I used to feel as though something must be wrong with me. Why were so many of my friends able to handle what life threw at them ‘better’? Why didn’t they want to run and hide in a closet on a daily basis? 

Thankfully my education on these traits led me to a deeper understanding and acceptance of who I was, and how I could navigate the world, at my own pace. Which as it turns out is substantially slower than what the extroverted world expects from me.

6 Benefits of Slow Living for the Introverts and Highly Sensitive People

1. No more soul-sucking parties

Embracing a slower pace of life means you get to say no to things you don’t want to go to. No, I don’t want to go to my great nephews 4th birthday party with a dozen 4 year old’s. But I will send a gift. Nope, I’m unable to attend the dinner party, but thanks for the invite!

What this really means is that we don’t have to engage in any more soul-sucking small talk. This is incredibly draining for introverts who would give their left thumb to avoid another conversation about the weather. 

Read: Why Introverts Absolutely Hate Small Talk

2. More time for your introverted activities

Choosing to forgo the hamster wheel and slow things down will make more time for your favorite introverted passtime. Reading, tending to houseplants, hanging out with your cat, daydreaming about that cabin in the woods…

Jokes aside, these kinds of activities are life giving for us introverts and are how we take care of ourselves. Saying no to a busy lifestyle leaves more room for these things that fill up our introverted cups.

3. No more hangovers

Most of us know what a hangover after too many glasses of wine feels like. But have you experienced an introvert hangover before? 

Last week we attended a two hour school visit for my eldest daughter, who starts high school next year. We live in a small rural town but the school was packed, and the number of people I had to talk to was more than I’d prefer to talk to in one week. What ensued in the week after was an active avoidance of about the same amount of people on the sidewalk or in the supermarket. I’d already had my weekly quota of ‘peopling’ and just couldn’t do anymore. I had a major introvert hangover 🤦‍♀️

Read: 3 tips to deal with the introvert hangover

4. A more consistent baseline of calm

As a highly sensitive person I struggle with feeling ‘on guard’ and overstimulated most of the time. My Spidey senses pick up on things they just don’t really need to, leave me feeling exhausted. 

Choosing a slower lifestyle by saying no to 70% of the things I’m invited to means I’m less likely to be overstimulated. This gives me a chance to reset my baseline and cultivate a sense of calm that is more natural and easy to return to.

5. Introverts and Highly Sensitive need our homes to be a sanctuary

Slow living and minimalism tend to go together. A natural by-product of a slower pace of life is often decluttering physical things in our homes. If we want less cleaning and maintenance we need less stuff. 

And as highly sensitive introverts our homes are our sanctuaries. They are our safe places where we go to escape the loud, busy, haranguing world. It’s so much easier to achieve this much needed sanctuary if we have decluttered and pared back to the basics.

Read: Seven Ways To Start A Minimalist Lifestyle

6. You will feel more like yourself

Chances are that as an introvert and highly sensitive, you already live at a slower pace than others around you. It feels more natural to you. When you try to live up to society’s expectations you not only feel stressed, you don’t feel authentically you.

Life flows easier when we live more aligned with who we are meant to be. And when you feel more like yourself you feel happier and more content. 

Read: Authentic Living: Why it’s easier, and simpler to be YOU

There are so many other benefits of slowing down and living a more simple and intentional life. These are just a handful.

And obviously the benefits of living slower are for everyone – not just the introverts and HSP’s!

But trust me, if you identify as an introvert or highly sensitive, a slower lifestyle will be a game changer for you 💪

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If you are interested in learning more about how to cultivate a slower pace for you then you might want to enroll in my course – The Slow Living Toolkit.

Inside the course you’ll find in-depth information on the slow living movement and the core elements of what it takes to live slower. This is what one course participant said about the course;

“I’ve followed Simple Slow and Lovely for a year and was so excited when Emma produced a course on slower living. It’s a simple concept that should be easy to apply to our own lives, right? Wrong. Somehow it’s easier on paper than practice. Emma knows this and deftly takes all of the foundational points of slow living and builds them into an easy-to-follow, but soul-searching course. Starting with the basics, we work up to how to apply simple living to ALL areas of our life, not just our physical stuff. I left this course with a wonderful foundation of slow living, my personal why to help guide me, a greater understanding of what impedes my progress to slow living, and the encouragement to keep culling things from my life until I reached my own level of slow.” ~ Emily, United States

If you are ready to do some soul-searching and live slower and more aligned with your true self then START HERE.