I am Renata Roberts, an author with degrees in Psychology and Applied Theology my educational background and professional experience have given me a deep understanding of the influence that trauma, social pressure, and emotional challenges have on our ability to reach our full potential and live exceptional lives.
The trouble with inspiration is that it’s intoxicating. It draws me in like a moth to a flame, every time! One moment you’re idly scrolling, the next you’ve mentally adopted two dairy cows and are pricing vintage apple presses on auction sites. It’s a rush. It’s fun. And it’s always unsustainable. The level of disappointment when your dreams collapse ends up compounding and causing a long-term negative expectation. This is the direct opposite of what slowsteading done slowly creates.
When I started writing this blog, I was writing to my younger self — the mom with the small children, the woman who was still finding her way in the world. I was speaking to the individual who was trying to always be all things to all people. I was having a chat with an exhausted younger me.
There’s a dangerous narrative woven into our culture — one that equates a good life with a busy one. It tells us we’re only truly living when we’re booked, striving, and producing. That we *earn* rest only by doing more.
Slow living may appear peaceful from the outside, and it often is. But let’s not mistake slowness for ease. Behind the warm loaves of homemade bread and the carefully tended garden beds lies a quieter, yet more demanding, work: the **emotional and mental labor of living differently**. Intentionally living requires daily effort in our reactive world. It’s not performative or aesthetic, it’s **soul work**. And it can be exhausting. However, it is also **transformative**, and when rooted in alignment, it is deeply worthwhile.
