By Kimine Mayuzumi
Ten years ago, I wrote a short post called “5 Ways to Slow Down NOW.” At the time, I didn’t know whether anyone would read it. I simply felt pulled to explore gentler ways of living and working — especially in environments organized around speed, output, and performance.
I kept writing, not because I had a grand vision for what Being Lazy and Slowing Down (BLSD) would become, but because each piece felt like the next breath. A steady practice. A response to what I was struggling with, learning, or yearning for at the time.
Ten years later, BLSD has become not just a personal reflection space, but a home for many stories shared by our community — stories of healing, resistance, rest, transitions, identity, and choosing a pace that honors the fullness of our lives.
What I cherish most about this decade is how BLSD has grown into a collective archive. My writing sits alongside pieces offered by contributors, each adding texture, depth, and lived wisdom.
I’ve grouped these writings into five themes to help guide your exploration, though the fit is not perfect — many posts could speak to more than one theme. You are invited to move through them in whatever order or way feels right for you.
Theme 1: Healing, Rest, and Embodied Practice
Stories about slowing down, connecting with the body, and finding rest amid pressure, perfectionism, and academic labor.
- The Work of Breathing: Pushing against Perfectionism by Ching-In Chen
- In Support of Doing Nothing by Roxanne A. Donovan
- My “Ritual of Pause”: How Horseback Riding Taught This Woman of Color About Self-Care by M’Balia Thomas
- How I Ended the Abusive Relationship with My Body: A Woman of Color Faculty’s Experience by Soko Starobin
- 5 Meditation Hacks for Busy Academics by Soko Starobin
- The Taiji Ten for Resistance and Healing: An Embodied Meditative Practice by a Scholar-Activist by Lisette E. Torres
Theme 2: Writing, Creativity, and Gentler Ways of Working
Reflections on navigating scholarly and creative work with intention, patience, and freedom from outcome-driven pressures.
- We All Fall Down: How to Get Your Writing Back on Track by Michelle Boyd
- How to Let Go of Outcomes: Visualizing the Relationship Between Process and Focus by David M. Hoffman
- Developing Your Own Academic “Index”: An Interview with Dr. Beronda Montgomery by Kimine Mayuzumi
- This is How I Incorporate “Lazy” and “Slow” Practices into My Pedagogy by M’Balia Thomas
- Time to Change: How to Keep from Doing Too Much this Spring by Michelle Boyd
Theme 3: Identity, Belonging, and Life in Academia
Voices exploring identity, affirmation, motherhood, and navigating academic spaces as scholars of color.
- Why I Need to Divest from ‘Diversity’ Labor as a Black Woman by Kirsten T. Edwards
- Harmonizing Her Life in Academic Motherhood : An Interview with Dr. Cleopatra Abdou – Part I by Kimine Mayuzumi
- A Woman of Color Navigating the Academic Culture from Grad School to Faculty Experiences: An Interview with Dr. Cleopatra Abdou – Part II by Kimine Mayuzumi
- How I Work and Thrive in Academia – From Affirmation, Not for Affirmation by Beronda L. Montgomery
- What Imposter Feelings Taught Me About My Strength: A Graduate Student’s Story on Slowing Down by Roilui Sin
Theme 4: Transitions, Uncertainty, and Inner Growth
Reflections on change, uncertainty, loneliness, and personal growth — navigating life and career transitions with patience and reflection.
- “I am Learning to Normalize Uncertainty”: An Interview with Dr. Fatimah Williams on Her Career and Entrepreneurship Journey by Kimine Mayuzumi
- How I am Embracing the Uncertainty of Tomorrow by Kevin Pajaro
- How Our Collaborative Writing Became a Healing Process: Reflections by Two Transnational Female Academics in Japan by Yuki Imoto & Tomoko Tokunaga
- From ‘Not Enough’ to ‘Enough’: An Academic’s Reflection from Zhuangzi by Min Yu
- Embracing Loneliness: A Crisis and Awakening of a Transnational Academic by Chikako Nagayama
- When the Whole World Has Stopped: Connecting with Myself through Poetry by Desiree Baolian Qin
- Wanna Getaway? Notes from Cruising Colonialstyle down the Atlantic Ocean by Rodney Hopson
Theme 5: Purpose, Vision, and Community Support
Stories about aligning work and life with purpose, reimagining success, and finding support in mentorship, collective practices, and community.
- Freedom Dreaming: Aligning Passion, Purpose, and Impact in My Work by Beronda L. Montgomery
- Why Slow Down Even Before Tenure?: An Interview with Dr. Soko Starobin by Kimine Mayuzumi
- How I Came to Embrace My Academic-Entrepreneur Self: A Journey with 9 Stages by Jakki Williams
- 3 Strategies for Mental Health Care in Grad School by Dana Kanhai
- Unpacking the “Slowing Down Circle”: An Interview with Dr. Kayt Sunwood by Kimine Mayuzumi
Closing reflection: What this decade has taught me
Looking back, a few lessons continue to return:
- Slowing down is not the opposite of productivity — it is a way to reclaim direction, clarity, and meaning.
- Rest is relational. We slow down more easily when we are held by community.
- Healing is not private work; it unfolds through shared stories, mirrors, and witnesses.
- Enoughness is not a feeling that arrives. It is a choice we practice again and again.
- None of this happens alone.
Ten years of BLSD have shown me that slowing down is a practice — an invitation to listen, to honor our needs, and to engage more fully with life. It is not about “being slow” but about moving through our days with awareness, gentleness, and intention.
Here’s to the next season — just as gentle, just as mindful.
Image credit: Kento Higashimura