The Sacred Everyday: Reviving Old Ways for a More Intentional Life
Sometimes I feel like I was born in the wrong century.
I’m sitting at Café Zsivágó in Budapest. This is one of my favorite places in the city to settle in with a coffee, my notebook, and a stack of books. As soon as I walk in, I feel as though I’ve been transported back in time. There’s an intimate coziness to the space that I haven’t felt anywhere else. The downstairs is set up like a communal living room, while the upstairs includes a balcony overlooking the space. Nooks and crannies with plush chairs and sofas are tucked throughout the old building.
Today, I chose the balcony on the upper level. Looking out over the people below, I’m filled with contentment. It’s fairly quiet at the moment. People sit with their tea and books or gather with friends in intimate conversation. The cold, gray winter day is stark beyond the windows. Rain is coming. But in here, it’s warm and cheerful.
As I sit here and ponder, I know I don’t actually want to go back in time. I enjoy having the right to vote and owning a credit card, not to mention the luxuries of modern-day society (hello plumbing and hot showers!).
But I do find myself longing for certain aspects I imagine were alive and well in the olden days. I wasn’t there, so it’s hard to say for sure. Speculate with me…
As long as I can remember, I’ve romanticized the past. Not my past, but the historical past. I thought everyone did this until learning from a friend that, if given the chance, he’d rather travel to the future than back in time. I was aghast. Perhaps, I’m also a tad dramatic.
That being said, I think it’s natural to long for “simpler” times, and I think many of us do. Especially in a world that has become so incredibly busy and overstimulating. Just having access to what anyone, anywhere is doing at any moment via a small rectangle you can slide into your pocket is highly unnatural. There are benefits and downsides to our modern world, of course. I don’t need to tell you this. We’re all well-versed in the pros and cons.
But I think so many of us are suffering from anxiety, burn-out, overwhelm, comparison, analysis paralysis, depression (the list goes on) because we’ve let these modern advancements pull us so far off center. We’ve been taken further and further from a slower, intentional, perhaps more fulfilling pace and style of living. And we’ve moved closer to 15-second dopamine hits that leave us feeling empty and a virtual follower count that leaves us feeling lonelier than ever.
We’ve become imbalanced.
I talk about the pendulum effect often. Whenever something new is introduced into our lives, whether culturally or on a personal level, there is the tendency to swing too far in one direction before we eventually learn to balance out and discover what equilibrium looks and feels like for us. We see this with social media. Once all the rage, more and more young people are boycotting platforms like TikTok and Instagram. Leaving for months at a time to slowly remember a life before their day was insidiously consumed by a screen from the moment they opened their eyes.
While a literal return to the past isn’t the goal (not just because it’s impossible *sheds a single tear), I do believe it’s imperative for the preservation of our earth and humanity to cultivate balance by weaving the wisdom of the past with the innovation of the future.
Through my reflection, I’ve come to find there are aspects from the past I can use as inspiration to design a slower, more intentional, connected, balanced life. Removing myself from social media has been a big part of this shift…
My Social Media Exodus
I recently deleted Instagram from my phone. It’s been over a month since I’ve been on that trickster of a platform and I must say, I don’t miss it at all. I rarely even think about it other than when I think “Wow, I’m so happy I deleted Instagram”.
Since leaving the ‘gram behind, I’ve noticed a huge uptick in my creative energy. There’s no way to explain it other than my mind just feels clear. I now fill those pockets of time I used to spend doom-scrolling with things that inspire me and fill my cup like reading, writing, going for walks, moving my body, making a cup of tea, chatting with a loved one.
I don’t have any other social media, so letting this one go means my screen time has been astronomically lower. Is this to say I’ll never go on Instagram again? Probably not. I’m sure I’ll still post the occasional travel reel or pop on to see something a friend has sent me. But I don’t see myself keeping the app on my phone and letting it seep back into my daily or even weekly routine.
Now, this doesn’t mean you need to immediately remove yourself from all social platforms, but perhaps you can find ways to lessen your time scrolling. Deleting the app from my phone is what’s working for me now, but there are also free apps that you can use to limit how much time you’re allowed to spend on social apps per day. Get curious and experiment until you find what works for you so you can be more present in your real life.
Aside from leaving social media, I’ve been tuning into other ways to slow down and bring more presence into my daily life. These are some of my ideas so far:
Creating seasonal rituals and working with moon cycles
Writing by candlelight when the sun goes down
Seeking out screenless social time
Tuning into my body (walking more, intentional cooking and eating, rest)
Learning about herbalism and buying/growing fresh herbs
Less consumption, more creativity
Getting more intentional about “stuff” - only owning things I absolutely love or that I use regularly
Handwrite love letters and cards to friends and family
Learn about my ancestral roots, practices, rituals
More time spent in nature and away from screens
Embracing boredom and empty space as a creative practice
I’d love to hear how you cultivate more slowness and intention into your life in a comment below.
With love,
Montoya
The Muse’s Altar