“Pay attention. This won’t last and you must be here for it.”
Campfire Chats Series - Slow Living with Katy O.
This post is part of my monthly Campfire Chats series, available free to all of my subscribers. This series is an opportunity to ask, interview, or feature my community and their experiences of one of the main topics that I write about here on Substack - motherhood, neurodivergence, mental health, running a creative small business, and slow living. If those topics are of interest to you, we’d love to have you in our community. Come join us?
Grab your favourite drink, find somewhere comfy to sit, and snuggle in. I hope you enjoy it. If you do, please consider liking the post, join the conversation in the comments, or restack this post by clicking on the circle arrow button. Thank you. Let’s begin…
Today’s guest is
who writes The Mindful Librarian here on Substack.If you’re looking for book recommendations, cute dog photographs and musings on slow living, check out her Substack. Katy has a paid option that gives readers a deeper look into her reading life, more book recommendations, and provides PDF downloads of book lists.
A brief introduction of who you are and what you do
I am a curator, reader, educator, librarian, and parent based in the gorgeous Driftless Region of Wisconsin. I write mainly about books on The Mindful Librarian Substack, but also share my travels and ponderings on life as well.
What made you start living a simpler, more intentional life?
In my life, I equate slow living with mindfulness and I started really embracing this actively in 2019 after digging into the spiritual aspects of yoga. However, in practice the first few years of my youngest child’s life (2011-2014) were when I first consciously stopped myself and said, “Pay attention. This won’t last and you must be here for it.” Things sped up again for awhile, but I am back to the practice of trying to think before making plans, noticing what is happening and what I’m feeling, and above all, working on being content right where I am.
What would your perfect, slow, 24 hours look like?
I’m going to go with my first instinct here, even though it’s not a possibility any more since we no longer have access to the cabin. But the dream persists.
I would have all of my people with me up at our family’s former lake property in northern Wisconsin. I would wake before everyone else and get my coffee and cake for breakfast and head down to the dock to read and eat in peace. My mom and aunts and sister would wake and join me and we’d talk for hours. Slowly everyone else would start waking and making their way down, and while chaos would ensue, I could stay rooted on the dock or the water all day if I chose. Others would ensure the kids had what they needed, but mostly they’d all just fend for themselves.
In the heat of the afternoon I would grab my cap and goggles and swim along the shoreline, observing fish and weeds in the water below. When I returned, I would bask out on the raft, perhaps napping a bit. I would instruct one of the kids to carefully bring me my book and some water - don’t get it wet!
When supper time eventually came, I might shower and change, or would just throw on some clothes over my suit, accepting the sand as part of the world. I would eat yet again by the water. Darkness would slowly creep in, I would be sun and water weary and might sit by the fire for a bit and eat a s’more and let the waves of family crash over and around me. When tiredness overcame, I would head to my rickety bed with ancient blankets in the cabin and succumb to the best possible kind of sleep.
Tell us a secret to a simple life
I have no secrets and am constantly learning, but my practice of beginning every day with reading and journaling has certainly served me well. I wake extra early so I can make this routine happen, and I sink down with my coffee and first breakfast with my book and my journal. I read until I’m done eating, and then write one page in my journal ~ just whatever flows out of me.
Then I may read a bit more until I finish my coffee, but the dogs know that when my journal closes, a walk is soon to follow. We go outside for our walk then ~ the only thing that might stop us is a torrential downpour or below -15 F temp. Starting my day in a silent house with this routine centers me and allows me to charge for the day ahead.
What's the best advice you've ever been given/ read?
Whenever I ask my Oma how she’s feeling, she will list her pains and exclaim that she doesn’t recommend getting old. Without fail, she will follow that with, “but it’s better than the alternative!”. I think about that almost every day. There is no way to escape death, and the best possible thing we can do while we are here is to live fully. It keeps me from spending much time worrying about my appearance because how amazing is it to just be alive?
A book/ website or other resource everyone should read is...
A book that had a profound impact on me was Living Your Yoga: Finding the Spiritual in Everyday Life by Judith Hanson Lassiter
One practice of your slow living life that you couldn't live without is...
I already shared about my morning routine, but I also end every day with tea, a book and a snack. No screens. This transitions me from whatever happened during the day into a restful state.
The biggest impact slow living has had on you is...
I notice that I’m looking ahead less and living in the moment more. I still plan ahead, but I’m ruminating less and having fewer periods of intense anxiety.
One thing people should do more of is...
Getting outside no matter the weather. It’s not always pleasant, but it grounds us in the present and helps us notice the passage of time and seasons.
One thing people should do less of is...
I think it’s a truth universally acknowledged that we would all be better off if we spent less time online, especially on social media.
Your favourite quote is...
I don’t identify as Christian, but the phrase “there but for the grace of God go I” helps me be more empathetic and curious rather than judgemental.
A piece of advice you'd give to your younger self...
I developed a life timeline for myself in my late teens and it led me to live in a constant state of anxiety and make life decisions I may not otherwise have made. I don’t regret these choices, but if I could go back, I would assure my younger self that everything would turn out okay and to just live that period of my life rather than obsessing about the future.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to live a simple more intentional life?
I would encourage them to find one time period of their day that they could slow down. Everyone has a different life and schedule, but we also all have at least one part of our day that could be less frantic. Start there!
A top tip is...
My top tip is rather ironic given that I resisted it for decades! Journaling has saved me over the past 7 months. I’m kicking myself for not doing it earlier, but now that I have started, I can’t imagine life without it. Grab a smallish notebook and resolve to write something every day. It can be short. It can be long. It can just be a list of 5 things. Do it every single day until it becomes routine.
Tell us about the time in your life that you felt the most content
I am the most content sitting outside on my back porch on summer mornings. Coffee, books, and dogs surround me, and birds, squirrels and bugs are filling the air with sound. I’m actually writing this in that exact spot! It’s my dream when cold winter days hit and mentally I just take myself back here.
The best thing someone has ever said to you
My sister-in-law recently commented that I have such passion for everything I do, and that stuck with me. I’m an enthusiast and I am done with my years of tempering my enthusiasm to fit in with society. The fact that she noticed and mentioned it means a lot to me.
Your go to when you you want to be creative is...
My hands-on creativity outlet is quilting. Often that means little bits of work fit into cracks of time, but working with fabric can always ground me and let my brain work in a unique way.
When it all gets a bit much, how do you bring yourself back to calm?
I shut out the rest of the world with piano music or water sounds and reading. Taking 5 long deep breaths can help too.
Tell us about your biggest extravagance
My biggest extravagance is always experiences these days. I say yes to concert tickets and road trips whenever possible. I’m teaching myself to be a camper this summer so I can go and stay places for $20/night rather than the unattainable cost of a hotel room ~ this is already opening up a lot of opportunities! I used some earnings from writing recently to buy a new tent and my list of destinations is so long already.
Share a journal prompt for readers to ponder
What can I do to make today more peaceful?
A simple, beautiful memory you have is...
Any time I’m with my mom or my sister or best friend and we sleep in the same place and wake up and sit with coffee and talk and talk and talk. I have so many memories of this and they all blend together into one simple, beautiful feeling.
One thing that makes life instantly better is...
A walk outside can make anything better. Even just a few minutes does wonders!
A favourite recipe that everyone should try is...
Stove-popped popcorn is a lifelong favorite of mine. If you have a Whirly-Pop, you’ll be golden, but a large (really large) saucepan with a long handle works too. Cover the bottom with canola oil, and let it heat up for a few minutes. Pour enough popcorn kernels in to cover the bottom of the pan and let it sit over the heat until the first kernel pops. Start stirring (Whirly-Pop) or shaking until the popping almost stops. Remove from the heat and coat liberally with popcorn salt (yes, it’s different from regular salt!). Pour into a big bowl and eat it all yourself while reading an amazing book.
Where can people find you online?
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Campfire Chats Series. Please feel free to share this post by clicking the button below…
Speak soon,
Take part in the series!
I’d really love to bring in other people to chat about their own personal experiences with parenting, neurodiversity, mental health, being a creative business owner, and slow living, or a mix of these (parenting neurodivergent children or creativity to help with your mental health, etc.). If you have a story to share about any of those, I’d love to speak to you about collaborating.
Below you’ll find some links to some very quick forms to fill out if you’d like to collaborate in an interview style, or, alternatively, if you have an idea for a guest post, then please DM me or reach out via email (findingsimpleandcalm@substack.com) to chat further.
 | A guest post by
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Dear Katy,
Love this! 'I am done with my years of tempering my enthusiasm to fit in with society.'
Yes yes bloody yes!
Thanks for sharing.
Love Karen xx
Love this: Whenever I ask my Oma how she’s feeling, she will list her pains and exclaim that she doesn’t recommend getting old. Without fail, she will follow that with, “but it’s better than the alternative!”.
And also this: “I am done with my years of tempering my enthusiasm to fit in with society.”
So lovely to meet you, Katy! Off to check out your Substack! I love me some good books!!