@Lifestyle: Downshifting

 

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“Downshifting means working towards simple living by making conscious choices to leave materialism behind and move on to a more sustainable lifestyle.” — Choosing Voluntary Simplicity(1)

“The act of reducing one’s standard of living for an improved quality of life.” — Investopedia(2)

“Downshifters are people who adopt long-term voluntary simplicity in their life. They accept less money through fewer hours worked in order to have time for the important things in life. Downshifters also place emphasis on consuming less in order to reduce their ecological footprint … Basically downshifters seek a life filled with more passion and purpose, meaning, fulfillment and happiness. A life to look back on with no regrets. Downshifters want to slow down at work in order to ‘upshift’ in others areas of their lives. For most people the change to a slow life through downshifting comes after a long quest for true happiness and fulfillment.” — Slow Movement(3)

“A social behavior or trend in which individuals live simpler lives to escape from what critics call the rat race. The long term effect of down shifting can include an escape from what has been described as economic materialism as well as reduce the ‘stress and psychological expense that may accompany economic materialism’ … Down-shifters are people that adopt long term voluntary simplicity in their lives. A few of the main practices of down-shifters includes accepting less money for fewer hours worked while placing an emphasis on consuming less in order to reduce their ecological footprint … The personal goals of downshifting are simple: To reach a holistic self-understanding and satisfying meaning in life.” — Wikipedia(4)

“… a downshifter, someone who has decided that in one’s career, more isn’t always better. While there have always been corporate dropouts who hated the so-called rat race, downshifters just want a more balanced life. They may opt-out of corporate life, or just simplify their lives by taking less stressful and time-consuming jobs, offsetting the income decline with more frugal lifestyles.” — Wall Street Journal(5)

The above source is from https://www.sloww.co/downshifting-simple-living/. This article is worth reading if you are interested to understand the downshifting lifestyle.

Downshifting advocates simplicity lifestyle too. Its focus on mainly 3 external aspects of living:

• Spending — Purchase with a purpose in mind.
• Career — Work less, Live more.
• Lifestyle — Simplicity, healthy and eco-friendly.

I feel downshifting lifestyle has some improvement to mental health but not in depth. Mainly to get followers get out of the rat race. I feel it is necessary to work hard to calm the “monkey’s mind” to truly enjoy your life. But downshifting is a first step on the road to a simple life.