“If you’re having difficulty coming up with new ideas, then slow down. For me, slowing down has been a tremendous source of creativity. It has allowed me to open up — to know that there’s life under the earth and that I have to let it come through me in a new way. Creativity exists in the present moment. You can’t find it anywhere else.”
-Natalie Goldberg

 I’ve shared before my history of blogging – how it began in 2001, the early days before social media and platforms and curation and all the catch phrases that often appear in our inboxes each morning, promising endless Internet fame. And it’s funny how I can look back and see emerging themes and thought processes for every year I’ve been blogging. I hadn’t realized how much this blog has changed until I look at this post in chronological order. And I see it so clearly, the evolution of it all.

And if this is true, if I continually re-invent myself in some small way each year (whether intentionally or not), then I want 2013 to do the same. And in 2013, I want my blog to come full circle. I want to return Design for Mankind to its roots: of research, of discovery, of thoughtfulness.

We live in a world of more; this much is obvious. More things, more information. More time-saving tricks we use to find the time to uncover even more time-saving tricks. We live in a world of Pinterest, where visual images shoot out like firehoses of pretty, manifesting themselves in the parts of our brain we reserve for planning elaborate feasts and fetes. We have hundreds of RSS subscriptions to blogs creating amazing tablescapes and Halloween costumes and DIY floor lamps. And we take it all in, bookmarking each project for future use when “someday” is finally today.

Yet friends, I fear that someday will never come. Because there will continually be more to do, to see, to buy. And our someday file will slowly become outdated with a new sea of ideas and thoughts promising to fulfill our lives in ways we never dreamed possible.

I want less. I want less for this site; I want less for my life. I want to return to the days when I didn’t feel the need to “keep up” with the Internet. Where less truly was more, where editorial calendars didn’t exist and the words “I should totally blog this” were never uttered.

I miss the days when blogging itself was my muse. When the simple act of sharing something I stumbled upon was the joy itself, rather than a frenzied race to click link after link in hopes that I’ll have discovered something truly amazing.

There is more noise, and my ears are tired.

This year, one of my personal resolutions is to live a slower, more thoughtful (meaningful?) life. Less travel, more adventure. Less work, more challenges. And I need this to translate into all areas of my life: Less blogging, more learning. Less links, more inspiration. Less projects, more processes.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be taking time off to enjoy my family, friends and this beautiful holiday season. And when I return in 2013, a new Design for Mankind will be greeting us.

I encourage you to add the site to your RSS feed, as posts will be much more infrequent in this coming year. Instead, they’ll be more heavily curated and story-driven, harking back to my first love: writing. And I am thrilled.

I’ll be featuring the same visually inspiring artists, designers, photographers and creatives, yes. But rather than a simple link and quick emotion, I will be uncovering a bit more behind each project – the inspirations, the struggles, the history. It is my hope that by doing so, we’ll all learn a bit more about the creative process – and ourselves.

The true design for mankind.

I can’t wait for you to come along. Much love to each of you this holiday season; I wish you many moments of slowness.

XO,
Erin Loechner

• THE LUCY CHASE PROJECT //

  07/09/13

  […] few weeks back I read an article called ‘The Rebirth of Slow Blogging‘. Nothing has ever made more sense or rung so true to me.  When I started blogging my giant […]
• bp

  07/09/13

  I like that I am starting to regularly blog at a time when there are people like you who are wanting to go back to the essence of blogging.
• Slow bloggen: wat is het, hoe doe je het en waarom zou je? | Blogpraat

  07/29/13

  […] met links naar nog veel meer moois op dat gebied: mvandervelden.nl/slow-blog. Zie ook hier: the-rebirth-of-slow-blogging-and-a-new-direction/ (via […]
• chandra | oh lovely day

  10/10/13

  Brilliant! I may be joining this late, but I’m in on the slow blogging movement.
• Gemma

  11/06/13

  I’ve just read this and although i’m new to blogging and selling my creations on Etsy, It has made so much sense. Slow blogging sounds great if only I could lay down that nagging desire to keep up with everything.
• Carol

  12/31/13

  This came along at exactly the right time for me. I love that there’s a way to describe what I want out of blogging . Thanks for sharing!
  • erin

    01/02/14

    You’re welcome! :)
• Mary Sweeting

  01/26/14

  So pleased to come across a blogger who’s happy to hold their own against the deluge of messages out there. I’ve heard of slow food but who knew of slow blogging?! If this is about creating quality content for the long term then I’m in! :-)
  • erin

    01/29/14

    Ah, thank you, Mary!!