Some people reach for the slow version of things, even when a faster one is sitting there. You’ll notice in a few moments. That they would rather stir something on the stove than press a button or write a name instead of typing it into the phone. It’s not about being old-fashioned.
Many of them love gadgets. It’s just that they feel better doing certain things by hand and are in no rush to give those things up. Here are seven habits that appear in people who take the longer route.
1. They still write things down on paper
Give them a phone with a perfectly good notes app and they’ll still reach for a pen. Grocery lists, phone numbers they need to remember tomorrow. Everything goes on paper.
Part of that is memory. Research suggests that handwritten things require deeper encoding than typing, which may be why handwritten notes are easier to recall. But part of it is just the feel of it. The pen moves on the page, the small satisfaction of crossing a border on the finally completed task.
You’ll see it on the kitchen counter, on a small sheet of paper covered in semi-legible reminders. It handled every part of their phone. They just don’t want to and have stopped doing the opposite.
2. Cooking without shortcuts
Ask them about the jarred sauce and they’ll smile politely and continue chopping the onions. Not because the pitcher is bad, but because they prefer to do it on the long road.
They boil something that could have come from a package for hours. They peel, wait, taste on the go. It gets loud, hot and a bit chaotic in the kitchen and they don’t seem to mind.
Some of them are about how the food is made. Many don’t. It’s standing there, the smell that filled the house, the feeling that we made something from its parts, rather than putting it together from boxes. Dinner will be in the afternoon and that’s the plan.
3. The handwritten note
In the case of a card, they do not print a label or send a quick text. They sit down and write it out.
Birthday cards, thank you notes, scraps of paper left on the counter that someone is still sleeping. Handwriting isn’t always pretty. That’s not the point. The bottom line is that an actual human hand has touched the page, and whoever receives it knows it.
A text lasts ten seconds. A note takes a few minutes, a stamp, and the decision of whether it bothers you at all. These people care about everything. This is the part that means something.
4. When the coffee lasts ten minutes
There is a pod machine that gives them a cup in thirty seconds. Instead, they have a kettle, a grinder and a small ritual.
The beans can be freshly ground. The water comes down from the spring and stagnates for a moment before going anywhere. Slowly, they pour in a circle, watching it blossom. The whole thing takes way longer than it should, and that’s exactly why they love it.
Morning coffee becomes a break before the sun begins to attract them. You may notice that they guard those ten minutes, sometimes fiercely. It’s not really about the caffeine. It’s just that there is one part of the morning that definitely refuses to rush.
5. The laundry is hung out to dry
The dryer works well. The washing is still tied to a line when the weather permits.
It has a rhythm. Shaking out the individual pieces, reaching up, the smell of the bed linen is left behind, which most dryer settings never reproduce. It takes longer and depends on the sky, which somehow makes them pay attention to the sky.
For some, of course, it’s about the electricity bill. But watch how they do it and you’ll see there’s more to it than that. The garden, the silence, the small stretch of arms above the head. A boring housework turns into ten minutes outside, which they might not otherwise have undertaken.
6. The long way home
Given the choice between the fast and the pretty route, pretty is chosen more often than it makes any sense.
Walk along the river instead of the main road. The back lanes that add fifteen minutes to the journey. They notice an upturned tree, a house with a strange blue door, a cat sleeping on a warm wall.
It drives efficient people a little crazy. What’s the point of arriving later than you should have? But that’s the wrong question for them. The point was never just to arrive. The walk is as important as the destination, and they prefer not to miss it to save a few minutes.
7. Repair instead of replacement
A button falls off and a needle is threaded. The chair starts to wobble and the glue is taken out. The instinct is to fix it, not throw it away and order another one by Friday.
Part of it is frugality, and they happily admit it. But there is also a stubborn refusal to treat everything as disposable. The old jacket gets a new zipper and five more good years.
You’ll notice that they usually know how to put things together. Over the years, enough of them have been taken apart. It is a real satisfaction to be a person who can solve a small problem with his own hands and move on.
For people who consistently take the slow route, it’s usually not difficult or valuable. They have found that certain joys live more in doing than in doing, and they prefer not to hand that over to the machine.
The next time you catch someone on the long drive, you might want to ask what they’re getting out of it.
