At first, moving to a rural area seemed like a great idea. Getting away from the hustle and bustle of traffic and crowds. The clean fresh air is a wonderful way to breathe outdoors.
But is the slow pace going to work for you in a new area of the country?
What Does It Mean To Slow Down?
Slowing down means taking your time in everyday activities. From getting up later to slowly eating your breakfast and not watching the clock.
But what if you are still working or have to go back to work after retiring?
The Slow Pace Honeymoon
At first the slow pace appears to be magical, and you don’t want it to end. It’s like the honeymoon phase of a marriage.
Now after a while, you get to realize that the slow pace doesn’t always work even you need questions answered by a professional in your area. They tend not to call you back right away. Sometimes not even within 24 hours.
I’ve seen happen over and over again since we’ve been living in a rural area. I wonder how can these people stay in business? Don’t they want to make money today?
What makes them so lackadaisical? Maybe because they have lived that way their entire lives and are used to the not so fast pace world.
Can You Slow Down?
So if you are going to stay around people that live a carefree life and take their time getting back to you whether for business or personal reasons, can you slow down to their pace of living? Or will it drive you nuts and make you more anxious?
Those are the questions you must ask yourself before moving to a rural area.
Our Experiences: Moving at a Very Slow Pace
We have had several examples of slow pace that stunned us living in our rural town. The first was that it was impossible to find anyone to hire to build a garage.
And when you did find them, it took forever at a very slow pace. My husband had half of his built before they began to do work on it.
The next slow pace experience was with our pest control company. The first one took forever to get back to us, and when his son-in-law started his own we were happy to see him come by rather quickly that first year.
But this year he never followed up to our calls and texts. Luckily we didn’t have many Mayflies this year to deal with.
I looked at it as we saved the money instead of spending it on pest control. So the slower pace may sometimes save you money.
Our third example was in real estate. The real estate agents worked at a much slower paced than back in our old town in Rhode Island. If you wanted a quote on the value of your home, you would have someone there immediately.
Here we had no one show up to answer our question. One responded by email only and our home was 5 minutes from their office.
That was shocking. We were in touch with 3 realtors within 10 minutes of our home and no one got back to us.
We ended up using a referral from our agent in Rhode Island from RE/MAX. There known for their services worldwide. Our home is still up for sale as sales slowed down the week we put our on the market.
Running Your Business In The Slow Pace of Fast Change
We both still run our businesses since moving up here. The plan was for retirement but with the high cost of living since we arrived as inflation soared 20% since then my husband went back to work as I remained not quite at the retirement age.
If you run a business in a rural area you may face limited demand and a smaller customer base. It’s crucial to adapt to the local culture and focus on providing exceptional service.
Building relationships and trust takes time, but it can be worth the effort. Word of mouth can become your best form of advertising. While growth might be slow, loyal customers can sustain your business for the long haul.
Making It Slower
If you want live in a slower paced town you will need to have more patience. Patience to wait for services and for answers to any questions you may have needed from a local professional.
The only area we haven’t had to wait is in medical facilities. Less people visiting them means less waiting time.
I recently had my gallbladder removed and there was only one other patient at the hospital when we arrived. It was nice that I had my own room the entire time and the nurses and doctors were very attentive.
Back in Rhode Island, my last surgery on my arm from an accident, it was an all day way to get into surgery. I was past that point of being hangry.
Conclusion: The Slow Pace Option
As with everything in life there are pros and cons. I wanted to share the more cons this time of the slow pace paradox. It has it’s advantages but there are some cons as well.
The biggest advantage I see thus far is less traffic and quicker waiting times at medical facilities. Those are 2 major advantages. Whenever we drive back to our old area, we notice right away the amount of traffic.
What do you think of a slower pace lifestyle today? Would you be able to survive it while still working or having to make money running a business?
