Hit the Pause Button: The Ritual of Slowing Down

In today’s instant gratification and relentless productivity culture, slowing down can feel impossible. Fittingly, for some, finding presence is a profoundly personal and intentional act. From savoring a morning pour-over to gathering with friends around a potluck table, small rituals can become powerful acts of resistance against life’s rush. Here, we talk to a few of our friends about how they find a way to press pause.

Brewing Stillness: Wade Austin Ellis and the Art of Coffee
For Wade Austin Ellis, founder of the digital coffee subscription and newsletter The Filter, coffee is more than just a drink. “It’s a ritual, a way to hit the brakes on a world hell-bent on speed,” he says. Ellis starts his day at his coffee bar, deliberating over which bag to open. The sensory experience of brewing — a bloom of grounds, the rise of steam — forces him to pause and focus.

“A cup of coffee doesn’t happen by accident,” Ellis says. “Producers and roasters bring it to life long before it reaches your lips. The least you can do is pay attention.” For Ellis, pour-overs are his mindful ritual. “For you, maybe it’s a pod machine. It doesn’t matter — just slow down and make it yours.”

Breath and Balance: Kurt Rogers’s Journey
Kurt Rogers, a longtime hospitality professional turned breathwork facilitator, found his path to mindfulness through adversity. After decades of bartending, he discovered breathwork as a tool for grounding and transformation. Now, he teaches free breathwork classes in Jacksonville, helping others reconnect with themselves and the earth.

“Just take your shoes off, stand in the grass and breathe,” Rogers says. “It’s a simple return to humanity.” He describes breathwork as a practice that quiets the mind and creates space for gratitude and joy. “Slowing down isn’t just a luxury — it’s a necessity,” he says. “When we relax and let go, we allow opportunities, creativity and connection to flow.”

Pages, Pots and Plates: Vanessa Nicolle and Mara Strobel-Lanka’s Cookbook Club
At Femme Fire Books, Vanessa Nicolle blends her passion for reading and community. A Navy veteran who found solace in books during deployments, Nicolle now runs a bookstore that celebrates underrepresented voices. Her book club, Femme Feast Book Club, co-led by artist and writer Mara Strobel-Lanka, brings people together quarterly to share meals inspired by selected cookbooks.

For Strobel-Lanka, cookbooks bridge her artistic practice and her love of food. “Cooking from a cookbook slows me down,” she says. “It’s more intentional than pulling up a recipe online. You plan your grocery trip, focus on the steps and immerse yourself in the process.” The club’s potluck-style gatherings feel like Thanksgiving, she says, with elaborate, homemade dishes shared over hours of conversation. “It’s intentional. It’s joyful. It’s connection.”

Nicolle sees the club as an extension of Femme Fire’s mission to foster inclusivity. Hosting a Palestinian cookbook introduced her to unfamiliar ingredients while providing space for Palestinian members to share their culinary heritage. “Food brings us closer,” says Nicolle. “It’s an act of caring, a way to share pieces of ourselves.”

Conscious Cooking: Amy Cardin, Southern Horticulture
Taking time to get focused and grounded in the kitchen helps horticulturalist Amy Cardin find energy and balance during some of the most challenging parts of her day, especially after long work hours. “I head straight to my matchbox to light the beeswax candles — one taper candle that sits upon our dining table and the other that sits near my inherited cutting board in the kitchen,” she says. “I prefer our house lights to stay low this time of year. Both candles stay lit until our dinner dishes are done, and the kitchen is “closed.”

She’s an intuitive kitchen herbalist and incorporates garlic into her meals, especially during the winter season. Smushing garlic on her kitchen knife, peeling it and then chopping, all take more of a conscious effort than simply dashing dried garlic powder into a dish. Adding fresh home-grown herbs is another must for every meal she prepares. “Walking outside to my garden bed and planting my bare feet in my backyard earth reminds me that I am doing the best I can,” says Cardin. “Our meals are prepared slow and steady after a busy workday. Our well-being depends on the choices we make every day. Leftover scents of garlic and blown out beeswax candles give me closure and a fresh beginning to a new day.”

Whether brewing coffee, breathing deeply or cooking with intention, rituals offer a way to reclaim presence in a fast-paced world. By dedicating time to small, mindful acts, we create space for connection — with ourselves and others. In a world that rewards speed, slowing down becomes an act of defiance. But it’s also a gift, turning ordinary moments — like sipping coffee, kneading dough or sharing soup — into extraordinary celebrations of life.