I'm Italy Mone, and this is the Slowdown.

I often think about the people in my life who have taught me not just certain habits or

ways to do a certain thing, but how to actually live.

I am thinking now of my friend, Kristen, who encouraged me to quit my job as the creative

services director of travel and leisure and modeled a creative life on the edges.

She teaches me freedom and how to hold on to it.

And I think of my friend, Tee, who, if I'm anxious or too serious about my obligations,

is always determined to make me celebrate.

She won't let me take joy for granted.

And if sometimes I start going, OK, this happened, let's start planning.

She will text me in all caps, but this is so exciting.

She won't let me forgo my joy, even when I'm trying to worry myself into a lather about

this or that.

Those people, those people who can remind you of how to face the world, live in the world

are so important.

Each time I stop and cook a meal, even a simple one, if I really enjoy it by turning on

the music and dancing in the kitchen, making it fun, making it feel like the end of one

part of the day and the beginning of another part of the day, I feel as if my mother and

my stepmom are with me, my grandparents too.

It isn't always the big lessons that stick with me, but a way of being.

I want to be someone that savers this life, and I have been encouraged all my life by

my best ones to do just that.

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