To Settle and Savor with Olivia Villanti

[Series] On Slow Living #6

December 8, 2024

"If you don't want to burn out, stop living like you're on fire.”

“Ha!” 

This was the sound which came from my entire being after reading that quote, Olivia, today’s contributor, included in her reflections. Not Ha!, what the hell!? But Ha!, that’s uncomfortably accurate.

The laughter was clear and punctuated. An outburst which often follows when you register, deep down, that something is rough and true. I could relate. There was a time, regardless of how hard I squeezed, the outcome was exhaustion. There are still times where my husband has to remind me of my drama addiction. To stop. To notice how it’s only binding up my insides or blurring my vision. What I’d considered a normal reaction had the potential of becoming explosive. The pattern regularly careened me into the proverbial pit of burn out. I am getting better. Therapy has helped. So has forgiveness. And most of all, not taking myself so damn seriously. It’s a good day when I can recognize my own ridiculousness and laugh. The tightness softens. I’m less likely to singe. 

Cultivating softness and curiosity, anything which would dilute the inferno, coincided with learning to be patient and tender. It supported the ability to pay attention to my mind and body. Embarking on this kind of exploration takes courage, resilience, and maybe more than anything, forgiveness. Slowing down became more about tuning the dial in order to match a deeper frequency. If I attempt to tune it with something or someone else (old patterns) there’s static. Static equals friction and where there’s friction, sparks inevitably fly.

However I think that passion, endurance, creativity, and pleasure require fire. Or some semblance of it. We are molded, burnished, and comforted with fire. Qualitatively it’s essential and can be less aggressive. It doesn’t always have to burn. 

Olivia’s got fire—that elemental heat required for creation and alchemy. I discovered Olivia, the founder and Creative Director of Chava Studio, an atelier based in MXCD shortly after their launch in 2020. It may have coincided with the Lucy Laucht collaboration, a photographer whose work and point of view, I adore. Chava’s signature, the classic button up, is iconic, super stylish, and has been one of my mainstays ever since I was a teenager. I was immediately drawn to her aesthetic, the tailoring, the craftsmanship, the source materials, and the blend of family histories. I’m also an advocate for that which is thoughtfully handmade—to sew, to mend, to make.

In 2021 as I settled into the anxiety induced isolation of the pandemic, Olivia’s newsletter became a ray of light (and still is). So did one of Chava’s beautifully tailored shirts. It was one of two new garments that I purchased for myself that year. It arrived, wrapped like a gift, with a handwritten note from Olivia, and smelling of rose petals. Wearing it makes for something soft and special.

Over the years she and I have continued our correspondence, a treasure that I don’t overlook. It reminds me that behind the slick online facades we interface with daily, there are real people with a fire to love, help, inspire, and share.

Thanks Olivia

Yours, Erin

What does slow living mean to you?

Slow living, for me, means being present to the current moment. It means getting out of a go, go, go mind-state and settling into a more peaceful one. It is something I have yet to master but aspire to. I am someone who really lives in my head and it’s exceptionally difficult for me to find pockets of calm. I often find myself analyzing, scrutinizing and ruminating…all qualities antithetical to slow living. 

I did a yoga class yesterday where they shared this quote "If you don't want to burn out, stop living like you're on fire.” I think it was by Brené Brown. Which really got me thinking because I have to admit, I truly live with a sense of urgency in everything I do, despite the fact that I run a slow fashion company. I think that aligning myself with what I internally know to be the best way for my mind and body—to settle and savor, even when things are uncomfortable or scary—is my life’s work. I will probably have to constantly be working towards it, undoing whatever set me on fire long long ago. 

What's one thing (action, mindset, ritual, habit, etc.) that's essential to maintaining it in your day to day life?

So I definitely haven’t achieved it but the moments I find myself closest to it are through exercise, music and creative flow. I love going to concerts and being in communion with a group of people and I love going for walks and listening to music. It’s when I feel most alive and closest to my natural state. 

How do you ensure that a little bit of wildness and or nature remains close?

I live within walking distance to Chapultepec Park in Mexico City. It’s the city’s largest park and the area we are closest to is called the forest. There’s a lake there that I often walk to and watch the ducks and fish and heron early in the mornings when there are very few people there and the air smells untouched by humans.