This is Optimal Living Daily, episode 783, It's Okay to be Happy with a Quiet Life, by Brian Gardner of nosidebar.com, and I'm Justin Malek. Happy Thursday, and welcome to the podcast where I simply read blogs to you for free, usually, sometimes books, like tomorrow, all with permission from the authors, free of charge, and all with the hope of helping you optimize your life. Today's post comes from No Sidebar, which is more of a collaborative site. There are a bunch of contributors there, but today's post is from the creator of No Sidebar himself, Brian Gardner.
Now let's get to the post, as we optimize your life. It's Okay to be Happy with a Quiet Life, by Brian Gardner of nosidebar.com. Quote, Sometimes you need to sit lonely on the floor in a quiet room in order to hear your own voice and not let it drown in the noise of others. Charlotte Erickson.
We live in a world where busyness is king. We're so busy glorifying how busy we are, we miss out on experiencing the moments that matter. And while we're so busy making a living, we forget to make a life, which is quite tragic. Here's a sobering truth, busyness crushes our soul, and we should focus more on reducing the number of things on our calendar than adding to it.
The key to removing busyness is simple. Live intentionally and identify areas in our life we can replace with quiet time. After all, the white space is where the magic happens. And who isn't down for a little magic?
How comparison is the thief of joy. Quote, Envy is ever joined with the comparing of a man's self. And where there is no comparison, no envy. Sir Francis Bacon.
When we compare ourselves to others, we set ourselves up to add more into our life. More money, more cars, more houses, and more stuff. We've all victim to the old adage of keeping up with the Joneses, which prevents us from living the life we really want to live. The problem is that we typically compare our worst to their best, which really paints a bleak picture.
Joshua Becker of Becoming Minimalist shares how comparison is the thief of joy and of a quiet life. Quote, Too many people live their lives without intentionality or thought. They rarely find a quiet moment to sit in meditation or solitude and examine their life, who they are, and who they are becoming. Unquote.
He encourages us to stop comparing our lives and start living them. The importance of a quiet life. Quote, Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you. Anne Lamott.
I'm convicted of this all the time. Many of us, including me, suffer from FOMO, the fear of missing out. We're simply afraid if we don't attend that event, don't sign up for that committee, or don't enroll our kids in that sport, we'll miss out on something. We think there's happiness to be had, joy to be experienced, and moments to be made.
Yes, there might be some truth to this, but who's to say the moments of solitude or quiet time won't measure up or even exceed those altogether? I love what Katrina Kenison shares in her essay, Why You Must Have Time Alone. Quote, In solitude, we see more clearly, alone in moments of prayer or meditation or simply in stillness. We breathe more deeply, see more fully, hear more keenly.
We notice more and in the process, we return to what is sacred. Unquote. Do yourself a favor and reclaim margin in your life. It might make a world of difference and bring you happiness because you are worthy of it.
My minimalism is the answer. Quote, I am pursuing minimalism. I know this to be true. I want less and I want simplicity and I want to spend my days connecting and caring, not consuming and completing.
Aaron Lochner. I don't know about you, but that sounds really appealing to me. Isn't this the kind of life you want to live? It's definitely the kind of life I want to live.
Minimalism doesn't have to be about living in a tiny house with only a few shirts in your closet. Minimalism is about paring down and focusing on the things that are important. Or as Marie Kondo says, the ones that bring us joy. Here's how Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus define minimalism.
Quote, Minimalism is a tool that can assist you in finding freedom. Freedom from fear, freedom from worry, freedom from overwhelm, freedom from guilt, freedom from depression, freedom from the trappings of the consumer culture we've built our lives around. Real freedom. Unquote.
I believe we all want to incorporate some level of minimalism into our life and experience the freedom that Joshua and Ryan talk about. And it's important for us to know there isn't a right or wrong way to do it. Annie Dillard says, Quote, How we spend our days is how we spend our lives. Unquote.
It starts with the decision to live more intentionally and to make quiet time a priority. Each day is just as important as the next in creating the life we imagine. Experience the quiet life. Here's the bottom line.
It is not selfish to want time for yourself. It is not selfish to want moments where you can leave the world behind and recapture the magic. I encourage you today to find one, just one area in your life that you can make a change. Take one small step towards a quiet life.
So turn it off. Put it down. Do not open it. And do not answer it.
For once, put yourself first. Love yourself and make yourself a priority. Even for just one day, you deserve everything. Every part of the life you are after.
You just listened to the post titled, It's Okay to be Happy with a Quiet Life by Brian Gardner of nosidebar.com. I'm constantly thinking about how to optimize my health. What supplements to take. Hours of sleep.
What my diet should focus on. Superpower finally takes the guessing out of it. One simple lab test covers over 100 biomarkers and their app gives you a complete picture of your heart, liver, hormones, metabolism, even environmental toxins. Plus, it used to cost $499.
Right now, it's just $199. And head to superpower.com and use code OLD at checkout for an additional $20 off your membership. So in tomorrow's show, I'll be narrating a book excerpt, an entire chapter actually. It's rare that we do books, but I like to mix it up here and there.
And speaking of, I got a lot of positive responses about the minimalist book excerpts I played a little while back when I was sick. A lot of people wrote in asking to hear the next chapter, so I will do that. I don't know when yet because I like to save it when things get a little hectic or if I'm sick and I need a break from narrating. But I'll be sure to play the next chapter for you, especially since the first one ended with a little bit of a cliffhanger.
So stay tuned. Have a very happy Thursday and I'll see you tomorrow with a book excerpt and where your optimal life awaits.