How I Stay Sane in Chaos

Posted on by Lara

For those of you who know me, I am sure that it will not come as a surprise to you that I welcome chaos. I like a challenge. I like to fix things. Being bored is my worst nightmare. I have not had many boring jobs in my life, but the ones that I have were the worst. The constant watching of the clock. Trying to make up things to do. Organizing folders for the 12th time that week. Just shoot me now…

Like many of you, I also take a lot of ownership over my projects. I feel as though the things I accomplish are a direct reflection of me, so I want them to meet the high standards that I have put in place for myself. That also means that by nature I have a terrible work-life balance and I am constantly struggling with how to monitor it. [insert Millennial stereotype here].

Early on in my career, I let my work take over. Granted, I was working a (more) than full-time job plus going to grad school in the evenings, which made it extra challenging to make time for myself. I felt as though I lost three years of investing into people, which is ultimately what makes life rewarding. When I wasn’t working or in class, I was at a networking event or meeting with the right people to help teach me how to be a better business woman. When I graduated, I was incredibly proud of my hard work, dedication and accomplishments, but I also had an epiphany that I needed to shift my priorities. I had not let myself enjoy the things that were really important to me. Ever since, I have been working to create the life that I want and have learned a lot in the process. There are a few things that have really stuck with me over the years…

Never Respond With “I’m busy, but good.”

My least favorite response to “how are you?” is “I’m busy, but good!” Everyone is busy. No one has enough time. Everyone is stressed. In America, we are expect to work hard, not to settle, and to sweat, bleed and kill for what we want. When you think about it, it’s actually more difficult to respond to that question with something meaningful. But what would happen if everyone actually thought and answered with something that inspired the person that they were talking to?

Although I do not always have the perfect response to that infamous “how are you?” question, I have challenged myself to choose a different answer other than “busy” to remind myself that being busy is not what I want my life goal to be. If I cannot respond to that question with something meaningful, then I should probably reevaluate what I am spending my time doing. I want to be able to tell the person that I am interacting with that I actually heard the question and am going to respond in a thoughtful way.

I’m going to pull out the nerdy marketer in me here, but it’s kind of like when you create a super generic tagline that says, “We are changing the world, one life at a time.” That tagline could be for any organization in the world. It says nothing about what you are actually doing. I don’t wan to be a generic tagline. I want to actually connect with people.

What I have found from this practice is that it brings life into perspective and helps remind me to be proud and celebrate my accomplishments. A wise person once told me, celebrate everything, often. This is one way to do that.

Breath Deeply

If there is anything that I have learned that has transcended all areas of my life, it is breathing exercises. I first started learning about breathing when I began taking Pilates classes 3 or 4 years ago. If you are not familiar with Pilates, it is similar to yoga, but focuses on core strength and building muscle. For those of us who want to feel sore after a work out, it’s a great alternative to yoga. Similar to yoga, each movement in the class is associated with an inhale or exhale. You begin building a habit of breathing deeply, especially when you are experiencing something challenging, which increase oxygen intake to your body and brain.

After developing that habit in Pilates, I subconsciously began applying it to running. When I would get to that point in a run where I did not want to go on any further and all I wanted to do was quit, I would find myself taking really deep breaths, which inevitably calmed me down and gave me the strength to push through. Then, I started working with an amazing career coach and she suggested the same thing for the work place. So when I am about to go into a meeting that I know will be stressful or at times of the day where I can feel myself getting overwhelmed, I make time to pause and take a few deep breaths. It sounds so simple, but if you start doing it regularly, you will be amazed by the power of it.

Do Something for Myself Every Day

Most of you know that running is my thing. It’s my favorite addiction. Running gives me time to be alone, think about whatever I want to, process the day, get the endorphins going and keep me in shape. It could be running, reading a book, sitting silently by the fireplace, taking a walk, cooking a meal or whatever helps me relax, but at the very least, I try to do something for myself every single day. There is enough weighing me down and causing me stress, so remembering to squeeze in those things that are light and carefree help bring balance to the other more intense parts of my life. These moments can be life changing.

Remind Myself that It’s Just a Job

Don’t get me wrong, I love my job. I find an incredible amount of satisfaction in knowing what we accomplish day in and day out. I love that I work for a company that is focused on social good, which couldn’t be more perfectly aligned with my values.

With that said, knowing my personality, I tend to internalize every project and make it a part of me. Which means that if the project fails, then I fail. And therefore, I tend to pour my heart and soul into everything I do, because I want it to be the best. This inevitable creates a stressful dynamic where I put an incredible amount of pressure on myself to do things perfectly. And inevitably, I do not do everything perfectly… Then, when I take a step back and think about how I would talk to myself if I were a friend of mine, I would say, “How the hell could you possibly expect to be perfect all of the time? That’s not fair to you.”

Life is a constant growth path, I will always be learning and improving. But a part of that process is to give myself grace. And as a part of how I do that, I remind myself that it’s just a job. As much as I love what I do, at the end of the day, it is my work. There will always be work. It’s a liberating exercise and helps me enjoy my time outside of work more as well.

Stay Organized

If I do not feel organized in my job, I am a disaster. For example, Achieve recently switched email providers and it took me a solid two months to get used to the new system and to this day, I am sure that I lost track of things during that process. It is a daily challenge to monitor my organization structure, analyze, revisit and revise the process to make sure I am being as efficient and detailed as possible. With that said, there are so many great tricks that I have learned to stay organized in my job, which also happen to reduce my stress level. I will be writing a full blog post on this soon, but in the mean time, here are a two of my favorite tips.

Inbox Zero

This concept was introduced to me by my friend and former co-worker Katie Pellerin and it has literally changed my life. It’s simply a way to organize your emails, but here is how it works:

  • Create four folders: Reply, Action, Waiting for, and Someday
  • A few times a day go into your inbox and filter your emails into those folders. For example, if you get an email asking you a question that you only need to respond to, that will go into the “Reply” folder. Then, when you actually have a moment to sit down and go through them all, go through your reply folder and reply to all of the questions. Same thing for the “Action” folder. If it requires you to go and do something, like collect a file and send it back to the person, the email would go into the “Action” folder.
  • The “Waiting For” folder is what changes everything. Every time you send an email to someone asking them for something, you BCC yourself and stick that email into the “Waiting For” folder. Then you can easily keep track of all of the things that people owe you and send follow up emails as necessary to collect what you need.
  • The “Someday” folder is for things that are not urgent that you want to look at eventually, such as an article.

This structure has helped me from losing emails, forgetting what I am waiting for from someone else and has reduced the amount of time that I spend on email in any given day. It’s a game changer.

Evernote

Ever since I was a kid, my family would make fun of me for making lists. I would create packing lists, lists of toys that I wanted, list of what I needed to do that day, lists of homework assignments, and the list goes on (pun intended). Well guess what, now it’s part of my job to create lists so it paid off! Take that family!

With Evernote, you can structure it however you want, but I will show you how I do it so that you can visualize how it works. You can create Notebooks that have a collection of notes within it, so there structure of larger notebooks that I have is this:

Evernote

Within each notebook, I have a note for the specific project. So in the “Business Development” notebook I have a note for each potential client that I have been talking to so that I can keep track of what happened in past conversations. I keep all client notes in one note so that I never wonder what happened to that piece of paper that I had from a meeting six months ago.

A few other great things about Evernote:

  • It syncs with all of your devices, so I can access my notes on my phone, iMac or laptop.
  • You can create check lists within your note.
  • You can share your note with other people (even if they are not on Evernote).
  • You can use Evernote when you are offline and it will sync once you are online again.

I would love to hear your thoughts and tips on how you reduce stress, handle chaos and manage unrealistic life expectations. Give me your thoughts!

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Climbing Ijen

Posted on by Lara

Ijen

I recently returned from a trip to Indonesia, which was easily one of the most amazing trips that I have ever taken. Before going, I knew little about the country and what to expect, and even though I did my research ahead of time, nothing compares to jumping into the experiences feet first. I started off the trip by visiting the beaches in Bali (which were full of Australian tourists), but if I were to do it over again, I would skip the beaches and focus on exploring more of the country. Beaches are the same everywhere, so if you want a nice beach, just pick a location that is cheap and close by to where you live. For me, since I was traveling across the globe, it was far more rewarding to experience the unique landscape and culture of Indonesia, such as traveling from city to city, experiencing the temples and hiking the volcanos. The most incredible experience of the trip was definitely hiking the Ijen Crater in Banyuwangi on Java island.

Ijen is one of two highly acidic sulphur craters in the world and it was unlike anything I have ever experienced. There are a few things that are good to know before you hike Ijen.

  1. Hike for the sunrise: I was there during rainy season, but since it doesn’t usually rain in the morning, hiking for sunrise was a good choice. We left the hotel at midnight and started the hike around 2am, which allowed us around 3 hours to get to the top, but we made it to the top in about 1.5 hours. It takes another hour or so to hike down and back into the valley to see the blue flame.
  2. Hike during rainy season: Rainy season ended up to be a good time of year to hike because it is actually less slippery than trying to hike up the dry dirt during dry season.
  3. Bring googles: It sounds geeky, but I wish that I had googles to protect my eyes from the sulphur smoke.
  4. Bring a warm drink: Nothing sounded better than having a warm drink at the top of the brisk crater, so if I was going to do it again, I would have brought a thermos of hot chocolate.
  5. Be in shape: If you don’t exercise regularly, this probably isn’t the climb for you. It was tough on the legs, both from hiking up the steep incline, but also hiking down into the valley where the blue flame was.
  6. Plan for (at least) 5 hours total: It took 1.5 hours to get to the top, another 25 minutes to hike into the valley to see the blue flame, then 25 min back up, we took at least 30 minutes for pictures at various points, and then a little over an hour to hike down to the bottom.
  7. Hire a driver: it cost about 600,000 rupiah for someone to drive us from our hotel in Banyuwangi to the crater, which is less than $50. We had the hotel arrange for a driver for it and it worked out great.
  8. Hire a guide: Even though the climb isn’t difficult to navigate (there’s only one path), it was helpful to have the guide to show us how to get down to the blue flame and show us where to be during the sunrise to see the crater. The guide cost 200,000 rupiah, which is $15.
  9. There will be crowds: Don’t be surprised by the mass of people who will also be climbing up to see the crater. I would say that at the top there was at least 50-75 other people.
  10. There is coffee at the bottom: This was a significant motivator for me to get through the night of hiking. Ask for “kopi su su” which means coffee with sugar.

The best part about Ijen was the element of surprise. There were so many moments were I was overwhelmed by things that I was not anticipating. The hike up the volcano starts when it is pitch black. You really can’t see a thing. In fact, within the first 15 minutes, I fell into a 3 foot hole. Ha. Go figure. So you spend 1.5 to 2 hours using a flashlight, carefully watching your steps, up the steep slopes, not knowing what you are going to find at the top. It’s not much more than that on the way up. I consider myself a fit person, but the hike was challenging. Even though the air was cool, I was hot and sweaty at the half-way point and my legs were definitely feeling it. When we got to the top, it was still dark and we hiked down into the valley where the sulphuric blue flame was. The crater is so acidic and toxic that it creates a large blue flame at the base where miners collect the sulphur. The flame is fascinating to see, so if you are going all the way up there, you mind as well go when it’s dark to see the flame. After being in the valley for 10 or 15 minutes, the wind shifted and we quickly got attacked by sulphur smoke. Looking back, I laugh because it was mass chaos as everyone started coughing and running from the smoke. There were people hunched over couching and spitting onto the ground, completely blind from the smoke. It felt like a horror movie where everyone was desperately trying to get out of danger, but there were so many people that no one could move fast enough. My eyes were watering like crazy and I couldn’t see, but I knew we had to get out of there if it was going to get better.

The climb back up from the flame was steep and slippery and one missed step would leave you tumbling down the side of the mountain. It was incredible to watch local Indonesian people hike wearing flip-flops or sandals, where I was struggling even with my hiking boots. Once we got back up to the peak, we sat down and rested, ate some food and waited for the sun to rise. Around 5am we started to see some light and watched as the sulphuric lake began to appear from the darkness. As soon as I started to see it, I wanted to take pictures and capture the vastness of the lake, but as it got lighter and lighter from the sun, I was more and more in awe of the color of the lake. The sun continued to rise and the texture of the cliffs began to emerge, which was just absolutely incredible. One of my favorite parts was watching the people lined up at the very top of the peak (which was even higher than where I was) and knowing that each of those tiny figures were experiencing the same awe that I was experiencing. There’s something so pure and humbling about having that kind of connection and experience with strangers. Appreciating beauty is such a universal bond.

After lots of pictures, we eventually started the hike down. I enjoyed this part of the trek almost as much as watching the lake emerge from the darkness, because I was so shocked by all of the beauty that we had been passing on the way up, but had no idea because it was pitch black. The mountains were lush and laced with mist curling around its figure. The air was still brisk and lively, accented with notes of birds singing softly in the distance. I was on a hiking-high the whole way down and got lost in the beauty of the landscape. It was unreal.

Ijen3

Once we got to the bottom, we were able to get a hot cup of coffee before heading back to the hotel. I should have slept the rest of the day after hiking all night, but I could not shake the adrenaline rush of the experience. I highly recommend to add hiking Ijen to your bucket list, if it is not on there already.

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Things I learned from Downsizing

Posted on by Lara

Downsizing

Downsizing from 1000 square feet with a garage and basement to a less than 600 square foot studio apartment was challenging. It is in my nature to enjoy overcoming such challenges, so I felt very accomplished at the end of it, but the entire process absolutely sucked. I spent nearly six weeks of nights and weekends cleaning out drawers, closets, cabinets, boxes… And over that time brought at least six car loads of stuff to Goodwill, plus sold dozens of random knick-knacks and furniture. I know that everyone can relate to the feeling that it is so easy to accumulate stuff and it seems as though no one knows how it happens. It just happens.

At the end of the day, I have no regrets downsizing. I’m guarantee that no one comes out of the downsizing process feeling like they miss the things that they gave up. Personally, I feel a stronger bond with the things that I did keep and feel and that each one has a value and place in my home. There is nothing extra, because each piece was carefully chosen. Everyone should go through this process at least once in their life. It helps to do it during a transitional period as it can be incredibly therapeutic.

If you are thinking about downsizing, here are a few things that I learned:

1. If you have not used it in a year, you don’t need it.

There are so many things in our lives that we keep around because we think we will use them or will need them in the future. For me, I had a shit ton of art materials left over from college and there was a part of me that didn’t want to give them up because I felt like I was giving up the idea that I was an artist. I had to come to terms with the fact that even though I am still creative and express art in a different way, I am no longer and painter like I used to be. I needed to let go of that piece of my life and move on to what I am good at now. I hadn’t touched my oil paints, brushes or watercolors in years, so it meant that it was time to give them to someone who would use them.

2. I only use a fraction of the space in my house.

Part of the reason that I decided to downsize in the first place was because over time it became very clear that I was only using a fraction of my home on a daily basis. I would come home from work, cook a meal, and spend the rest of my evening in my bedroom with my pets. I hardly even used my livingroom. I started to wonder why I even had a dining room. Or a basement. Or a garage. Or an upstairs. Then I started reading blogs about small living spaces and how it forces you to use community spaces more. As a huge advocate of sharing resources, I was sold. Small living, it is.

3. Community parks are better than having your own yard.

It is bizarre to me that it is a part of the American dream to have your own yard, garden and lawn, which to me just means more work on the weekends. Instead, I seek out community space gems that provide the peaceful seclusion of a yard, but also allow for meeting your neighbors and building a stronger community. My new apartment has a fenced-in park across the street where I take my dog to play fetch. Don’t even get me started on the benefits of knowing your neighbors – that’s another blog post in itself. There is also a small pagoda in the park where I could host parties if I wanted to. Less work, less time, less money, more connection to your neighbors. It seems like a no-brainer to me.

4. Small living space means less cleaning.

Before I moved to the smaller apartment, it was SO challenging to keep my space clean. Granted, I probably have higher “clean” standards than the average person, but I couldn’t figure out how to be a single working person and also live in a clean place. It came to the point where I felt like I had no choice but to hire a cleaning person. I figured that the cost of what I was paying that person was worth the 2 hours that I would spend cleaning it myself. Those are billable hours, right? In my new apartment I can clean it top to bottom in less than 30 minutes. That saves me $150 a month. Pretty awesome.

5. Figure out your deal breaker.

Just like relationships, there is one thing in a living space that you must have to be happy and have a high quality of life. Mine is to have a deck. Instead of having a full yard that I need to take care of and spend my weekends maintaining, I made it a priority to have a deck. I absolutely LOVE being outside and feeling the outdoor air and sunshine, so this was an important part of my search. The benefit of a deck is that it doesn’t need maintenance like a yard does, but you can add things like planters and flower boxes if you want to – the nice part is that you can create as little or as much of a green space on your deck as you want to. During the warm months, I spend at least 80% of my time home on the deck (at least in the warm months). Figure out what really makes you happy and focus on that. If you have too many things, nothing will really bring you that intense joy that you crave. Having less makes you more grateful for what you have.

I would love to hear your thoughts, tips, and advice for downsizing. What are your stories?

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How to Live Without a Car

Posted on by Lara

Car-Free-Bicycle

I recently got rid of my car and am trying to be car-free for at least the summer. This is the second time I have gone an extended period without a car; the first time was for 6 months. A few things that I learned about the process:

Step 1: Prepare for everyone to feel sorry for you.

“Oh, you’re going to WALK to downtown? Do you need a ride? Just let me drive you, it’s so far to walk…” As much as love how people care for each other in Indianapolis, I live 1.5 miles from my office, downtown and a max of 3 miles from practically anywhere I want to go. In most major cities, people walk 20 minutes to the subway or their bus stop. I know it’s foreign in Indianapolis, but I promise you, I can walk and I will survive. Not having a car is part of my expressing that more people should walk/bike/car-share. We do live in an urban environment, after all. In addition, when I choose walking or biking over taking a car, I am choosing not to contribute to carbon emissions. So you are actually doing the planet a favor by letting me make that decision.

Step 2: Make a plan for grocery shopping and only buy what you need for the week.

There were certain things that I had to set in place to make my grocery shopping work. First, I do have a Kroger near my house that I can walk to and I can get most of my essential food items there. This is very convenient place to shop. However, being a vegetarian, there are certain things that Kroger doesn’t carry, such as tofu, other meat-free foods, and some organic products that I want. For Kroger grocery shopping, I walk two blocks and I had a little metal cart that I can roll with me to pile my goods into. For the items that I need from somewhere else, I bike to that location. I usually go once a week to a specialty store, whether it be Pogues Run or Marsh or somewhere where I can have more organic and vegetarian options. This forces me to be strategic when I go to those places, because there is only so much that can fit into my backpack. So make a plan for what you need to buy and think about just the next week only. Part of what makes small living work is that you don’t store up for the “just in case” scenarios, you live much more with a day-to-day mentality. Don’t over buy. Buy what you need for that week.

Step 3: Plan to borrow a car for things like doctor’s appointments.

The nice thing about doctor appointments is that they are usually during the day when everyone else is working. So it makes it fairly easy to ask a friend if you can borrow their car while they are at work to make it to your appointment. Take the time to fill their gas and maybe vacuum out their car as a thank you.

Step 4: Anything that can be delivered should be delivered.

There is an incredible amount of options for things being delivered to your home. And if you can’t get something delivered, keep recommending it and that company may eventually consider it. I do most of my shopping online, especially for specialty items, and I get my dog food delivered to my house. This will save you driving time, extra hassle and is usually free or very low cost.

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5 Things that Living in Beijing Taught Me About Simple Living

Posted on by Lara
1. Only buy the groceries that you need for the next few days.

When I first moved back to the United States, I would walk into a grocery store and immediately be filled with anxiety. To this day, I am still overcome with this strong desire to just turn around and leave. What stresses me out about grocery stores in the US? There are SO MANY OPTIONS. Not only is the building 20 times the size of most grocery stores in Beijing, but there is an ENTIRE isle devoted just to cereal. To make things worse, you might have the same kind of cereal, but then there are also four different brands that you can chose from, even though they may all taste exactly the same. It seemed like complete overkill and made my decision-making process a nightmare. I like to weigh my options, which often translated into me pacing the cereal isle, picking the four or five cereals that I liked and then very carefully weighing the pros and cons between ingredients, price, flavor, and brand before choosing one of them. And that was my process for just one item.

In Beijing, refrigerators are small, street vendors bring in fresh produce every day, and grocery stores are small and have limited options. In addition, we did not have a car, so I had to rely on public transit, bike, or walking when I needed to buy groceries. I learned a lot from that lifestyle; for one, it makes the most sense to just buy the food that you need for the next few days. This makes it easier to plan meals, since you are only thinking about a few meals at a time. Less planning, check. It also makes it easy to walk to and from the market because you are only carrying a few bags at a time. Health benefit, check. You are also less likely to have food/produce go bad. Less wasteful, check.

I still have anxiety about large grocery stores, but living in downtown Indy fortunately gives me the option of going to smaller stores such as Pogues Run Grocer, the farmer’s market, Marsh O’Malias and Kroger at 16th street, which are all much more tolerable. If I HAVE to go to Target, I bring a friend for support.

2. Getting around town takes more planning.

Living without a car is not impossible, but it does take more planning. If I was going across town, I had to plan in extra time to factor in the bus potentially running late, traffic or having to wait for the train. When I chose to bike, I had to allow myself extra time because it would take a little bit longer than public transit. The great part about biking in Beijing is that there is an entire car-sized lane devoted to bikers, which is separated by a median in the road. Brilliant. Either way, it made for very enjoyable ways to get around town and to this day, I prefer all of those methods to driving a car.

I take the bus in Indianapolis several times a week, mostly when it is raining or too cold for me to bike or walk. The buses in Indy are not quite as reliable as the buses in Beijing and do not come as often, but the bus system has improved tremendously over the past 6 years that I have lived here. I mostly use the 2 and 17 to get to and from work and have had very little issues the past 4 years that I have been using those two routes. It is about a 3-minute walk from my house to either stop and a 5-minute walk from where it drops me downtown to my office. Pretty awesome, if you ask me. Be sure to arrive at the bus stop at least 5 minutes before the bus is scheduled to get there, to make sure you don’t miss it.

3. Travel light.

When I would leave the house for the day, I usually wasn’t going to be coming home until dinner or sometimes later, so it was important to pack light. If I didn’t, then my shoulders would be burning by the end of the day. I ditched the idea of giant purses that had anything I could possibly need in them and instead defaulted to a small backpack or shoulder bag. But it is amazing to me how little I actually needed throughout the day; here are the essentials:

  • Makeup for touching up throughout the day. Especially because it got hot traveling on public transit all over the city.
  • Compact umbrella or poncho. I know ponchos are super ugly, but when it’s down pouring, I was glad to have it.
  • A notebook or book. Being on transit was a great time to draw, make lists, or read a book. It forced me to stay on top of current news or refresh my mind with literature.
  • Gum. Chinese food is notorious for having a lot of garlic, so this often came in useful. However, this applies to many cultures and types of food.
  • Headphones and iPod. Sometimes I just wanted to zone out and listen to music. The hustle and bustle of a city can be a lot to take in constantly, but music is always able to bring some peace to chaos.
  • Asprin. There is a lot of pollution in Beijing, and although this is not necessarily true everywhere, it’s a good idea to have a pain reliever on hand in case you need it throughout the day.
  • Small sunscreen. This is really only applicable in the summer, but no matter what city you are in, protect you skin and put on sunscreen.

Throw in your wallet, phone, and keys are you are set for the day!

4. Focus on your experiences, rather than “stuff.”

When I lived in Beijing, there were a lot of things that we could not get. For example, if I found a Dr. Pepper at a grocery store, I would buy it, hide it, and then secretly drink that instead of the coke that everyone else was drinking at whatever occasion came up next. It wasn’t so much about the Dr. Pepper itself, it was about the experience of drinking something that was so special and rare. I would only drink it with ice to make sure that the experience was as authentic as possible and savor every sip. I never just downed a Dr. Pepper, because I wanted the enjoy it as long as possible.

I also spent a lot of my time just exploring. There was so much to see in Beijing that it never got old to just jump on a random bus and see where it would take me. Sometimes I would discover beautiful old houtongs or an instrument store that I didn’t know existed. Especially when I was biking, if I was passing something that looked intriguing, I was often able to stop and take it in. Cell phones were barely used at that time, so other than having my headphones in, I was constantly absorbing the world around me. I knew I wasn’t going to live in Beijing forever, so being there taught me to enjoy what I had in that moment, be present, and let the joy of that point in time really resonate with me. These are the memories that are far more vivid than any of the stuff I owned at the time.

5. You can make community spaces your peaceful place.

One of my favorite times of day in Beijing is the morning. If you wake up early enough, when the sun is just rising and walk around the streets, it’s as if the world is coming alive in a slow motion. There might be a group of elderly people practicing tai chi in the park with intention and grace. The movements they make are slow, methodical and beautiful as they switch poses in sync with one another. Old men walk the streets with a birdcage in each hand, swinging the birds back and forth as they walk. Vendors begin to set up their stands at the market, carefully laying out a canvas cloth and meticulously placing each fruit and vegetable in rows, showing off the array of beauty and color. The canal is still and there is a slight mist rising off of the water.

You might think that Beijing is an overwhelming place to live because of the 20 million people who reside within the city. Although that is certainly the case at times, no matter where you are, you can find retreats and peaceful spots. One of my favorite things about simple living is that it gives you an excuse to get out, explore, find seclusion somewhere, to find your thinking spot. I am not a fan of the American mentality that everyone should shut themselves up in their homes and live privately with their private yard and privacy fence. I thrive off of the idea of living together, experiencing together, even if we are not interacting, soak in the energy of the world around you. Take a moment to feel that morning peace and let it sink into you. To me, that is much more powerful than trying to do that on your own.

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