I'm an engineer turned writer turned philosophy student. Join my weekly-ish treasure hunt for ideas that make life a little less sucky. No soulless blah. No advice to get up at 5 am. Just some succinct (and often unconventional) thoughts. New posts every Thursday - if my writer's block allows it.
The importance of living a boring life
Every second Thursday, I send out my thoughts on intentionality and fulfillment in life. I share exclusive updates, intriguing ideas, and meaningful content recommendations.
Today: The excitingly boring life and a few thoughts on happiness
Hey there!
This week, I dug up some of the worst jokes I've heard in a long time -- and for some reason, they're also some of the funniest jokes I've heard in a long time.
- What do you call a dinosaur with a great vocabulary? A thesaurus.
- What do you call a cow in an earthquake? A milkshake.
- What do you call an acid with an attitude? A-mean-o-acid.
Yup, I'll see myself out.
Update/Idea: The importance of living a boring life
I've been living in Porto for two months now and I'm starting to be really happy. Genuinely happy.
But it wasn't always like this.
Before moving here, I was full of excitement and anticipation. I expected it would be the magical solution to all of my problems. I thought, as soon as I would arrive here, I'd be ushered with rains of joy.
Of course, that never happened.
Instead, I went on a crazy roller coaster ride. I had an accident that cost me serious money. I got really sick. I became lonely. And as a result, I felt deeply frustrated and guilty. After all, this is all I ever wanted. I'm in the highly privileged position to live my dream life. So a daunting question started to ricochet through my skull:
Why am I not happy?
Two months in, I believe I found part of the answer: I wasn't living a boring life.
See, we always think we need something glamorous. Society and culture teach us we need to be successful, rich, adventurous, outgoing, or popular to live a happy life. I think the answer, at least for many people, is the opposite. Once we start living a boring life, we can define these blown up attributes for ourselves.
The key mechanism here is routine. And I hate that word because it's tainted by overblown self-improvement advice. So here's my favorite definition of the word by Oxford Learner's Dictionary:
You might think I'm mad. Who wants to live a boring life? Let me explain.
This morning I woke up around 8am without an alarm, did some yoga, took a hot-and-cold shower, and made some nutritious breakfast. Then, I left for my favorite coffee shop while listening to some music and my current audio book. Once I arrived there, it was time for my favorite part of the day: three hours of highly-focused writing under the influence of caffeine. When I arrived back home, I talked to a friend for a few hours, made dinner, and now I'm writing this newsletter while listening to soothing tunes.
It's deeply fulfilling.
Why? Because I achieved what I defined for myself. Not according to anyone else's expectations. I did some exercise, ate reasonably healthy, moved a tiny bit closer to my professional goals, and had a meaningful social interaction.
That's it.
That's all it takes for me to have a happy day.
Full disclosure, it's not like I do this every day and become perfectly happy. But I manage to get a day like this roughly every three days. In between, I switch up my routine and leave room for spontaneity because otherwise, it would wither like a plant without sunlight and water.
Maybe in two months, I'll discover that I need something completely else in life to be happy. But right now living the boring life is all I need.
So as Black Friday rolls around the corner, devouring us in a tornado of consumerism and phony marketing promises, I challenge you to ask yourself what your boring life looks like.
- If you had unlimited money, what would your daily routine look like?
- If you had accomplished your biggest professional milestone, what would your daily routine look like?
- If you had all the fame you ever wished for, what would your daily routine look like?
These are the questions we need to ask ourselves to live an excitingly boring life.
Content: A rodent's unrelenting quest for happiness and fulfillment
This is such an artistically rich and deeply thoughtful video. I wanted to share some comments that really got me thinking:
Enjoy the video. (And please take it easy on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and all the other crazy days we invented to buy stuff we don't need.)
Something to think about:
"Every man is happy until happiness is suddenly a goal" - Tame Impala
Happy Thanksgiving if you're celebrating!
Until next time,
Leo
Bonus: links to newest blog posts
- How to feel richer (without making more money)
- Struggling to find happiness? Aim for contentment instead
- 5 Grounding lessons I learned from living out of a 50L backpack
Thoughtful Thursday | Meditations on The Good Life
I'm an engineer turned writer turned philosophy student. Join my weekly-ish treasure hunt for ideas that make life a little less sucky. No soulless blah. No advice to get up at 5 am. Just some succinct (and often unconventional) thoughts. New posts every Thursday - if my writer's block allows it.
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