Joshua Becker's Blog, page 73

No Sidebar: Inspiration to Design a Simple Life

I’m excited to announce a new project of Becoming Minimalist: No Sidebar.

No Sidebar is a beautiful website dedicated to intentional and purposeful living. It was designed and created by Brian Gardner and has been publishing helpful articles since 2015.

From the very beginning, I have been impressed by the website’s quality and quantity—often recommending No Sidebar articles through Twitter, Facebook, and Weekend Reads. It’s a gift to the Internet.

When Brian approached me and asked if I was interested in taking over the website and overseeing the content posted on it, I immediately accepted. The website is an important voice in a busy, hectic world. I look forward to being part of it going forward.

No Sidebar is the newest project of Becoming Minimalist.

—

In the online world, a “sidebar” is the column(s) on the side of a website that usually features advertisements or other distracting elements. You’ve seen them a million times (and probably hate that they exist).

The phrase “No Sidebar” refers to web design that intentionally removes those distractions—leaving only the most valuable and important content visible to the reader. Becoming Minimalist is one such example, so is Zen Habits. Don’t they feel clean, calm, and relaxing?

In life, the same principle applies. When we remove noise and distraction and unneeded clutter in all its forms, we can focus more time and energy and attention on the things that matter most. We can design a simple life. It takes intention and hard work, but the result is always worth it.

—

One reason I am excited to take over No Sidebar is because it features a wide range of contributors from every walk of life. While I feature guest writers from time-to-time (and enjoy doing so), the Becoming Minimalist blog is my primary outlet for communication. I contribute 90% of the articles on this site and will continue to do so in the future.

No Sidebar, on the other hand, features different writers sharing their experiences with minimalism, focus, intentionality, and simple living. They provide expertise and experience and new angles to the important conversation of turning down the noise that disrupts the quiet of our heart and soul.

I enjoy highlighting and promoting new voices in the Modern Simplicity movement. No Sidebar offers a large platform to promote even more.

You will enjoy the articles. To get a good sense of the content, here is a good representation of what you’ll find:

The Difference Between Decluttering and MinimalismMy Simple, Imperfect Life is More Than Enough50 Simple Things You Need to Hear

We publish 2-3 high quality articles each week. I have found benefit and inspiration in them over the years—so will you.

No Sidebar is not limited to conversations about minimalism and owning less. But addresses a wide range of topics relevant to simple, focused living. That’s another reason I’m excited to be part of it.

(I’m also a little excited to be expanding my opportunity for impact in a world that needs to be reminded often there is more to life than filling it with as much stuff as you can).

If you want more inspiration to design a simple life, follow No Sidebar. You can do so in a number of ways:

Visit the website or receive articles directly in your inbox, sign up here to receive newly published blog posts by email.Follow No Sidebar on Facebook. With over 200,000 followers, it is a highly engaged community. You can also find No Sidebar on Twitter and Instagram.

Additionally, we’re always looking for new writers promoting simple, intentional living. You can submit articles for consideration right here: Write for Us.

If you are a writer promoting intentional living, we welcome your voice. We are always looking for quality contributors and would love to include you in the conversation.

I am not expecting any changes here on Becoming Minimalist. This website will continue to inspire and motivate people to own less and live more. We reach over 1M readers every month and I love the difference we are making.

But No Sidebar represents an opportunity to bring new voices into the conversation—and I can’t wait to see what happens when we do! Thanks for being part of it.

5 Concrete Steps to Take When You Hit a Slump on Your Decluttering Journey

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Erica Layne of The Life on Purpose Movement.

A few years ago, my mother-in-law gave us two giant boxes of photo albums from my husband’s childhood. We lived in a small place and I was admittedly less than eager to find somewhere to store two decades of school portraits, scouting badges, journals, and sports participation certificates. (Yep, she saved it all!)

But we found a place for the boxes, not just in the apartment we lived in then but the townhouse that came after that. Life felt too full at the time for us to devote the mental and emotional bandwidth to sorting through so much memorabilia.

When we moved again, though, I vowed as I lifted those boxes that it was time.

A couple of months ago, I sat on the carpet of my bedroom, the contents of those boxes fanned out around me. My husband and I spent hours squinting at pictures, deciding what to save and what to throw out—finally narrowing the collection down to a modest stack of photos and documents.

I had just hauled a huge bag out to the recycling bin when I came back inside and realized there was a third box. A smaller one, but still, a third box. 

When You’re Just Plain Done

At the moment, my husband and I were out of reserves. We couldn’t make one more decision that night without tipping over the edge and into Crazyland.

So we put a pin in it.

For… at least a month. 

That third box—pushed up against the wall of our bedroom—stared me down every time I woke up and every time I went to sleep. I just didn’t have it in me yet to crack it open.

I knew I needed to shake out my shoulders and take a rest before I tackled it again, and I was okay with that. But I remember a time earlier in my minimalism journey when I thought I wasn’t allowed to have slumps like this one—or when my decluttering slumps really set me back.

A reader named Amanda recently said this about her decluttering slumps:

“I have so much clutter that it gives me anxiety to start. Then when I do get started, I suddenly hit a brick wall, get anxiety AGAIN, and stop. Then I get discouraged and wait FOREVER to even try again. Can anyone else relate to this cycle?? You make good progress and then all your work goes down the drain and you’re back to square one. 

Inspiring Simplicity. Weekend Reads.

Minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of anything that distracts us from it. It requires a conscious decision because it is a countercultural lifestyle that stands against the culture of overconsumption that surrounds us.

The world we live in is not friendly to the pursuit of minimalism. Its tendencies and relentless advertising campaigns call us to acquire more, better, faster, and newer. The journey of finding simplicity requires consistent inspiration.

For that reason, I hope you will make an effort this weekend to find a quiet moment with a cup of coffee or tea and enjoy some of these hand-picked articles to encourage more simplicity in your life.

10 Habits Of People Who Never Have Clutter At Home | Mind Body Green by Emma Loewe. Decluttering your home is only half the battle! Keeping it looking clean and pristine in the long run takes some serious will power. Here, some of the cleanest people we know share the hacks and habits they use to keep their spaces eternally tidy.

Want to Take Control of your Digital Life? Start with Reclaiming Leisure Time | Fast Company by Cal Newport. If you begin decluttering the low‐value digital distractions from your life before you’ve convincingly filled in the void they were helping you ignore, the experience will be unnecessarily unpleasant at best, and a massive failure at worse.

The People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day | The Atlantic by Joe Pinkser. There is nothing wrong with this habit. In fact, there are many things right with it.

The Modern Trap of Turning Hobbies Into Hustles | Man Repeller by Molly Conway. It’s no surprise we feel pressure to monetize our spare time. The cult of busyness is one of the most toxic aspects of our culture.

A Helpful Guide to Becoming Unbusy | Joshua Becker on YouTube

How Social Media Influences Us to Buy

Social Media is a big part of our lives. At least, if you are to believe the statistics, it’s a big part of our lives:

There are 3.4 billion active social media users. Who, on average, have 7.6 social media accounts and spend 116 minutes a day on social media.91% of retail brands use two or more social media channels and 81% of all small and medium businesses use some kind of social platform.These numbers are growing with no expectation for their decline in the near future. Social media users grew by 320 million between September 2017 and October 2018—a new social media user every 10 seconds.

Social media has a significant impact on the way we live our lives. And, according to a recent article in The Washington Post, our friends’ posts are also compelling us to buy more and more.

There are a number of factors (both internally and externally) that compel us to consume in the society we live in. Social media is certainly one of the leading causes and it’s worthwhile to point out why.

Here is how social media influences us to buy:

Personal Spending is More Visible. This is the argument from the article above. It states, “Humans are social creatures, and we have a tendency to evaluate our own standing in life relative to how our friends and neighbors are doing. We want to keep up with the Joneses, and stay ahead of the Smiths. Because of this, when we see other people spending money, we have a tendency to think that we can — or should — be spending, too.” No doubt this is true! Seeing others spend money on things (houses, food, vacations), subtly prompts us to do the same.

More (and Better Targeted) Advertising. Every media platform provides opportunity for advertising (television, newspaper, radio, magazines, etc.) and each provide some level of targeting (a reader of SHAPE Magazinewill see different ads than a reader of National Geographic). But no platform in history has provided opportunity for targeted advertising like social media. As Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, (even Amazon) collect more and more personal data about us, the ads we see become more and more relevant as companies use that data to pick and choose who sees their ads.

Convenience of Shopping from Your Device. Social media advertising is also more effective because the opportunity to purchase is immediate. In the old days, if you saw an advertisement on television, you’d need to remember it for the next time you drove to the store. to buy it. This inconvenience slowed the effectiveness of those ads. But nowadays, the friction has been removed. We see an ad on social media and are immediately offered the opportunity to purchase the item in a matter of seconds with just a few clicks.

Chasing “Likes.” Not only does what we see about others on social media influence us to buy, but often times we buy because of what we want others to see about us. It’s just too easy to fall into the trap of chasing likes and followers on social media—the creators reward us for it. Nice things, trending products, fancy destinations, and fine food & drink play well on social media. Most of us know that, and spend more than we should, just to impress people on social media. But there are better ways to impress others.

The Fiction We Share Online. Social media feeds are fictionized versions of the real person. Think about it. Nobody posts photos from their bad-hair day on social media or shares their deepest struggles and problems. Instead, we present a mostly made-up version of ourselves to others. These fictionized versions of people that we encounter for two hours every day online paint an unrealistic version of what life looks like. When we begin comparing our lives to theirs, we begin chasing an idealized life—often by believing if we spend more, we can attain it.

The Negative Emotions Stirred Up by Social Media. The studies have been conducted and the research is in. Social media does not, on the whole, make us feel better about ourselves. For many of the reasons stated above, social media users tend to report higher levels of depression, loneliness, and lower self-esteem. These emotions of isolation and discontent often result in retail therapy or seeking to overcome our discontent with consumer-based purchases.

Influencers and Their Influence. It doesn’t take long for a new company or product to get recognized by making a splash on social media. Companies and brands who used to spend time and money and goodwill building a brand can accomplish it now in less than 24 hours. Influencers are available for hire and can almost immediately spark conversation around a new trend. But just because someone has paid a well-known influencer to take a picture with their new purse or line of shoes does not mean it is something needed in our life today—or ever.

Social media, it seems to me, is here to stay. And the platforms that are being built and expanding offer wonderful opportunities to enrich our lives.

But just like the invention of fire, it is going to take some time for society to figure how to use them for good and not harm. My hope with this article is to expose some of the dangers of social media—so we can all live a bit more intentionally going forward.

There’s Always a Reason to Wait Until Tomorrow.

Don’t wait for tomorrow, start today.

Is there a change you wish to bring about in your life?

Do you want to lose weight? Stop smoking? Declutter your home? Start a new hobby? Change your career? Reconcile a relationship?

There’s always a reason to wait until tomorrow—which is why you should make the change today.

Take losing weight, for example. We know we have a few pounds to lose, but it’s easy to find a reason to wait. We have that dinner party over the weekend… our birthday is in ten days… there’s that vacation with the family right around the corner… or your good friend is bringing over cookies for your Book Club later this afternoon…

So we convince ourselves to wait to make the positive change we know we should make.

Unfortunately, once the first reason passes, there is another one right around the corner. Now we’re one day closer to our Anniversary dinner, our Office party, or Easter candy going on sale… so we put off losing weight yet again.

We can see this same effect with countless healthy habits we should be embracing:

“I’ll stop watching so much tv… right after March Madness.” “I’ll start exercising… right after this busy season at work.” “I’ll start saving money… right after I replace this car.” “I’ll start going to bed earlier… right after this weekend.” “I’ll spend less time on my phone… right after I play this game.” “My schedule will slow down, right after…”

You see, there is always going to be a reason to wait until tomorrow.

But the best time to get started is today.

Regardless of the reasons you think you should, today is the very best day to make the change you’ve been needing to make.

But how? Here are some helpful ideas to get you started, right now, today:

1. Make one small step. Your first step in the right direction doesn’t need to be a big one. And you don’t need to be an expert to get started. Just make one small change in the right direction. Once you’ve got momentum in the right direction, the next step will be easier.

2. Remind yourself of all the reasons to start right now. Remember, if you start losing weight today, you’ll be thinner for Spring. If you start saving money now, you can probably save a certain amount of money by this specific date. If you stop smoking today, you’ll start to feel healthier by tomorrow. Rather than thinking of the excuses to not start, remind yourself of the reasons to begin.

3. The next time you feel the urge, read a helpful article. Reading about a habit is not the same as incorporating it into life, but it can be a helpful step. Years ago, I ran my first marathon because one evening when I felt the urge to do it, I pulled up an article online, “How to Run Your First Marathon” and started researching the steps. Whatever change you want to make, next time you feel the pull, find some helpful articles online to keep you motivated.

4. Find external motivation. It’s one thing to go on a diet, it’s something completely different to tell all your friends that you are going on a diet. Sharing your aspirations with another often serves as accountability and motivation for us. So go ahead, speak your dreams.

5. Set a reward for yourself. One common tip, based on psychology to overcome routine procrastination is to offer yourself a reward for getting started. The future motivation can help change our present-self. So choose a way to reward yourself tomorrow, if you make the change today.

There is an old proverb that goes something like this, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

Make the change you desire in your life… the one you’ve been waiting to start. No more excuses. No more waiting until tomorrow.

Do it today. Your future self will thank you for it.

Choose to Pursue Success. Don’t Confuse It with Excess.

Our hearts and souls long for greater accomplishments than the accumulation of material possessions.

Think about it. Nobody sits across the table from another
human being and declares their greatest goal in life is to own as much stuff as
possible.

We dream much bigger dream for our lives.

We speak of significance and influence. We want to be known
as good fathers and mothers, husbands and wives. We want to be loving parents,
citizens, and contributing members to the people around us.

We dream of solving problems. We desire to use our gifts and talents and resources to make the world a better place. We want to know our lives mattered—that they stood for something bigger than ourselves.

We desire freedom and opportunity. We long to live our life in a way that is consistent with our personal values, engaged in the pursuits most important to us, and creating opportunity for others to do the same.

We think of love, hope, and joy. We desire to be fully-known and fully-accepted. We know the importance of hope in our own lives and desire to offer it to others. We pursue lasting joy in living a fulfilled life.

If asked to define “what does success look like in your life?” these are the attributes and descriptions many of us would use to answer that question.

We desire significance and influence and impact.

But then we turn around and spend most our time chasing things that don’t matter.

We live in a world that has substituted excess for success. And we have too often fallen for the false substitute.

In a consumer-driven, possession-focused society, the demand
for material possessions must continually increase. Our society works day-and-night
to constantly manufacture discontent and need.

The advertisements surrounding us each day serve one purpose: Stir up discontent, hi-jack passion, and get us to consume more than we need.

Excess becomes our definition of success.

We begin to spend our hours earning more and more money. We spend our money buying things we don’t need. We waste our energy and our time caring for more than we need. And then we punch the clock on Monday morning just to start the process all over again.

But accumulating excess is a short-sighted goal. It is not
what we desire most for the one life we get to live.

It is not a substitute for real success in life. In fact,
most of the time it only distracts us from it.

Excess material possessions steal our money, time, energy, and freedom. Along the way, our definition of true success gets lost in the noise and accumulation of things we don’t need.

Rediscover your greatest goals in life. Reevaluate your most important pursuits. Define success for yourself.

Choose to pursue your unique version of success. And never
confuse it with foolish excess.

Inspiring Simplicity. Weekend Reads.

Never underestimate the importance of removing stuff you don’t need.

Encouragement provides us with motivation to persevere. It invites us to dream dreams of significance for our lives. And it begs us to work diligently with optimism and promise.

Overcoming the pull of consumerism is a difficult challenge regardless of our stage in life. Simplicity requires encouragement. To that end, I hope you will find motivation in these articles below.

Each post was intentionally chosen to inspire simplicity in your life. For maximum effect, find a quiet moment this weekend and enjoy them with a fresh cup of coffee or tea.

The 5 Most Rewarding Things I Gained Through Minimalism | Simple & Soul by Jenn Baxter. A funny thing happened during my downsizing and de-cluttering process. I realized that minimalism is actually about so much more than stuff.

Why Saying “No” Can Set You Free | No Sidebar by Dennis Bledsoe. Learning to say “no” is a skill that every overachiever should learn.

The Zen Habits Guide to Spending Your Time Intentionally | Zen Habits by Leo Babauta. How do we stop from just going through it on autopilot, just running to distractions and busywork all the time, just getting through things? How do we keep from feeling overwhelmed?

Declutter Ethically – How to Responsibly Discard Unwanted Stuff | Unclutter by Evelyn Rennich. Decluttering our homes is a good thing, but in order for that good to be effective, we must discard the thing leaving our possessions thoughtfully and respectfully.

Becoming Minimalist | Break The Twitch by Anthony Ongaro. I recently sat down with Anthony and we ended up chatting for over an hour. You can listen in her

7 Daily Habits for a Clutter-Free Home | Joshua Becker on YouTube.

How The Convenience Fallacy Contributes to Clutter in Our Home

There are certain places in our homes where we leave out items because we think it is more convenient. For example, we leave something on a counter because it is easier for us to grab it the next time we need it.

We see this happen at countless places in our home: the kitchen, the bathroom, the living room, the office, the bedroom.

Consider items like:

small appliances on our kitchen counterstoiletries beside our bathroom sinksoffice supplies on our home-office desktopDVDs on the entertainment centertools on our tool benchesart supplies, keys, canisters, magazines, newspapers, a knife block

By leaving these things out in the open, we think we’re saving time when we need them and we think we’re simplifying our lives, but the result is anything but. I call this the “convenience fallacy.” And it’s a huge source of the visual clutter in our homes.

Sure, by leaving them out, you may save a couple of seconds when you want to grab one of them. But for the other 99.9 percent of the time they’re sitting out, where they create visual distraction, get in the way, add to the disorganization of our spaces, and attract more clutter.

Consider those old CDs you’ve held on to for years in a CD tower in your family room. Since it would take very little time to pull a CD out of a storage cabinet and put it back when you’re done, wouldn’t it be better to store them out of sight instead of where it’s contributing to clutter and acting as a visual distraction in your space?

The same goes for most, if not all, of the things we leave out for “convenience” around the house. They actually spend far more time as clutter than in service to our lives and our environment.

For example, if you make toast for breakfast, it will take you roughly three minutes to toast your bread. After that, the toaster will sit unused, on your countertop, for the next twenty-three hours and fifty-seven minutes.

Is leaving the toaster out where it’s taking up space and creating visual distraction worth the few seconds you will save pulling it out when you’re ready to drop your slice of bread into it in the morning? Think of all the times you’ve needed to move it to clean around, or behind, or had to shuffle it about to create more working space on your counter.

Rather than allowing these appliances to take up space, find a home for them in an easily accessed part of the kitchen, such as inside a cabinet or on a shelf. When you do, you will immediately reduce the amount of visible clutter for both you and your guests.

How to Overcome the Convenience Fallacy:

1. Notice, and identify. Look around the room you are sitting in right now—maybe you are reading this in your living room, your bedroom, great room, or office (or maybe you need to wait until you get home). Where can you see the convenience fallacy at play? A coffee maker, a teapot, a blender, a video game controller, a stack of unread magazines or newspapers, a stapler, maybe even an unnecessary clock. Take note of how many items you leave out simply for “convenience-sake.”

2. Clear unneeded possessions from cabinets and drawers. One reason, understandably, people leave items out on visible surfaces is because their cabinets are so full, they don’t have space for those appliances to be put away anyway. In order to overcome the convenience fallacy in your home, you’ll actually need to minimize the possessions that are hidden away. But once you’ve gotten rid of things in your drawers and cabinets and under the sink, you can put more things away and keep that counter beautifully clean.

3. Find a new home, out-of-sight. Organizers will tell you it is best to keep the most-frequently used items in-front of rarely-used items, so they are easier to reach. That is good advice. Which of the items on your counter really do get used? And on what basis? Keep the most frequently used items stored out of sight, but near the front so they are easy to reach. In my home, that means the toaster and the coffee maker are in the front of our kitchen cabinet, while the tea pot and hand mixer are in the back… and the canisters of baking goods are kept in the pantry.

4. Be intentional at the beginning to store items away. Habits can be tough to break. Once you have found a new home for your Convenience Items, be intentional and diligent to put them away—especially at the beginning. After a short while, you will begin to appreciate the empty space and those items will feel like clutter when you forget to put them away. But at the beginning, you’ll need to re-program yourself through intention to put things away immediately after use.

5. Take special note of the new, empty space. There is wonderful possibility in empty spaces. It keeps our eyes, minds, and attention focused on other things than material possessions. An empty space can be used for anything, at any time. Energy is free to flow. And an uncluttered space is less likely to attract more clutter. Notice these benefits as you clear surfaces and keep them clutter free.

There are many different factors that contribute to the clutter in our home. The “convenience fallacy” is one of the them. Now that you are aware of it, notice it in your own home and I’ll work to notice it in mine. And together, we’ll live more focused, intentional lives, focused on the things that matter.

The Men Who Made Me

Jim Rohn once famously said, “We are the average of the five
people we spend the most time with.” There is wisdom in this statement. It is
true that the people we spend time with influence who we are and who we become.
And it is important to choose wisely the community we keep.

But in my case (and I’d guess in countless others), I have never found his statement to be entirely accurate. My friends influence me and my choices—no doubt. But my life is not a reflection of the five people I spend the most time with. 

My life is a reflection of the men and women who shaped me from a young age. They have had the greatest and most significant impact on the man I have become.

So I thought I’d take a moment today to tell you about some
of them. Specifically, the men who made me.

There are three:

Roy Becker, Father

My dad is a banker with a mind for numbers, a heart for
loyalty, and a disciplined spirit. He grew up on a family farm in South Dakota,
received a Finance Degree in Agricultural Lending from Northern State
University in Aberdeen, SD where he met my mom. My parents, my siblings, and
their kids all live there still.

Through hard work, determination, honesty, character, and a
knack for ag-lending, he has worked his way up the banking ladder position-by-position—always
remaining true to his passion for the farmer and their livelihood.

My father taught me about work and career, but also
community and volunteering. From the moment I was old enough to notice, he has
always found opportunity to serve—School Board, Church Treasurer, Kiwanis, just
to name a few. He served the community and he served our family.

I have vivid memories of my father sitting on a stool at our kitchen counter, working on a project for the bank or the church. I learned to appreciate the value of a hard day’s work from him, no doubt.

But equally important, I have countless memories of being in the backyard playing catch, on the street learning to ride my bike, or being together watching the Minnesota Twins on television. He always found time for us.

My father has always been faithful to my mother and faithful
to God. He has always been, and continues to be, a positive role model of
giving, loving, and serving.

Harold Salem, Maternal
Grandfather

I named my son after my grandpa. Not Harold (his first name
wasn’t even in the running), but we named him Salem—taken from my grandfather’s
last name.

My grandpa is 97 years old. He still works 50+ hours/week as a pastor on radio and television all over the world. He preaches from the Bible and answers countless letters from his desk. His love for people knows no bounds. For that heritage, I am eternally grateful.

He and his wife Beulah were married for 59 years before she passed away on Christmas Eve, 2005. All these years later, and there is not a day that goes by that my grandfather doesn’t think about my grandmother. He has told me this, and as often as he speaks of her, I know it to be true.

My grandfather came to age during the Great Depression—on a
farm eventually foreclosed upon during troubled times. He knows of history and
change and may be one of the most intelligent men I have ever met. His
understanding of people, the world, and evolving decades has resulted in
wisdom. Wisdom I have leaned on heavily in forming my own worldview.

My grandfather, on more than one occasion, gave his last
dollar to another in need. And yet, he faithfully provided for his family—my
mother and three siblings. He taught me that work is fulfilling, and the best
work is one that improves the lives of others.

A documentary about his life, The Heart of a Shepherd, was completed in 2018.

Arnold Becker, Paternal
Grandfather

My eyes well up with tears whenever I happen to hear Paul Harvey’s So God Made a Farmer. Because I know, firsthand, how well it accurately describes the life of those who feed us.

My grandpa farmed his entire life—on a family farm in South
Dakota that has since passed to his son (my uncle) and will soon pass to his
son (my cousin).

Paul Harvey describes the life of a farmer this way during
the speech:

God said, “I need somebody strong enough to clear trees and heave bails, yet gentle enough to tame lambs and wean pigs and tend the pink-combed pullets, who will stop his mower for an hour to splint the broken leg of a meadow lark. It had to be somebody who’d plow deep and straight and not cut corners. Somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed and rake and disc and plow and plant and tie the fleece and strain the milk and replenish the self-feeder and finish a hard week’s work with a five-mile drive to church.” So God made a farmer.

If you have a farmer in your family tree, you know as well
as I do, truer words have rarely been spoken. That was my grandfather. Up at
dawn, work all morning, lunch in the small farmhouse with his wife, before
heading back out to tend to the fields and animals in the afternoon.

My grandfather taught me the importance of farming and a
steady hand—that the hardest working hands in America are often the dirtiest,
and sometimes the poorest. My maternal grandfather worked behind a desk, my
paternal grandfather behind the steering wheel of a tractor.

From beginning to end, and in all aspects of his life, he
lived with uncompromisable integrity. He was faithful to his wife. He was
committed to his children. I never knew him to sacrifice his character for an
easy dollar or a worldly pleasure. He hid no secrets. He valued his integrity
above everything else. And he lived in such a way that should never go
overlooked or unnoticed.

In a world that has seen far too many lives disgraced and families destroyed by the sins of the father… I am eternally grateful and infinitely blessed to have a grandfather who taught my father those same life lessons.

—

I am, by no means, a self-made man. None of us are, really.
We all stand on the shoulders of generations past. It is their accomplishments,
sacrifice, and legacy that have laid the foundation for our lives today.

I am grateful today for the men who made me. It is my hope
that my life will be as honorable as theirs.

Everything Could Change Tomorrow

A close family friend, as healthy as you’d ever imagine, suffered a heart-attack on Thanksgiving morning. He went to bed on November 21st, but did not awake on the 22nd. Survived by his wife and two kids.

My neighbor is in his 40’s and was recently diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. I played basketball with him just a few months before. His diagnosis surprised everybody—including him.

I recently received a phone call on an otherwise normal Tuesday morning that a friend of mine had lost his teenage daughter in an automobile accident the night before. As awful a news as anyone could ever receive.

Then there is the story of my relative, who showed up to work last summer, only to find her workplace being searched by the authorities as they investigated fraud. By the end of the week, she was without work.

And my parents, just yesterday, were in a car accident. Everybody is fine, fortunately. But their automobile was totaled.

Life changes fast. This season of life you are in could end at any time. Everything could change tomorrow.

Of course, tomorrow isn’t necessarily worse than today. It may change for the better.

In early December 2001, my wife walked into our living room to share important news with me, she was pregnant with our first child. My life forever changed that day.

Our best friends down the street received a job promotion that took them back home to Texas. My cousin, simply hanging out with friends one evening was introduced to a girl, who quickly became his girlfriend, and soon became his wife.

And my life changed dramatically for the better on a Saturday morning 10 years ago when my neighbor unexpectedly introduced me to minimalism—a conversation that changed my passion and eventually, my career.

They say the only constant in life is change. They are right.

Sometimes we plan out our lives—our days, our weeks, our years—and everything falls into place. But other times, we make our plans, only to have them upended by circumstances outside of our control.

Either way, the only constant is change. Life never remains the same. Sometimes it changes for the better, sometimes it changes for the worse, but always for something different than today.

I find myself reflecting on that fact this morning as I sit alone at this empty table. My life is good, and peaceful in this moment. My family is happy, and we are all healthy. I have friends I can rely on, extended family I enjoy being with, and our financial needs are being met doing work that I love.

It is easy, I suppose, to think life will stay this way forever. But that is not the case. Everything could change as early as tomorrow.

This may cause some to worry. But I do not think the best response is to worry about the future. I mean, the change that is coming could be a positive one. Besides, worrying won’t change the future anyway. Change is going to happen whether you worry about it or not.

Instead, I think the best response is to fully appreciate this very moment, because it could change at any time.

If life is good, count your blessings, be thankful, and enjoy the moments—every single one of them. Slow down, take a deep breath, and savor this season as best you can.

If, on the other hand, your life is not in a good place, take heart, because change is coming. As the seasons change, so does life. Value love, faith, and hope. Find peace to accept the things you cannot change and courage to change the things you can. But through it all, remember, this is only a season. Things will change, they always do.

If you can only live one moment at a time, you might as well make it the present. After all, we have no idea how long “today” will last… everything could change as soon as tomorrow.