2819: How Simplicity Saved My Life by Courtney Carver on The Benefits of Living a Simple Life

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00] Überlass deine gesunde Ernährung und die Gains nicht nur deinem Bauchgefühl. Denn bei der Ernährung gaukelt uns unser innerer Schweinehund manchmal ganz schön was vor. Sag stattdessen Hallo zu deinem neuen Coach, Yasio. Yasio ist die meistgenutzte Ernährungs-App Europas, made in Germany. Egal ob Massephase oder ein bisschen Abnehmen. Tracke Kalorien, Proteine, Carbs, Fette, Bewegung und Intervallfasten. Und mit den Tasty-Rezepten bist du ready für deine Ziele. Let's go! Lade die Yasio-App jetzt herunter.

[00:00:30] [SPEAKER_01] It's a Minimalist Monday edition of Optimal Living Daily, Episode 2819, How Simplicity Saved My Life by Courtney Carver with becomingminimalist.com. And I'm Justin Malik. We're gonna jump right into today's Minimalist Monday post as we optimize your life. How Simplicity Saved My Life by Courtney Carver with becomingminimalist.com. Quote,

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_01] I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone. Best both for the body and the mind. Albert Einstein. When I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at age 37, some of my initial thoughts were, I'm going to wake up blind tomorrow. What if I can't walk? What if this vertigo never subsides? I won't be able to ski with my family. My husband and I won't be able to hike together anymore.

[00:01:26] [SPEAKER_01] I didn't know enough about MS to be anything but scared. Once I realized how little I knew, researching MS causes, symptoms, treatments, and success stories became my new job. That research forced me to admit that I needed to change my life. I learned that while stress may not have caused my MS, it certainly contributed to my declining health. In addition to conventional treatment and an awesome medical team,

[00:01:55] [SPEAKER_01] my weapon in fighting MS has been eliminating as much stress as possible. When I learned about how stress contributes to not just MS but many other health issues, I knew I had to take action. From WebMD, quote, Chronic stress exposes our bodies to unhealthy, persistently elevated levels of stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. Common physical signs of stress include dizziness, general aches and pains,

[00:02:22] [SPEAKER_01] grinding teeth, clenched jaws, headaches, indigestion, muscle tension, difficulty sleeping, racing heart, ringing in the ears, stooped posture, sweaty palms, tiredness, exhaustion, trembling, weight gain, or loss, and upset stomach, end quote. From womenshealth.gov, quote, Stress can trigger both migraine and tension-type headache.

[00:02:49] [SPEAKER_01] Events like getting married, moving to a new home, or having a baby can cause stress, but studies show that everyday stresses, not major life changes, cause most headaches, end quote. And a study done by Carnegie Mellon scientists demonstrated that subjects who had been through stressful experiences were more likely to develop colds.

[00:03:11] [SPEAKER_01] Stress comes from food, fear, worry, busyness, bad relationships, debt, drama, clutter, and a host of other internal and external factors. The most effective way for me to eliminate stress was to simplify every area of my life. It didn't happen overnight, but each small change motivated the next change. If you want to learn how to simplify your life, it doesn't matter where you start, but I simplified in this order.

[00:03:40] [SPEAKER_01] Number one, food. I was a chronic dieter. For every few pounds I lost, I'd gain them back plus one. When I started to focus less on vanity and more on health, I began to make better food choices. Trading meat and most animal products for fruits and veggies reduced physical stress on my body. It made it easier to maintain a healthy weight. Simplifying food choices contributes to better health. Number two, debt.

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_01] From the moment I got my first credit card at 18, I thought being in debt was normal. My first credit card led to more credit cards, car loans, student loans, and a mortgage. Today I spend what I have and nothing more. My husband and I made paying off debt a priority, and today we are debt-free. Simplifying and eliminating debt contributes to better health. Number three, stuff. I never thought I had a problem with stuff.

[00:04:38] [SPEAKER_01] I love to shop and spend time at the mall. I had a closet full of clothes and boxes of clothing for different seasons. I thought that was normal. When I started dressing with 33 items or less, I realized how much time and money I had actually spent on my stuff. I enjoyed the freedom of dressing with less so much that I began to live with less in every area of my home and life. This spring, we sold our 2,000 square foot home to move into a 750 square foot apartment.

[00:05:08] [SPEAKER_01] Decluttering and simplifying stuff contributes to better health. Number four, work. My 15-plus career in advertising and marketing was stressful. Deadline after deadline and goal after goal, with the focus always on the almighty dollar, wore me down. By paying off our debt and living more simply, I was able to embrace uncertainty and start my own business. I left a world of more, more, more for a life with less.

[00:05:37] [SPEAKER_01] Doing work you love contributes to better health. And number five, relationships. When I simplified my diet, debt, and stuff, I had time and space to look at the bigger picture. I realized that some of the relationships I had weren't healthy, so I fixed or ended them. I also noticed I wasn't paying attention to the good relationships I did have because I had been so distracted. I was distracted by life, by work, by cell phones,

[00:06:07] [SPEAKER_01] by email, and by my own stress. The freer I became, the more engaged I could be with the people my love. Loving relationships and time spent with people who lift you up contributes to better health. I initially thought it was selfish to spend so much time and energy to make myself whole and healthy until I realized that the better I was, the more time and energy I could give to everyone around me. As I removed each stressful thing from my life,

[00:06:35] [SPEAKER_01] from meat to debt to work I didn't love, I knew that simplicity was saving my life. Perhaps my condition wasn't life-threatening, but maybe something more serious was waiting around the corner. When I think about the freedom I have now, I am convinced that simplicity saved me. Without the stress of poor health, exhaustion, debt, and stuff, I have a chance to really live. Give simplicity a chance to soften your heart,

[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_01] open your mind, and save your life. You just listened to the post titled, How Simplicity Saved My Life, by Courtney Carver with becomingminimalist.com. As a small business owner, you never clock out, and neither does LinkedIn Jobs. While you're running your business, LinkedIn Jobs is running a powerful search for your next great hire. We've been lucky finding our team here at Optimal Living Daily, and I think LinkedIn Jobs would have taken luck

[00:07:32] [SPEAKER_01] out of the equation, finding us the best quickly. Post your job for free or pay to promote, and let their intelligent matching system connect you with candidates who align with your company's needs. Their new feature helps craft the perfect job description in minutes, putting your opportunity in front of qualified talent that matters. Want to amplify your reach? Add a hashtag hiring frame to your profile picture to double your qualified applicants, or upgrade to a promoted post

[00:08:00] [SPEAKER_01] for three times more qualified candidates. The results speak for themselves. Approximately 72% of small and medium-sized businesses on LinkedIn say that LinkedIn helps them find high-quality candidates. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash selection. That's linkedin.com slash selection to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. Thank you to Courtney. Courtney, a guest author on becomingminimalist.com for this article,

[00:08:29] [SPEAKER_01] but I do typically narrate her on this podcast from her own website, bemorewithless.com. And this has good places to start with this list of areas to work through. Everyone's stresses are different, and your biggest stressor might be something completely off this list, but at least this can get the ball rolling. It's pretty crazy how much stress can affect us physically. The list of ailments sounds like a list that overlaps with tons of other conditions.

[00:08:56] [SPEAKER_01] So it is possible that a particular ailment you have could either be caused by or is being worsened by stress. And this is what Courtney had discovered with her own condition of MS. Now, I'm not a big fan of self-diagnosing, and I know she didn't do that. I don't recommend that route because it can lead to even more stress if you think you have something that you actually really don't. And while visiting doctors isn't the most fun thing to do, I would know,

[00:09:24] [SPEAKER_01] at least one visit a year is worth it, in their opinion. But in any case, de-stressing is something we could both afford to do, both figuratively and literally, as many, if not most ways to lower stress are free. So look into that stress today, but try not to get stressed about that stress. Have a great rest of your day. Thank you for being here and listening to me and for subscribing to or following the podcast. And I'll see you tomorrow where your optimal life awaits.