3334: [Part 1] One Surprisingly Simple Rule that Will Change Your Life by Kendra Wright with Marc and Angel

[00:00:24] [SPEAKER_02]: This

[00:00:26] [SPEAKER_00]: is Optimal Living Daily, One Surprisingly Simple Rule that Will Change Your Life, Part 1 by Kendra

[00:00:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Wright with Marc and Angel.com and I'm Justin Malik. Happy Thursday! Welcome to one of the

[00:00:39] [SPEAKER_00]: only podcasts in the world where articles are narrated to you for free with permission from

[00:00:43] [SPEAKER_00]: the authors. It's an award-winning podcast thanks to you. And today I have a bit of a longer post,

[00:00:48] [SPEAKER_00]: I'll read the first half but then finish the rest for you tomorrow. So with that let's get right to

[00:00:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Part 1 and start optimizing your life. One Surprisingly Simple Rule that Will Change Your

[00:01:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Life, Part 1 by Kendra Wright with Marc and Angel.com. You won't see this as a news headline

[00:01:10] [SPEAKER_00]: but you should. Society is sick with the disease of busyness. Being overbooked has somehow become

[00:01:18] [SPEAKER_00]: a badge of honor and I'm no saint. When I was 22 I scribbled this well-meaning task at the top of

[00:01:24] [SPEAKER_00]: my to-do list. Walk into a nursing home, ask the staff to nominate their loneliest visitor,

[00:01:31] [SPEAKER_00]: knock on an unsuspecting stranger's door, show up and listen. My intention was to deliver some light

[00:01:38] [SPEAKER_00]: and love to a wise soul who had been tucked away in a quiet room, to assure them they had not been

[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_00]: forgotten. But busy days weaved themselves together to form busy weeks. Those busy weeks

[00:01:50] [SPEAKER_00]: compounded to create chaotic months. Before I knew it, I had stacked up a bunch of where the

[00:01:56] [SPEAKER_00]: heck did they go years. Isn't it ironic how the most important things in our lives tend to get

[00:02:02] [SPEAKER_00]: scheduled with the scraps of what's left over after the rest of the world takes what it wants?

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Fast forward five years. At 27, I decided it was time to start living the story I wanted to look

[00:02:14] [SPEAKER_00]: back on. My calendar would now include more than conference calls, work deadlines and other

[00:02:21] [SPEAKER_00]: people's needs. I walked through the front doors of a nursing home in my neighborhood on a rare,

[00:02:26] [SPEAKER_00]: uncomfortably cold Texas winter evening. The staff scanned their roster looking for a resident who

[00:02:32] [SPEAKER_00]: was visitor-deprived. Their nomination sat quietly in room 202. I walked nervously through the long

[00:02:39] [SPEAKER_00]: quiet halls. The sound of my shoes echoed off the dingy yellow tile and plain beige walls.

[00:02:46] [SPEAKER_00]: As I passed each door, I took time to read every hand-decorated name placard. I considered

[00:02:53] [SPEAKER_00]: carefully that each represented a real person and an entire life story stretched behind them

[00:02:59] [SPEAKER_00]: that I knew nothing about. By the time I was standing in front of the hand-painted placard

[00:03:04] [SPEAKER_00]: that read 202, my palms were sweating through my scruffy winter mittens. I had no idea who I was

[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_00]: about to find, but I knew there was nowhere else on the entire globe my feet needed to be planted

[00:03:16] [SPEAKER_00]: other than right in front of this stranger's door. Why? Because the memories you remember most are

[00:03:23] [SPEAKER_00]: rarely born from within your comfort zone. How to be the happiest human in the nursing home.

[00:03:30] [SPEAKER_00]: I knocked on the door intending to deliver a gift, but discovered one instead. On the other side sat

[00:03:37] [SPEAKER_00]: 98-year-old Ella. When I asked Ella about the best moments of her life,

[00:03:42] [SPEAKER_00]: her response startled me. Grabbing my hand, she squeezed it tight. Excitement washed over

[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_00]: her as she replied through an enormous smile, My life has been so, so full, Kendra. Gratitude

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_00]: poured out of her and bathed the room, the way sunshine flows over a skyline at dawn.

[00:04:02] [SPEAKER_00]: No crevice left untouched. Warmth everywhere. I was confused and equally fascinated. This was not

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_00]: what I expected. How did she feel so full while being tucked away in this tiny room? While many

[00:04:17] [SPEAKER_00]: of us struggle with feelings of emptiness even when we're surrounded by our big families, lavish

[00:04:23] [SPEAKER_00]: lives, and latest eye devices. Grinning, she laid her long life story out like a homemade movie.

[00:04:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Glowing brightly about all the fascinating ways, she collected an incredible amount of

[00:04:34] [SPEAKER_00]: breathtaking, beautiful memories. She beamed about a powerful, rebellious love that lasted

[00:04:40] [SPEAKER_00]: for decades. We chuckled together when she tallied up the outlandish risks of her youth,

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_00]: and there were many. She honestly had the ultimate luxury that all of us are after but none of us

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_00]: can buy. A life well lived. Even while living in a small room with plain beige walls and having

[00:04:59] [SPEAKER_00]: basically no visitors the past few months, nothing could take away the satisfaction a life well-lived

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_00]: now gave her. During the hour and a half we spent together, storytelling and laughing, Ella repeatedly

[00:05:11] [SPEAKER_00]: and passionately urged me to make time for exciting life experiences. It was the number one piece of

[00:05:18] [SPEAKER_00]: system she wanted me to know, and she even asked me to promise myself that I would. Driving home, I

[00:05:24] [SPEAKER_00]: steered through tears. I considered how it took me 27 years to turn the doorknob of room 202.

[00:05:30] [SPEAKER_00]: And yet, I make it to work every day, and I even make it to the dentist at least twice a year when

[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm behaving like a real adult. What else had I been doing all those years that was more important

[00:05:42] [SPEAKER_00]: than moments like this? The life you really want to live will never be comfortable or convenient.

[00:05:51] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't remember most of my early 20s, probably because I never slowed down long enough to actually

[00:05:56] [SPEAKER_00]: live them. I was asleep at the wheel. My life was on autopilot. Thankfully I was young and mostly

[00:06:03] [SPEAKER_00]: only foolish in that one specific way. Everything changed when I started taking things off of my

[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_00]: some day list and began putting them on a day of the week that actually exists. Monday, Tuesday,

[00:06:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. What I found, and other people living with less regret

[00:06:24] [SPEAKER_00]: have confirmed for me, is this. If something important isn't on the calendar, it doesn't happen.

[00:06:32] [SPEAKER_00]: To be continued. You just listened to part one of the post titled,

[00:06:39] [SPEAKER_00]: One surprisingly simple rule that'll change your life, by Kendra Wright with MarkAndAngel.com,

[00:06:45] [SPEAKER_00]: and I'll be right back with my commentary. Thank you to Kendra, a guest writer on MarkAndAngel's

[00:06:51] [SPEAKER_00]: site. I'll finish the rest of the post for you tomorrow. There's a great quote there in the first

[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_00]: half. She said, The memories you remember most are rarely born from within your comfort zone.

[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_00]: And another one right at the end, if something important isn't on the calendar, it doesn't happen.

[00:07:09] [SPEAKER_00]: I know my brother would agree with that. He's the host over on Optimal Health Daily,

[00:07:13] [SPEAKER_00]: and recommends you write in your workouts into your calendar so that they get just as much

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_00]: importance as everything else that has made it onto your calendar. It seems to work. We're also

[00:07:25] [SPEAKER_00]: less likely to overbook days with other things and make sure we make time for ourselves when we do

[00:07:30] [SPEAKER_00]: that. But it doesn't need to be just for self-care things. It could be like what Kendra did. Something

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_00]: like maybe volunteering or trying something new. If we put just one thing that we've been meaning

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_00]: to do on the calendar today, I'm sure that when that day hits, we'll be proud of ourselves. So try

[00:07:50] [SPEAKER_00]: that out today. But that's it for now. Thank you for being here and listening every day,

[00:07:55] [SPEAKER_00]: and I'll see you tomorrow where we'll finish up this post. And where your optimal life awaits.