2224: Hey You, You Can Slow Down Ya Know - Let Me Explain By Renee Benes of The Fun Sized Life on Simple Living

[00:00:00] This is Optimal Relationships Daily, Episode 2224. Hey You, You Can Slow Down Ya Know? Let Me Explain by Renee Benes of TheFunSizedLife.com Hello everybody and welcome to another one of our weekly bonus episodes here on ORD.

[00:00:18] I'm Greg Audino and just like I do each week in our bonus episodes, today I'll be sharing audio from a different show on our network so you can get a feel of all the shows and content we have

[00:00:27] to offer. This sample comes from the show that started it all, our personal development show called Optimal Living Daily. So with that, here is OLD narrator Justin with the post and his commentary as we optimize your life. Hey You, You Can Slow Down Ya Know?

[00:00:48] Let Me Explain by Renee Benes of TheFunSizedLife.com I've shared a video on TikTok two times and each time people get triggered. What do I mean? No, I'm not going out there trying to pff people off. It just happens naturally. When I share a

[00:01:06] video of me relaxing on the couch and my husband Tom rolling up a sleeping bag accompanied by some words stating how he prefers to be in motion and I prefer to process in stillness,

[00:01:17] people go off. I get it, I do. It looks like I'm just lounging around with my hand down my pants like Al Bundy while this poor bald man slaves away. However, another thing that happens is a

[00:01:29] ton of people feel like their feelings have finally been validated. We live in a hustle clutter right now and the truth is we weren't all designed to be hustling constantly. So if you're

[00:01:42] feeling a little called out and you wonder if you're doing too much, stick with me and find out what you can do about it. Can I be honest for a sec? Chances are you're coming into this post

[00:01:54] already knowing you are doing too much. Your body knows when it is overworked and exhausted and you don't need to be scouring the internet for proof of what your body is already trying to communicate with you. My friend, you are wiser than you were giving yourself credit for.

[00:02:09] There is however an escape, I promise. It's the reason I created the Minimalism Reset in the first place, to help other people gradually make changes that give them back freedom in their lives through simplifying their time, money, and energy. This post will most definitely give you

[00:02:27] guidance and ideas on how to start slowing down while still getting done. The hustle hype. Flashback to a few years ago when I was hardcore on the Rachel Hollis bandwagon. Quick heads up, this is

[00:02:41] not a Rach trash session, okay guys? No one told her how to escape the hustle so she taught us what she knew. Here was this powerhouse of a woman who had gone after her dreams while still playing

[00:02:53] it small with mine, so I started doing everything I was told. I worked out, started waking up at 5am, wrote down my goals, and worked around the clock to make my dreams happen. You know what didn't

[00:03:06] really happen though? I didn't really get anywhere. In the midst of my constant hustling and striving, I never slowed down enough to gain clarity about whether or not I was taking correct, aligned steps. I was just working and working and working and going nowhere. Another person who had

[00:03:25] always bought into this myth was my husband Tom and the rest of the American population. Ever since I've known him, that man has been non-stop. Whenever he would actually sit down to relax, he would collapse into a deep sleep from sheer exhaustion. Slow down, discomfort.

[00:03:43] This past summer of 2021, I decided to intentionally slow down, like hardcore. Once COVID had hit in 2020, I was forced into a slowdown and you know what? Life started going amazingly. For a few weeks I had no other choice but to just do little things that made me happy

[00:04:00] and I had to get creative with my time. More than ever, I started reading, listening to audiobooks, and practicing meditation without apologizing. In a few months I grew a 100,000 plus TikTok following talking about important matters that were changing the way other people thought.

[00:04:17] I started gaining clarity about how I should show up in the world, not just to hustle and make money, but how I could actually make a difference. The slowdown of COVID dramatically changed the way

[00:04:28] I viewed my life and I started to realize that some of the biggest and best changes that happened in my life were when I was knocked on my ass and forced to do the bare minimum. Even though I had

[00:04:39] proof of the benefits of slowing down, don't get me wrong, intentionally slowing down is freaking hard. It forces you to question your worth and everything we have all ever been told about our

[00:04:51] existence and how we are supposed to live our lives. I suppose the fact that I was so uncomfortable just existing should have been a big enough sign that I had adapted to a life of doing too much.

[00:05:04] Signs you are doing too much. Here's some quick basic signs that you might be doing too much. You feel like you constantly run around and never accomplish anything. It seems like you never get

[00:05:16] a chance to relax. You love telling people about each task you did throughout the day. Sitting down makes you uncomfortable. You get annoyed or say, it must be nice when someone else is relaxing.

[00:05:28] When someone is talking to you, you get lost thinking about the things you should be doing. You are never able to be fully present because you are always planning the next day in your mind.

[00:05:39] And you are starting to develop physical signs of stress like migraine, neck pain, etc. So do you do too much? I thought so. Now don't get mad or start making excuses just yet. Instead, I want you to

[00:05:53] pause, I know that's hard, and ask yourself where this belief that you always have to be moving even came from. Who set this example? How are they doing health-wise, relationship-wise, financially?

[00:06:06] Are they living the kind of lifestyle you want to be living? If not, you might want to reconsider what they have taught you. What if hard work is holding you back? Okay, I want you to think about

[00:06:18] the hardest worker that you know. Someone who is constantly going to it and believes in the value of a hard day's work. How is their health? Has all that work made them wealthy? If they are wealthy,

[00:06:30] do they also have good relationships and mental health? Chances are, the hardest workers you know are broke, struggling, and always have been. We all have this belief that a hard day's work is the key

[00:06:43] to success, when in reality if we look around, we will find the exact opposite. And the longer we allow ourselves to believe that successful living can only be found in striving, the more your body

[00:06:55] will continue to keep you in the striving state of mind. You know, so you feel successful. Challenge your belief. If that resonates big time, maybe it's time to challenge your belief about hard work.

[00:07:07] The questions previously mentioned really should have helped. So what can you do to start doing a little less? You know, sometimes we can believe we have to do so much and perfectly that we never

[00:07:18] take action on anything that actually matters to us. There's a three-step method that I use in the Minimalist Reset, and it goes like this. Get clear about what you want. Eliminate anything that is

[00:07:31] slowing you down, and build a life that supports you instead of working against you. Take back your life. At the end of the day, a little guidance can go so far. Remember, doing less doesn't mean doing nothing,

[00:07:46] and it doesn't mean you are any less accomplished or capable as a human being. The truth is that when you learn to do less of what doesn't matter, you become capable of doing more of the things

[00:07:57] that do matter. You just listened to the post titled, Hey you, you can slow down, you know? Let me explain by Rene Benes of thefunsizedlife.com. Thank you to Rene. Nice little reminders we get

[00:08:14] closer to the weekend. Even if it's just one day of slowing down, it can have a big impact. We hear a lot of posts about productivity and waking up early, meditating more, exercising more. Even though I narrate a bunch of articles about minimalism, it can be interpreted as

[00:08:30] more minimalism, more cleaning, more decluttering, forgetting that it's all about doing less to then enjoy more time and more of what matters. And to Rene's point, more hustling is surely not what we're striving for. Maybe there's a way to reach that quote-unquote end goal sooner and have

[00:08:51] a lifestyle you dream of now, or at least getting one step closer to it. So something to think about today on this St. Patrick's Day. Have a great rest of your day. Happy birthday again to my sister,

[00:09:02] and I'll see you tomorrow for the Friday show where your optimal life awaits.