Uncoveries

Inspiring You to Uncover and Design a Meaningful Life

Stagnancy: 5 Reasons Why We Get Stuck

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“Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.”

– Fyodor Dostoyevskey

We’ve all been there, knee-deep in a swamp that’s steadily and slowly enveloping you in near darkness. While you sense the importance of struggling your way to shore, the silhouettes of unknown dangers lurking beyond create a stronger feeling of wariness. It’s the reel of the same old song that goes on and on. It’s the hollowness of fear, the heaviness of despair, the sinking feeling of inaction.

Many of us can relate to some version of stagnancy in our lives—whether it was overstaying in a situation that was no longer fitting, trying to make things the way it used to be or delaying an important decision to the intangible future.

We’re all aware the convenient path of least resistance often leads us down to stagnancy. But it doesn’t mean we’re immune. I’ve certainly succumbed many times, falling for the alluring comfort and slow suffocation in spite of being someone who strives for personal growth in my life.Continue Reading

9 Areas To Declutter For A High Quality Life

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This is the fifteenth article following The Irony of Quitting My Job to Take a Sabbatical, the first in a series on what I learned and what I’d recommend from quitting my job to take a six-month sabbatical (without another job in sight). This week, I expand on how decluttering helped change my life by sharing the 9 main areas of focus.

“Simplicity involves unburdening your life, and living more lightly with fewer distractions that interfere with a high quality life, as defined uniquely by each individual.”

– Linda Breen Pierce

When you’re busy running from one thing to the next, it’s easy to miss a lot of things.

Clutter tends to hide more clutter.

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How Decluttering Helps You Change Your Life

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This is the fourteenth article following The Irony of Quitting My Job to Take a Sabbatical, the first in a series on what I learned and what I’d recommend from quitting my job to take a six-month sabbatical (without another job in sight). Last time, I talked about how the most important aspect of your life is often a lesson we need again and again. Below, I share the role decluttering played in building up Uncoveries and crafting the life I really wanted.

 

“The first step in crafting the life you want is to get rid of everything you don’t.”

– Joshua Becker

I’d made big progress in quitting a job that wasn’t fitting.

The next contributor was key in how Uncoveries got started and how I embarked on the path I’m on today.

Before I left for Prague, Anthony and I attended a conference on simple living and met a likeminded community of folks who were questioning the pressure around the fast-paced and constant consumerism in mainstream culture. The conference inspired me to barely buy any souvenirs during my trip; the past me likely would’ve bought at least three times more.Continue Reading

10 Ways To Foster Creative Ideas

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This is the twelfth article following The Irony of Quitting My Job to Take a Sabbatical, the first in a series on what I learned and what I’d recommend from quitting my job to take a six-month sabbatical (without another job in sight). Previously, I shared the process of how I came to realize the real purpose of a sabbatical. Here I share 10 ways to foster creative ideas from what I learned in my sabbatical and post-sabbatical days.

“Creative activity is a type of learning process where the teacher and the pupil are located in the same individual.”

— Arthur Koestler

The creative ideas didn’t come initially.

While my sabbatical was meant to be open-ended and exploratory, I was secretly hoping that some revolutionary idea would shine down one day in all its glory and clarity.

Eureka—I’d know the answer to what was next for me. It’d have made a great story, but unsurprisingly that didn’t actually happen.Continue Reading

Letting Go: 5 Reasons Why We Don’t, Even When It’s For The Best

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This is the fifth article following The Irony of Quitting My Job to Take a Sabbatical, the first in a series on what I learned and what I’d recommend from quitting my job to take a six-month sabbatical (without another job in sight). Here, I share the reasons why we don’t let go and the importance of doing so in order to move forward.

“Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go.” – Herman Hesse

Letting go can be scary.

There was a part of me that clung onto my job, despite how much I disliked it.

I know I wasn’t alone in this. Too many of us stick around in situations, labels or relationships that were maybe fitting at one point, but we’ve since outgrown.

Here are 5 reasons we don’t let go, even when it’s for the best.

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7 Ways to Make the Most of Each Day

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Each day is a gift, a new beginning, another opportunity to be fully embraced.

Yet many of us don’t make the most of each day. By packing it full of every possible to-do list item, meeting, commitment, email and phone notification, the hours fly by and we feel somewhat shortchanged as we turn in for the night.

Why? Because it’s easier said than done to make the most of each day. Especially when you feel like you’re behind on multiple projects with an overwhelming number of obligations, errands and tasks.

Life could be so simple, but we are masters in complicating our lives—to the point there are no moments savored, no progress made on what’s truly important and a deficit of what brings joy in your life. Sound familiar?Continue Reading

The 7 Myths of Happiness, Part 7

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It happens to the best of us.

It’s why Sunday evenings and Monday mornings are mixed with remorse and the first day after a vacation seems to drag on in a funk.

We’re suckers for happy endings that stay that way. After all, the stories we prefer usually end with happily ever after.Continue Reading