Dan Buettner really has some interesting research in his book:
I read it in 2010 and it really changed my perspective. My family lives a very minimalist life, especially compared to those we interact with daily-- and it can sometimes be draining to remember that we chose to live this way and it aligns with our values when we see others with new cars, McMansions, taking quarterly vacations, shopping, go out to dinners and lunches, etc. It's very easy for me to start feeling frustrated by lack of money-- that we have to save money first to fix one of our 13 year old cars, that we don't take vacations, that it's rare for us to get a new item of clothing, or anything over $30 we need to save up for. Reading this book really put my life into perspective. I have a happy, healthy family. We live in a wonderful, cozy home. I am home with my kids and make my own schedule and do a few things on the side-- on my own time- for extra money. My husband is home every day before dinner. I am in a happy marriage with a person I can share everything with. We have no car payments and no debt. My children go to an exceptional school. We have friends that love us and that we love. We have a community here that asks after us and that we have very warm feelings about. All 5 of us spend our work/school hours on the same campus. It's a GOOD life. This book is a must read for all twentysomethings--- hopefully before they are swept up in the "norms" of our society. :)
These are a few great quotes from the book--- he found the 4 places on Earth where people are happiest (he goes into how that was determined in the book)-- he studied those places and people it's fascinating and eye-opening. (I really recommend it, especially if you struggle with comparing your lifestyle/income/career/possessions to other people's).
Dan Buettner quotes from Thrive:
Normally when we think of happiness, we think of money and status, but Denmark teaches us the opposite lesson," he says. "There, you have a place where you are taxed to the mean. A cultural norm reminds everybody that they are no better than everybody else, so you're not going to choose your career path based on status. You're in a place where a garbage man makes as much as a lawyer. So what you have are 4 million people who excel at things like furniture design and architecture.
Buettner argues that relationships are really the key to lifelong happiness, noting that "the happiest people in America socialize about seven hours a day," and mentioning that "you're three times more likely to be happy if you are married ... and each new friend will boost your happiness about 10 percent."
The people you surround yourself with influence your behaviors, so choose friends who have healthy habits.
Select your friendships carefully. Gather people around you who will reinforce your lifestyle.
I know exactly what my values are and what I love to do. That's worth additional years right there. I say no to a lot of stuff that would be easy money but deviates from my meaning of life.
Exercise, from a public health perspective, is an unmitigated failure. The world's longest-lived people live in environments that nudge them into more movement. They don't use power tools, they do their own yard work, they grow a garden.
The secret to longevity, as I see it, has less to do with diet, or even exercise, and more to do with the environment in which a person lives: social and physical. What do I mean by this? They live rewardingly inconvenient lives.
I think we live in a culture that relentlessly pursues comfort. Ease is related to disease. We shouldn't always be fleeing hardship. Hardship also brings people together. We should welcome it.
None of the longest-lived people ran marathons or pumped iron. They live exactly as their grandparents before them - surrounded by family and friends.
We often think about happiness as trying to increase our joy, but it's also about decreasing our worry. So what you get for paying those high taxes is, if you're a parent thinking about putting your child through school, you don't have to worry about it, because all education through college is free.
The name of the game is to keep from pushing the accelerator pedal so hard that we speed up the aging process. The average American, however, by living a fast and furious lifestyle, pushes that accelerator too hard and too much.
“I wept because I had no Porsche, and then I saw a man who had no BMW.”
That’s an ancient proverb, slightly doctored for modern American sensibilities. The point is that, regardless of our life circumstances, we derive our happiness and our disappointment from comparisons with others’ fortunes. Indeed, the human brain seems to be perversely wired for relative judgments, even when the comparisons sabotage our well-being. -Wray Herbert
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