A Day in My Life – Part 4

Dear Readers,

This week, after a long time of trying, I finally set off to sea with three friends—working and holidaying at the same time.

On the very first day of this “workation,” I happened to read in the Turkish morning newsletter Aposto bulletin that Tokyo had been chosen as the best city in the world for combining work and vacation. A nice coincidence, and proof that the idea can actually be measured. By the way, I recommend this practice to anyone who can manage it—so long as you have the discipline and willpower to pull it off.

When I asked my friends, “What’s the one topic that’s on your mind right now—what would you most want to talk about first?” each of the three gave me a different answer:

• Anxiety and how to cope with it

• The importance of small, simple steps when reshaping our lifestyles for healthier living

• Leaving a mark in life, or achieving something remarkable once again

So I thought: why not take the pulse of the moment and tackle these topics this week?

Anxiety

Anxiety can be seen in two ways: the functional kind that life requires, and an excessive amount, beyond the required level. Staying alert and being a little anxious in order to survive is perfectly natural. Faced with a real threat to life, the “fight-or-flight” response is a piece of software that nature has programmed into us.

But modern life also brings us countless anxieties that fall outside the bounds of our real nature and act as significantly drags on our quality of life. In nature, it makes sense to be afraid and anxious when faced with mortal danger. Today’s anxieties, however, are endless—financial worries, social anxieties, status-related concerns, to name just a few. In earlier generations, these were dismissed as “worldly matters.” They do us more harm than good, driving us towards panic attacks, chronic anxiety, and ultimately, depression.

In short: a sense of threat and the ability to manage it is crucial for survival and success. But when exaggerated, it consumes us.

So how do we equip ourselves to get through this unscathed? As we’ve discussed before, the most important weapon is what we call Radical Acceptance: surrendering to the flow of nature and life, respecting it, and not fighting battles against what lies outside our control.

Eckhart Tolle captures its essence in his spiritual guide to inner peace, The Power of Now, a book that echoes fundamental Buddhist teachings: 

“Accept — then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it. Make it your friend and ally, not your enemy. This will miraculously transform your whole life.”

The Power of Small Steps

The second theme was the importance of small steps when reshaping our lives.

In fact, this is something we’ve been used to doing since the day we were born. We get to walking by crawling, then toddling. We learn language by memorizing the alphabet, then syllables. We master skiing step by step, beginning with snowploughs on gentle slopes before moving on to red and black runs.

Yet in life, we often lack the patience for small steps. We want to succeed instantly. And when we don’t, we either abandon the journey halfway and blame others, or we blame ourselves and lose hope, or we resort to manipulations that justify our failure.

The solution lies in recognizing the value of small steps and equipping ourselves—patiently, step by step—with new, beneficial habits. As the saying goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” It was built stone by stone. In the same way, we can reach a healthy body, a clear mind, good relationships, and success in our work—through small, steady steps.

We can even categorize this reconstruction under clear headings: sleep, nutrition, mental awareness, relationships, exercise, our interface with society, financial habits, and more. If we focus on just a few goals each month, without exaggerating things, we’ll succeed. If our goals are too large or too numerous, we’ll fail. The key is to keep them few, clear, and achievable—building toward the bigger ones step by step.

Leaving a Mark

Our third theme was about leaving a mark—whether for our own sake or to earn the recognition of others.

This can mean building a billion-dollar company, swimming across the English Channel, owning the tallest building in the city—or simply making someone feel good every single day.

The key question is whether what we do adds healthy meaning to our lives. For instance, owning the tallest building might look significant in terms of status, but it could actually diminish quality of life.

Minimalism is one of the most important approaches directly tied to quality of life. At the same time, a life worth living goes hand in hand with meaningful existence. Of course, enlightened beings have already transcended these stages—but they don’t represent the rest of us ordinary mortals.

And we mustn’t forget this: a meaningful life only takes form once the basic needs of life are met. (See Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.)

Until our next meeting, I wish you happy and healthy days.