For a long time, I participated in the fast paced rat race that modern life creates. I worked hard, played hard and I kept a never ending to-do-list supplemented by an infinite bucket list. I never burned out but i often felt out of breath.
When I quit emergency medicine in 2018, i thought that this fork in my life would bring the opportunity for the slower quieter life to emerge… it didn’t. I just exchanged seats on the train of life and i kept going.
It took a pandemic to help me uncover what slowing down really meant. Nowadays, i spend my weekends at home. I bike in the park near my home. I cook and eat at home, often with visiting friends or family. I take regular naps. Today, i just i went paddle boarding with my son at Leamy lake, walked the dog and we watched TV together after dinner. Nowadays, i live the quiet life and i understand what it really means.
The quiet life is not somewhere or sometime.
It is not bought. It is not sold. Is not hidden.
It is not a lake front cottage or a camp in the woods. It is not a vacation in Club Med. It is not even a new job or a promotion at work.
The quiet life is affordable, it is a mindset. It is choices you can make every day. It has lot to do with learning to say no to the many distractions life brings.
Thank you.
(2 days later)
A good friend asked the question: How do you avoid boredom?
My initial answer was: people, family and friends, fill my life. This was a shallow answer to what was perceived initally as a superficial question.
Today, I think I understand the depth of my friend’s comment. How does someone satisfy his aspirations with the quiet life? Isn’t it boring to just be happy? He is totally right to ask the question. My answer is simple. The meaning of my life is not just to fill it with joy and pleasure by sleeping in a hamoc under the sun with a good book. My purpose in life is to help people live longer, healthier, happier lives. Living a quiet life has actually freed my schedule and I have the time to think, study, reflect on this purpose and find meaningful ways to work on it. The rat race i previously participated in did not give me one second to stop and think about this.
Thank you
Martin Pham Dinh 