Gretchen Rubin is a writer and podcaster who explores the issues of happiness, habits and human nature.
She was featured as a guest on a recent episode of “The Best Advice Show,” and she shared with host Zak Rosen a really excellent tip: Choose the bigger life.
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What is the bigger life, anyway? Only you can decide.
Here, we’ll let Rubin explain.
“For instance, in our family, my children really, really wanted to get a dog. This was like, five years ago,” Rubin said. "My husband was like, ‘Eh, I’m OK with getting a dog.' And I was very much on the fence because I thought, ‘This is a lot of work, a lot of trouble -- it’s a big commitment. This dog is probably going to be living with me and Jamie longer than our only children.’ I felt the pros and cons were very evenly balanced. And then I thought to myself, choose the bigger life.
“Now, I think for some families, a bigger life would not be getting a dog, because you might have more freedom, you’d travel more (and) you’d have more money freed up to spend on other things. It’s expensive to have a dog. So, I think for some people, ‘choose a bigger life’ would be not to have a dog. But it was obvious to me the minute I asked myself that question, that for our family, the bigger life was ... to get a dog. And so we did, and I’m just absolutely thrilled. It was exactly the right choice.”
Asking yourself that question gives you an indirect look into your head, which can be very hard to do, Rubin added.
It’s easy to get confused and distracted, so perhaps you’ll find this helpful. Here’s the episode, below, if you’d like to hear more. It’s only a few minutes long.
Rosen, by the way, wants to hear from you next. His podcast aims to share good, simple advice with the world.
“The Best Advice Show” offers tips on a range of topics, from food, to career goals, relationship advice and easy life hacks. Rosen describes the show as “your daily gummy vitamin” that will give you some nutrients.
To contribute some of your own advice -- on any topic -- drop him a voicemail at 844-935-BEST. Leave your name and your tip, followed by your email address in case he has any follow-up questions.
It can be deep or not-so-deep. Rosen has a “Food Fridays” feature in which he’d love to feature your cooking advice. He’s not so much interested in platitudes and truisms, but instead, looking for the specific, odd, uplifting, effective, real advice from you about how you make it through your days.
“The Best Advice Show” is a product of Graham Media Group. Download it wherever you listen to or access podcasts.