An Ordinary Life In An Extraordinary Way
So we are happy that you are here — a cozy corner — a so-called shelter — the Cozy Chestnut. There are only little things here, warmth, peace, and quietness.
Sometimes in your life, you get your mood down, start questioning about life’s purposes, get fascinated by an extraordinary story of someone out there. In that case, this corner is here for you.
Stay relaxed, ease your soul, fresh your mind and we tell you: the most wonderful thing is your mind — the only thing that can make you happier. We always hope that your mind will be at ease whenever you come to this place.
You are always welcomed in this cozy corner (Source: Unsplash)
Why do I create this blog?
Let’s start from the beginning — Why do I create this blog? Like everyone, I’m just an ordinary person with normal things: a job, a rent room, a partner, and…a cat. People get inspired by incredible stories, they strive their best to be successful, to be like the person in those stories. But that’s not me. I am not inspired by fabulous, shiny things; instead, I am encouraged by little, simple ones. The feeling of chasing something, the feeling of craving can set our heart on fire and burn our soul with greed. Why do we run after something? Why do we want something? Because of Success, Happiness, Pride, …? Do we need to achieve something so that we feel successful or happy or proud? Can we find our own joys doing daily little simple work?
So I create this blog because I know there are people like me out there who enjoy a frugal life, appreciate what they have, and live for the moment. Society has defined our success and happiness for a long time, then I think it’s time for us to set the standards on our own. This place may be for you to hide from outside, to soften the hearts, to calm the souls, and to share ideas of the same heads. I always hope that you will get your own peace here because that is the reason why I create this blog.
Now, let’s define an “ordinary” life.
How do you define “ordinary”?
As you may not know, most of the definitions (or meanings) have been defined by society, well, of course, I’m not talking about science or academy-related fields because those things are proved by measurements or experiments. “Ordinary” means “common, usual”, if you do something opposite to most people, it’s considered “uncommon” or “unusual”.
However, for social definitions like this, everything is just a personal relative perspective. I may see something ordinary while you may not think the same way; I consider eating three times a day is ordinary, but you find nothing wrong if someone has only one meal per day. That’s totally fine. If you think it’s normal, then it’s normal. So, an ordinary life, in my opinion, is that you are happy with it, enjoy it with a full heart. Just because you want to be a normal person doesn’t mean you have to do what most people do — the things you may not be comfortable with. The ordinary life should be set by yourself, not by society or other people.
I enjoy a frugal life with little things around… (Source: Unsplash)
On the other hand, let’s imagine this.
People will see you as “unusual” if you don’t follow the crowd or don’t do things as they are doing, right? So, what if everyone is striving to be exceptional or incredible, while you decide to be just…normal? Who are really “ordinary” or “extraordinary” now? Aren’t you the most special one who chooses to be normal and do things opposite to the crowd? As said, these definitions are just relative, what I’m trying to say here is that you don’t have to follow the meaning defined by society to make your choice. “Usual” or “unusual” doesn’t matter anymore.
So how do you define an “ordinary” life? For me, normal life is not a trivial life. Things are valuable to us in a certain way, there is nothing trivial in this world. I enjoy a frugal life with little things around: a job, a cozy room, a partner, a pet. I am happy with this ordinary life as I appreciate all I have and feel for every moment.
Live your life in an extraordinary way.
When getting to be “extraordinary” is seen as a common thing at this time, choosing to stay “ordinary” is truly the extraordinary way to live. That’s why I say: live a common life in a special way.
Live a common life in a special way (Source: Unsplash)
Why do we have to do fabulous things or reach some achievements?
Is it because we will feel happy, fulfilled, and satisfied after that? If your answer is yes, don’t worry, we are all the same.
The person we will become, our life with those achievements, how we feel when having it all. These are what we really imagine. But I regret to tell you that all are only illusions, as I learned from a few successful people choosing to turn back to a minimal life, after feeling deeply empty despite their great achievements.
Most famous people in the world, rich ones, incredible ones, stars, influencers, … We think they are happy with their fulfilled life. They are idols, models for us to aim for, to set our goals or achievements. How can we know exactly what they have gone through, how they have felt, in exchange for reaching the top of their careers? The truth is we will never know. We can’t even know whether our best friend enjoys her life or not if we don’t share things close together. All you see are just outer looks and all you think are fantasies. Your fantasies will take control, then ask you to do whatever to satisfy them. Eventually, you may ask yourself why you are not happy after reaching the achievements. Well, it’s because you don’t want them at the beginning, your imaginations do.
Supposing that everyone is living with their own big dreams, it’s “uncommon” (or “extraordinary”) to live a simple life and feel every moment. Start from small things, here is something you can know about “living at the moment”.
Extraordinary way: live for the moment, live for your own purposes
Remember the daily routine, why do we call it “routine”? Because we keep doing certain things again and again that our mind doesn’t even care about. It’s not “living for the moment”. Instead, try this. When you are having a meal, try not turning on the TV, not surfing the Internet or social media, not reading the newspaper, … Just eat. Slowly chew your food, feel that your teeth are crushing it into pieces, and they go down gently to the stomach. You see what you are eating, piece by piece, your hand is holding a fork to put food into your mouth, you feel every bite you have — soft, sweet, sour, tasty, spicy. This is truly “enjoying the meal”.
Our mind tends to go far away from the present, it may be in the past or future when we are doing something. You may think about what you have done for a day while taking a shower. You may think about what to eat for dinner even when you haven’t finished your lunch. Try focusing on doing one thing at a time. Roll deep into it, feel it, be fully aware of what you are doing, look at what is around you right now, in the present.
It’s not only “living for the moment”, but also increases your concentration to do things more efficiently. Some people say multi-tasking is essential in this era, well, they are businesses who, finally, just care about their profits. Multi-tasking means you can do many things at the same time, create more value, and reduce costs for the company. Instead of hiring two men with the same workload of each, employers can just use one man to do double work and give him some extra money, which reduces nearly half of the labor cost. You cannot ensure your productivity now as it depends on your energy or ability. Of course, you can try to perform the best, but you will be drained gradually until you are not able to do things like before, which once happened to us. So, stay safe, healthy, focused, and productive.
In fact, you don’t necessarily live to work for businesses for a lifetime, instead, live with your own purposes. Here is our simple philosophy of making money: create values for a community, then they will give back what you deserve. That’s it. I am here not doing any big deals, not dreaming to be famous or rich, not climbing the promotion ladder to get respect from others. I just live an ordinary life in an extraordinary way, which is “uncommon” for some people, but normal for some.
I create this blog not hoping to be popular someday, but to share, inspire, motivate other people like us, who enjoy peace, quietness, and living for the moment. As long as I create value for the community, I will keep on doing things without receiving back.
Conclusion
So now you know the reason for this blog, some ideas about “ordinary” and “extraordinary”. As said, this place only has warmth, peace, and quietness. You won’t see anything trendy, vibrant, or hot like out there, but only little, frugal things. This corner is here to ease the feeling for everyone hiding from the harsh society. You are always welcomed in this cozy corner — a so-called shelter — the Cozy Chestnut.
