English Recordings

The word jeans comes from a kind of material that was made in Europe. The material, called jean, was named after sailors from Genoa in Italy, because they wore clothes made from it. The word 'denim' probably came from the name of a French material, serge de Nimes: serge (a kind of material) from Nimes (a town in France).

At first, jean cloth was made from a mixture of things. However, in the eighteenth century as trade, slave labour, and cotton plantations increased, jean cloth was made completely from cotton. Workers wore it because the material was very strong and it did not wear out easily. It was usually dyed with indigo, a dye taken from plants in the Americas and India, which made jean cloth a dark blue colour.

In 1848, gold was found in California (not too far from San Francisco) and the famous Gold Rush began. The gold miners wanted clothes that were strong and did not tear easily. In 1853, a man called Leob Strauss left his home in New York and moved to San Francisco, where he started a wholesale business, supplying clothes. Strauss later changed his name from Leob to Levi.

A big problem with the miners' clothes were the pockets, which easily tore away from the jeans. A man called Jacob Davis had the idea of using metal rivets (fasteners) to hold the pockets and the jeans together so that they wouldn't tear. Davis wanted to patent his idea, but he didn't have enough money, so in 1872, he wrote to Levi Strauss and offered Strauss a deal if Strauss would pay for the patent. Strauss accepted, and he started making copper-riveted 'waist overalls' (as jeans were called then).

In 1886, Levi sewed a leather label on their jeans. The label showed a picture of a pair of jeans that were being pulled between two horses. This was to advertise how strong Levi jeans were: even two horses could not tear them apart.

In the 1930's, Hollywood made lots of western movies. Cowboys - who often wore jeans in the movies-became very popular. Many Americans who lived in the eastern states went for vacations on 'dude ranches' and took pairs of denim 'waist overalls' back east with them when they went home.

Fewer jeans were made during the time of World War 2, but 'waist overalls' were introduced to the world by American soldiers, who sometimes wore them when they were off duty. After the war, Levi began to sell their clothes outside the American West. Rival companies, like Wrangler and Lee, began to compete with Levi for a share of this new market.

In the 1950's, denim became popular with young people. It was the symbol of the teenage rebel in TV programmes and movies (like James Dean in the 1955 movie Rebel Without a Cause). Some schools in the USA banned students from wearing denim. Teenagers called the waist overalls 'jean pants' - and the name stayed.

In the 1960's many, many university and college students wore jeans. Different styles of jeans were made, to match the 60's fashions: embroidered jeans, painted jeans, psychedelic jeans...

In many non-western countries, jeans became a symbol of 'Western decadence' and were very hard to get. US companies said that they often received letters from people all around the world asking them to send the writer a pair of jeans.

As regulations on world trade became more relaxed in the late 1970's, jeans started to be made more and more in sweatshops in countries in the South. Because the workers were paid very little, jeans became cheaper. More people in the countries of the South started wearing jeans.

In the 1980's jeans finally became high fashion clothing, when famous designers started making their own styles of jeans, with their own labels on them. Sales of jeans went up and up.

I would like to remind you that...

It is wise to avoid...

It is best to avoid...

Please stay with the group at all the time.

Don't forget to purchase some water.

Don't rush across the street.

Please keep on the sidewalk.

Wait for the traffic lights to turn green.

You cross at your own risk.

Walk in a straight line.

Eating and drinking is not allowed.

Keep your voices down.

We recommend carrying only small amounts of cash.

Beware of pickpockets.

Keep an eye on your money and valuables.

Remember to place all rubbish in the bins.

Please, keep your seatbelt fastened.

For your own safety, don't put your arms out of the windows.

I ask you to remain seated until we come to a full stop.

If we get separated, we'll meet...

Has everybody got a clear idea of the rules?

Are there any questions?

Just past Torre di Lupo, the gulf of Saint Eufemia stretches out its long, sandy beaches. We recommend a first stop at Pizzo in Calabria, a splendid town built on a cliff overlooking the sea. One should visit both the little church of Piedigrotta, which is entirely built into the tuff, and the Aragonese manor where in 1815 Joachim Murat, king of Naples, was killed. If you're craving something sweet, the "tartufo di Pizzo" (truffle of Pizzo) and the "nocciola imbottita" (stuffed hazelnut) are for you. Both are homemade ice creams treats the recipes of which have been passed down from one generation to the next. If, on the other hand, you're looking for a taste of a different kind, you should try the tuna in olive oil, a local specialty. And what about the wine? There's nothing better than a glass of Zibibbo, a wine made from the local grape variety by the same name. Farther south you encounter Briatico, where the craggy coastline gives way to small sandy beaches from which divers seeking adventure can reach the remains of an old and mysterious Roman fishing boat. Then there is Tropea and its beaches with an urban layout typical of the 1600s. Finally, if you want to see an unforgettable sunset, go to the ancient hermitage of Saint Mary of the Island. The hermitage is built on a boulder on the beach not far from the center of Tropea.

The Little Productivity Tip of a Zen Master

Post written by Leo Babauta.

A little while back I ran into a friend, Susan O’Connell (Zen Master and Vice President of the San Francisco Zen Center), and she did something old fashioned.
When I said we should have tea sometime, she immediately went to her bag and got out her paper calendar, and suggested we make a date right then.
I said, “No, you’re busy, we can set a date later.”
She said she tries to only deal with something once.
It’s an old-fashioned piece of productivity advice, and something that I’ve done in the past, but it works.
Deal with something once. Do it now. Then it’s off your mind, and you can fully focus on the next matter.
Do most of us do this? We might read a bunch of emails, and say, “I’ll reply to those later. I’ll decide later.” We might see a bill or other piece of mail, and put it aside for later.
We put off small decisions and tasks for later, and they pile up, weighing on us at the back of our minds, pulling on us until we collapse under the weight of “later”.
Try dealing with it immediately.
If you open an email, make a decision on it immediately. Schedule the appointment in your calendar, reply, do a small task it requires, or if it takes too long, then you can put it on a to-do list — but avoid this if possible. David Allen suggests a two-minute rule: if the task can be done in less than two minutes, do it now. I suggest five minutes, even up to 10, as that means you have one less thing to worry about.
At any rate, archive the email once you’ve dealt with it, or delete it. You’re done with that. Move to the next, and repeat.
This applies to everything else: mail, paperwork, phone calls, requests from others. Deal with them immediately, or schedule a date to deal with it later if necessary.
When you are finished using something, put it away immediately and avoid a mess later. This is also how I keep clutter at bay. When you’re cooking, wash the items as you go to avoid a huge kitchen mess.
When your child asks for attention, give it to her now.
When your wife starts talking to you, put away the laptop, iPad or mobile device, and talk to her now.
What this means is that you deal with each thing in the moment, and then move to the next. Your mind isn’t pulled in a million directions at once.
It’s contrary to advice I’ve given before, because what it sometimes means is that you are often moving at the whim of other people’s requests — what they think is important, not you. And this can be a problem. You don’t want to just be reactive. I prefer to do what I think is important.
But a balance can be struck. When you deal with email or other types of communication, do it now. When you decide to work on something important, clear everything else, shut down communication, and just focus on that one important task. Don’t bounce around.
I’ve been doing this, mostly, ever since Susan reminded me of this little productivity trick, and it works beautifully. I’m not perfect — there are a couple tasks I’ve been putting off, mostly because I don’t have the ability to do them immediately, but for the majority of things I’ve been pretty good at dealing with things now.
Try it, and practice throughout your day, and let me know how it works for you.

The Tao of Travel

‘A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.’ ~Laozi
Post written by Leo Babauta.

I’m not the world’s most seasoned traveler, but I have made a number of trips lately and have learned a few things that work well.
This year I’ve traveled to Guam for a month, to Portland, New York City, Las Vegas, London, Paris, Southern California. They’ve all been beautiful trips, and I’ve never taken more than a small backpack.
Travel lightly, with no set agenda, and you’ll have an amazing, stress-free trip.
Traveling doesn’t have to be stressful. It can be simple, if you keep it so.
Essential

Pack little. I take a small backpack, and don’t pack it too heavy either. I’ve found through experience that I just need a pair of jeans, 2-3 T-shirts, 2-3 quick-dry boxer briefs, 2-3 pairs of quick-dry socks, maybe a light sweater. I wash things in the shower if they get dirty and hang them to dry overnight. I bring my laptop so I can work for 30-45 minutes every morning. A paperback novel, maybe a small notebook. Minimal toiletries: deodorant, toothbrush, razor, Dr. Bronner’s liquid soap (for washing clothes in the sink, and shaving), dental floss. I never wait to check my back or get the bag after the flight, and I can pack in 5 minutes.
Have no agenda. I often ask for recommendations from locals, and get a list of incredible things. I’ll also put everything on a Google Map, so I can see where everything is. Then I toss all that out and let the day lead me where it will. Having no set agenda means you aren’t pressured to get anything done each day, which means you can enjoy yourself fully.
Walk a lot. The best way to explore any place is to walk. Walk all over, with no set directions. Get lost.
Eat lightly. Eat anything you want, but don’t eat a lot. I like to mix fruits and veggies in with the heavier stuff, so I don’t feel so heavy.
Find space to relax. Most people try to do too much, and rush around all day. Stroll casually, find good coffee shops or tea shops to relax in, or a good sidewalk cafe with good wine. Find parks and enjoy them. If it rains, walk in the rain. Read a lot.
Be present. Don’t be on your smartphone or laptop all the time. Don’t always think about what you’ll be doing later, or work stuff. Be fully present, and you’ll have a great time.
Smile at people. Talk to the locals. Ask for recommendations. Find out about their lives.
A Few More

Do bodyweight exercises. I do a mix of pushups, squats, lunges, burpees in my hotel room or apartment.
Don’t just stay for a day or two. If you really want to see a city, stay for a week or more. I could have gone to Europe and hit up 10 cities in three weeks, but instead I split that time among just two cities (London & Paris) and really saw those cities.
Get a short-term apartment if you can. If you can stay for a week, get an apartment if you can afford it. It’s cheaper than a hotel and much more comfortable.
Read a good novel.
Bring a metal water bottle. I learned this from my friend Scott: pack an empty water bottle, so you can get through TSA security checkpoints, and then fill up the bottle at the airport water fountain after the checkpoint. I carry the water bottle around everywhere I go so I’m never thirsty.
Keep a journal. Don’t stress over the journal. It doesn’t have to be daily. Just write out your thoughts, impressions when you have some spare time.
Travel locally. For years I never traveled, to save costs. I was content where I was, and that’s still true. Be a tourist in your hometown — see the sights, walk the area, explore and try to find new things you’ve never seen before. You don’t need to spend a lot to travel locally.
‘One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.’ ~Henry Miller

The Amazing Power of Being Present

‘Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.’ ~Thich Nhat Hahn
Post written by Leo Babauta.

How can you bring calm and peace to the middle of a stress-ful, chaotic day?
The answer is simple, though not always so easy to put into practice: learn to be present.
No matter how out-of-control your day is, no matter how stressful your job or life becomes, the act of being present can become an oasis. It can change your life, and it’s incredibly simple.

When I asked people what things prevent them from having a peaceful day, some of the responses:
Work, the internet, my own lizard brain.
Social media and other digital distractions.
For me it’s too many things coming at me all at once. Whether it’s news, or decisions, or work to be done.
My four children.
Dishes, Laundry, Kids.
Needless interruptions.
Lack of control. I work in IT, and often “urgent” things will come up that need to be investigated/fixed right away (their definition, not necessarily mine).
My own monkey mind.
The amazing thing: all of these problems can be solved by one technique. Being Present.
How Being Present Solves Problems

When you look at all of the problems above, you can see if you look closely that the problems are entirely in the mind. Sure, there are external forces at work: an uncontrollable job, the stress of kids and chores and interruptions and digital distractions. But it’s how our mind handles those external forces that is the problem.
If you are completely present, the external forces are no longer a problem, because there is only you and that external force, in this moment, and not a million other things you need to worry about.
If your kid interrupts you, you can stress out because you have other things to worry about and now your kid is adding to your worries or interrupting your calm. Or you can be present, and there is then only you and the child. You can appreciate that child for who she is, and be grateful you have this moment with her.
If your job demands that you focus on an urgent task, you can stress out because you have a million other things to do and not enough time to do them. Or you can be present, and focus completely on that task, and now there is only that one task and you. When you’re done, you can move on to the next task.
Social media and other digital distractions don’t interrupt us if we close them and learn to pour ourselves completely into the present task. And if we need to do email, Twitter, or read blogs, we can set aside everything else and just be present with that one digital task.
Being present becomes, then, a way to handle any problem, any distraction, any stressor. It allows everything else to fade away, leaving only you and whatever you’re dealing with right now.
How to Practice Being Present

The method for being present is fairly simple, but it’s the practice that matters most.
Most people don’t learn to be present because they don’t practice, not because it’s so hard to do.
When you practice something regularly, you become good at it. It becomes more a mode of being rather than a task on your to-do or someday list.
Practice, practice, and being present will become natural.
Here’s how to do it: whatever you’re doing, right now, learn to focus completely on doing that one thing. Pay attention: to every aspect of what you’re doing, to your body, to the sensations, to your thoughts.
You will notice your thoughts, if you’re paying attention, jump to other things. That’s OK — you are not trying to force all other thoughts from your mind. But by becoming aware of that jumping around in your thoughts, you have found the tool for gently bringing yourself back to your present task. Just notice the jumping thoughts, and lovingly come back.
Do this once, then do it again. Don’t worry about how many times you must do it. Just do it now.
It can become tiring at first, if you’re not used to it. Don’t worry about that. Let yourself rest if you grow tired. Come back and practice again in a little while. It’s not meant to be exhausting — instead you should notice how your worries melt away and you enjoy your present task much more.
Be joyful in whatever you’re doing, grateful that you’re able to do that task, and fully appreciate every little movement and tactile sensation of the task. You’ll learn that anything can be an amazing experience, anything can be a miracle.
Practice throughout your day, every day. Little “mindfulness bells” are useful to remind you to come back to the present. Thich Nhat Hanh once recommended that stoplights be your mindfulness bell as you drive. You can find mindfulness bells everywhere: your child’s voice, your co-workers appearing before you, a regular event on your computer, the noise of traffic.
Meditation is a fantastic way to practice, only because it removes much of the complexity of the world and allows you to just learn to be aware of your mind, and to bring yourself back to the present moment. It’s not complicated: meditation can be done anywhere, anytime. A meditation teacher is useful if you can find one.
Practice, repeatedly, in small easy beautiful steps. Each step is a wonder in itself, and each practice helps you to find that calm in the middle of the traffic of your life.
‘Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis
on which the world earth revolves – slowly, evenly, without
rushing toward the future. Live the actual moment.
Only this moment is life.’ ~Thich Nhat Hanh

Exercises for the Terminally Busy

Post written by Leo Babauta.

I’ve been out walking all day in New York City with my daughter, and haven’t found any time for my usual workouts in between museums and fabulous restaurants.
And yet fitness doesn’t require hours of your time every day.
I’ve compiled a list of some of my favorite quick exercises. It’s not meant to be a complete fitness program, but something to sneak in when you’re too busy to get a longer workout or a visit to your gym.
If you’re working hard, or stressing out over all the things you have to do for your family, don’t worry. I’ve got you covered.
If any of these exercises is too easy, rest for 30-60 seconds and do a second one. If that’s still too easy, add something with weight.
Exercises for the Terminally Busy

1. Bodyweight squats. These are some of my favorites. Sit back, then squat down like you’re sitting on a toilet seat, until your thighbones are about parallel to the ground. Stand up and flex your glutes, repeat as many times as you can. Rest 20-30 seconds, do a second set, then another. If that’s too easy …
2. Jump squats. Same as above, but explode into a jump as high as you can from the squat position. Land lightly on the balls of your feet and go straight back into the squat. Do as many as you can ‘ aim for 20-30 reps, 3-5 sets.
3. 300 lunges. You can do walking lunges if you have space, or just alternate legs and stay in the same spot. Try to rest as little as possible. If this is too easy, do 400 meters of lunges. If this is still too easy …
4. Jump lunges. Same as lunges, but jump up and switch legs in the air, land lightly on the balls of your feet, go right into the lunge. 200 reps, in as little time as you can. If you’re not in good shape, start with 50 or 100 reps.
5. Pushups. If you’re in decent shape, see how fast you can do 100 pushups. Last time I tried I barely did it in under 5 minutes. You might be much faster. If pushups are too hard, do some of them on your knees. You can also just do sets of 10-20, and repeat this througout the day as you can find time.
6. Stairs. Walk up the stairs as often as you can. If this is too easy, run up them 2-3 stairs at a time. Go up and down and do several sets if you can.
7. Burpees. Squat, put your hands on the ground, thrust your feet out behind you so that you’re in pushup position, do a pushup, jump your feet so that you’re back in squat position, jump up in the air as high as you can. Repeat. See if you can do 20 or 30, or at least 10 if you’re not in great shape. Do 3-5 sets.
8. Pullups. Set up a pullup bar in your house, or find a tree branch outside you can reach. Do as many as you can, do 3-5 sets. Or just do as many as you can every time you walk by the bar. If you can’t do pullups, try jump pullups. Or do negatives ‘ use a chair to get yourself at the top of the pullup position (chin above bar), then lower yourself to the bottom position (arms fully extended) as slowly as you can, and repeat as many times as you can.
19. Hindu squats and Hindu pushups. You’ll have to do a Youtube search to find the method for these, but they’re excellent. I also love dive bomber pushups, Spiderman pushups, and mountain climbers. Again, do as many reps as possible, 3-5 sets.
10. Jumps. Mark a spot on the wall about a foot higher than your highest reach, then jump and touch that spot as many times as you can. Repeat 3-5 sets.
11. Bounds. Run by bounding (leaping as far as you can). Alternate this with jumps and squat jumps.
12. Handstand pushups. Stand with your back to the wall, put your hands on the ground about 6 inches from the wall, then walk your feet up the wall until you’re in a handstand position, but with your feet leaning on the wall. Try to do a pushup so that your head almost touches the ground, and push your arms straight again. See how many reps you can do, repeat for 3-5 sets. If you can’t do a full rep, just do a partial rep ‘ bend your arms a little. You’ll get stronger with practice.
13. If you have the equipment, other good workouts would include kettlebell swings, dumbbell snatches, sandbag throws and sandbag cleans, and fireman’s carries of your spouse.
14. Rounds. If you find the above exercises easy, try combining several exercises in as many combinations as you can ‘ for example, do 15 squats, 10 pushups, 5 pullups. That’s one round. See how many rounds you can do in 5 or 10 minutes. There are tons of ways to combine the above exercises.

The Quiet Theory of Influence

Post written by Leo Babauta.

Most online marketing people will teach you how to use social media to reach a larger audience, how to use email lists and the scarcity principle and social proof, how to create authority, how to effectively convert pageviews into sales.
Most marketers, online or off, are full of it.
Converting visitors into buyers is a soul-less use of your creative energy. Reject it, out of hand.
I find more value in creating something of value. I find influence a better metric than sales or traffic or reader numbers.
And I’ve learned something that the screaming marketers will never tell you: instead of screaming, prefer quiet.
When everyone yells “Look at me!”, become quiet.
When others seek attention, turn your attention inward.
When everyone wants pageviews and sales, be valuable.
When others try to pull visitors to their sites, let people find you themselves.
When most blogs have popups and drop-downs urging readers to subscribe to their newsletters, get out of your readers’ way.
When others brag of their success, let others laud you instead.
When others cling greedily to copyrights, give your work away.
When others use goals to drive themselves to change the world, learn to be content, and people will ask to learn your secrets.
I’ve found all of the above to be true. When you’ve created something of real value, you don’t need to do any marketing, spend any money on advertising, or push people to subscribe.
People will find you, and they’ll think you’re so great they want to tell their friends about it. Your readers will become your marketers. Your value will become your advertising budget.
Imagine owning a muffin shop. If the muffins are commonplace, you’ll have to advertise and do some “guerilla marketing” to get customers. But if your muffins make people roll their eyes in ecstasy, they will tell the world of your deliciousness, and the world will pound on your muffin-scented door.
Become quiet, find contentedness, become valuable. These trump marketing every time, and as you learn to listen to your inner music, you can now ignore the marketers hawking their oils of snakedness.

The 5 Principles of a Profound Workday

‘Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.’ ~Laozi
Post written by Leo Babauta.

Let us toss out all we know for a moment.
Toss notions of productivity, time management, efficiency, and the bottom line.
Empty our workdays of all we’ve packed them with, and sit still with an empty room.
What should we put in this room? Do we want to spend our limited space on busy-ness, on making money, on quick transactions and calculated meetings?
What if we put into it only that which matters? What if we left everything else out?
We would be left with a workday that was poetry, profoundly beautiful.
The Profound Workday

In my life I have deliberately cultivated a workday that is flexible, simplified, slow, mindful, creative.
The exact opposite of my previous life: a hurried, anxious, complicated, dull workday.
What I’ve curated is not difficult, but it is the perfect environment for creating work that is profoundly different from my previous accomplishments.
I’ve created this flow using some key principles. You might not be able to implement all of them right away, but it’s my hope that you’ll find the principles useful.
1. Empty: In Silence and Solitude. When your schedule is full, you have no room for change. When your day is full of noise, you have no space to think.
Empty your day. When you have an empty space, you can fill it with anything. Only with this emptiness can you create something truly different.
Clear your schedule. Find space for silence and solitude. With this space you’ll be free, to hear your thoughts, to see the truth, to create beauty.
2. Slow and Mindful. Rushing paradoxically leaves us with less time — the speed means we don’t pay attention, and so the day disappears rapidly and leaves us before we notice.
Slow down, and pay attention. You’ll be able to focus on your creative tasks more, and though you’ll do less, you’ll accomplish things that are more profound.
Be mindful of every activity, small or large. Enjoy every motion.
When you are done with a task, wash your bowl. Then move to the next.
3. Profoundly Creative. Don’t use the gift of your day for mindless repetitive tasks. Don’t end the day with nothing to show for your work.
Start each day by creating. Make the space at the beginning of your day to create, before you get lost in emails and online networking and reading.
Create something amazing. Delight your audience. Leave them amazed, wanting to do your marketing for you. Make a difference.
4. Simplified. The principles for a profound workday might seem impractical to most people, because there just isn’t the time or space to implement them. The only way to create this type of workday is to simplify.
It’s the key to everything else. Subtract. Pare everything down to its essence.
What’s on your desk right now? What are the three items that actually need to be there? Remove everything else.
What’s on your schedule for today? What are the three tasks that would really make a difference in your life? Eliminate everything else that you possibly can.
What do you do every day? How many of those things can be eventually pared down?
How much do you do online? Could you do without it?
Simplify, and you’ll be able to find emptiness, solitude, silence, slowness, mindfulness.
5. Flexible and Natural. This type of workday might start to sound rigid, but in truth when you create space you also allow yourself the flexibility to deal in the moment with any change.
The natural flow of things is change, and if we are rigid we aren’t able to deal with changes. We become frustrated, anxious, angry, flustered.
If instead we have no expectations of what will happen each day, and deal with changes as they come, we let go of that frustration and anxiety.
Be open to whatever happens. Be flexible. Deal with change as it happens, and you’ll find true profoundness doesn’t come from within us, or from external sources, but in the space between the two.
‘Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.’ ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The Tragedy of Missing Out

Post written by Leo Babauta.

A father and his son went fishing on a small boat, hungry.
The father helped his son reel in his first fish, and it was a beauty. “Great catch, son,” the father said.
“Yes, but I’m worried I’m missing out on better fish,” the son said. “What if I could catch a bigger, tastier fish?”
“Maybe you should try,” the father said.
And the son did, catching an even bigger fish an hour later. “A real beaut,” the father said.
“But what if there are better fish out there?” the son asked.
“Maybe you should try,” the father said.
And the son did, catching a bigger fish, then wondering if there were better fish, catching another, and so on.

At the end of the day, the son was exhausted. The father asked, “How did the fish taste?”
The son hesitated. “I’m not sure. I was so busy looking for better fish that I didn’t taste any of them.”
The father smiled contentedly, patted his belly. “Don’t worry. They were delicious.”
—
We are all of us like the son. We all worry, at some time or other, that we’re missing out on things.
It’s why we’re so busy — we take on so much because we don’t want to miss out. We take on dozens of goals and aspirations, because we don’t want to miss out.
But here’s the bare truth: we will miss out, no matter what. It’s inevitable. We cannot do or try everything in the world, even with lives twice as long. We cannot see every town and city, read every interesting book, watch every important film. We will always, always miss out.
Here’s the second, more important truth: if you always worry about what you’re missing out on, you will miss out on what you already have.
Don’t make a reading list a mile long — focus on the book in your hand. Don’t pack your vacation itinerary with every highlight of the city you’re visiting — walk around and enjoy what you find. Don’t worry about traveling the entire world — be delighted with the world around you. Don’t worry about what you’re missing online, or in the news — what you’re doing is good enough.
And let go of your long to-do lists and goal lists. They are a futile attempt to keep from missing out. You will miss out, but in striving to do everything, you’ll miss out on the wonder of the thing you are doing right now.
What you’re doing right now is all that matters. Let the rest go, and enjoy the fish you’ve already caught.