Tiny Living, Big Freedom: Designing Life on Your Own Terms

Angie: Welcome to No More Mondays, the podcast that helps you navigate career challenges through the wisdom of professionals who have been at the same crossroads. I'm your host Angie Callen, and I welcome you to join me each week as I chat with leaders, entrepreneurs, and employees who are here to share practical, tactical advice and some inspiration on how they arrived at career satisfaction. From job searching and career changes to going out on your own, we're breaking down barriers and providing actionable takeaways to help you take charge of your Mondays and ditch the Sunday blues.

Welcome to the No More Mondays movement. Hello, everybody, and welcome to No More Mondays. I am your host Angie Callen, and I've got a real legit question to ask all of you out there: Are you living your life for you, or are you living life on somebody else's term, or maybe even worse, living life according to what society tells us we should be doing with our lives, even though it might not align with who you are, and something just isn't jiving. Well, I have a guest for you as I bring Shannon Arner to the show.

She and her husband Jerry decided to take life by the horns and live it on their terms. After owning a business that had them working 24/7, the two realized there was more to life, and they went after it. They downsized, they simplifies, they moved to the coast where they really wanted to be, embraced tiny living, which should tell you right off the bat why she and I get along so well, and founded Arner Adventures to help others do the same. If you feel like you could get more out of life and stop letting life happen to you.

Keep listening as Shannon and I chat about everything from adventure to our mutual love of rescue pities, tiny living, food, and more. Shannon, welcome to No More Mondays. Shannon: Thank you. No more Mondays.

No more Mondays. No more Mondays. I love it. That's Angie: what we're all about.

That's right. That's Unknown: right. Angie: I've got to give. I've got to give everybody out there a little bit of a teaser.

I was on Shannon's podcast. We recorded it a few weeks ago. However, the stars are aligned, and it dropped yesterday. Yeah.

So I will allow you to hit pause one time as you listen to No More Mondays, everybody, and go pull up Arner Adventures podcast with me because there's going to be a lot of. I have a feeling you could probably listen to them in either either order because it's going to be kind of the flip sides of the story. So we had a great conversation when we recorded, and I'm excited to continue here. Shannon: It's just a flow.

You can do one and then just switch to the other, or you know, it's just a to be continued, and you just keep it going. It's going to be great. Angie: We're just gonna we're just going to overtake your podcast feed this week, everybody. Yeah, Shannon: yeah.

Angie: So let's start for those of you that haven't listened to Arnor Adventures yet. Let's give them some context, Shannon. Tell everybody a little bit about what life looks like today, and draw us kind of a picture of of what you and Jerry have got going on. Shannon: Yeah.

So I'll give you the the Cliff Notes version in 2017. Picture me in the midst of a mental breakdown. Literally, I was physically and mentally drained. I said, "I have to.

We had, you know, we were we had a business that literally was 24/7. We worked in the pet industry, so we specialized in. It's sort of like pet sitting, but it was also we had vet techs on staff, so we did almost like home health for pets. So we kept pets in their home while their parents were away, so we also did dog walking and and regular pet sitting.

But if pets had special needs, we were able to take care of those things so that those pets could actually enjoy their lives and go on vacations and knew that their pets were going to be fine and they didn't have to be kennelled and boarded. So we had staff who did overnights all of that? Well, we grew very fast, and of course, Jerry and I were backups. So if there were ever any issues, we got up in the middle of the night.

We went, so it was it was literally 24/7. And because we loved animals, and we still do, but because we loved these these pets and had them on our client caseload for years, they were like our family. Well, a number of things happened throughout that time, but as we grew and grew and grew, in 2017, a number of things happened, and one day, I said, "I have to get away at least for the day. I have to at least go away for the day.

And we drove here where we live now in Beaufort, North Carolina, and we went to the ocean. And I literally was sitting in the surf of the ocean, and the waves were just just literally crashing on me. You cannot make this up. Angie: Oh no!

And we have a picture. I have a picture of. Shannon: Okay, they were crashing on me, and I did not care if it carried me out. I just said I can't do this anymore.

If it carries me out, I just don't care. I cannot go back. And Jerry and I just sat there and looked at each other, and I said, I just can't do it anymore. I can't do it anymore.

And we consulted a business broker who we've been talking to along the way, and I said, I don't care if we give this business away. Like I love this so much, but I can't do it anymore. And there's a lot of psychological stuff that goes into you know, and you probably know this about you know we have so much empathy and compassion fatigue and all of that, but you know, hindsight's 2020. But we came back, and in the span of of a few weeks, we sold that business, our client caseload.

We sold the client list. We sold the business. We sold put our house on the market in 24 hours. We sold our house.

We sold most of our stuff because it was an all cash buyer who wanted us out in 30 days, so we put all of our stuff on Facebook Marketplace. We you know had a yard sale. We were like, it has to go, and then we were like, oh, where are Angie: we going? What are Shannon: we gonna do?

And we've always said, "Oh, okay, one day, one day, one day, we're gonna be down in Beaufort. One day we're gonna live on the coast, or one day we're gonna live on some island. And we just started looking and said, "Oh, there's a 500 square foot little tiny home in Beaufort, and I think we're just going to go and rent it. Let's just go and figure it out.

And we had hardly any money because honestly, we really didn't make a lot of money selling it. We had payroll taxes. Any entrepreneur understands this. We had payroll taxes.

We had to back pay all this stuff, and we came and literally had to heal, and we just had to spend time getting it together physically, mentally, and Arnor Ventures was born, and it was born because we started a blog because we got tired of people asking us by phone, by you know whatever through our family, what is happening? Are have they lost their minds? They they thought they were watching a train wreck. Is what it was.

It was crazy. Angie: And this is where that that idea of like society, your family, it's people who love you. So that it is out of love that the concern comes. But this is also where you have to be very careful of letting that advice weigh too heavily on your decision making to the point that it's actually harming your ability to to move forward, and these kinds of changes don't come without big risk.

Like for all intents and purposes, you guys cut the cord and made a huge leap of faith. Shannon: 100% and I I started that business in college. So without completely giving my age away, I had that business for over 10 years, almost 15 years, and it was a very difficult decision. So when I say yes, I was sitting in the surf and said I can't do it anymore.

It's not like I made that decision right that moment to okay, boop, cut it. But it it literally all happened very quickly. But I had been making the decision. But had I not made that decision, I wouldn't be here today.

I mean, there's just no way I would be here. But yeah, I think I I started that business out of what something that I loved, but there's something that you said on our podcast that I think is brilliant, and we can get more into that. Is I think that you should cultivate your career around what you love and around your lifestyle, like have a lifestyle, and then hopefully have a career that fits that lifestyle and make money out of it. I definitely was was doing that job to pay for college, and I loved it.

But then I got to where I did not love it. I didn't like the work of it. I wish I would have just been like, okay, let me volunteer, and and I didn't know enough about the business sense to understand the growth of it and and all of that. So again, hindsight is 2020.

But Angie: when I feel like the what the the picture that you painted with the beach and the just like I can't is that is what real burnout looks like if you were there and like you said if you had not, if you and Jerry had not made the decision to make changes, and I actually think that, like, you needed the fast change, right? You were, Shannon: yeah, Angie: like there wasn't much wick left on that candle, and it probably took that that wick just to get the that last 30 days all taken care of, and that that's what burnout.

Like and if you go too far, you can really, really damage yourself. And and I think that because to tie this together to what you mentioned about the life career thing, we are very very good at that in America because we have a culture that is very much live to work, not work to support your life. And I'm a big fan of design your life and and figure out what you want from it and find a career that will support it, which Shannon: is what Angie: you two did in moving on from this.

And you were kind of figuring that all out in real time. And and one of the questions I I kind of have for you is I would like what kind of conversations were you guys having in that you know after the house was sold and you're you're in your tiny house at the beach. We're gonna talk about tiny houses every week, but you're you know you're at your tiny house and you're like okay wow well they're what the last 15 years what are we doing like what did those conversations look like you know how did you start taking steps forward to define the new phase?

Shannon: Well, the first thing is that we kept honestly, the first thing we kept doing was pinching ourselves. Like we kept saying, "We live at the beach. Like we live free. And yes, and it was like we don't have clients calling us today.

We don't have staff we have to check on. We don't have so we were definitely. It was at first sunshine and rainbows, like it was. It was honeymoon.

Well, that's your Angie: healing period. You mentioned you needed sunshine and you need you needed a honeymoon period. Shannon: Yes, Angie: to enjoy the new life and kind of recoup. Shannon: Yes, and and and we definitely were still.

I mean, we we were grieving different things, different losses we had experienced, so we were still doing that, and we were, and then we were sort of like, okay, you know, we should we should look and see what resources we need for therapy, and we knew we knew we needed those types of things, and and then we just started being more active, and then it was like, well, okay, what are we gonna do to get money? What are we gonna do to oh yeah because now we have bills now I will tell you with the smaller smaller life and simpler life and tiny living it the bills were much less and it was much easier as far as that goes but we were just like what I mean I don't need to do a whole lot, and so it was sort of like, well, let's just okay.

If I if we work somewhere here on the coast, that's fine. If we just you know find just jobs that are outside, and it just didn't matter so much. It was just like we just need to do something to bring some money in, and then let's just heal. So the conversations were literally, let's really get outside and enjoy where we live in order to heal.

That's what the conversations were, and it was also sort of getting to know each other again because we were like two ships passing in the night with the other business. Angie: That's a really good point. It's like a whole. It's like a whole.

It's a totally whole new phase, and I am sure there are people out there going, "Oh, I know what two ships pass sitting in the night sounds like. You know, for the first almost 10 years of my relationship with Jim, he worked in restaurants, and so there were, and you know, and I've always had kind of let's call them day jobs. There were there were periods of time where periods of time where we would see each other from like 10 a.m.

to 2p.m. on a Saturday, and that was like our time together. And it just starts to feel like, well, no offense, Jim, but like it's like almost what's the point?

We don't we don't even get to coexist, and so I'm sure that that was just so refreshing to kind of like reengage and lean back into your relationship because you had time to do that. Shannon: 100% 100% That's exactly what it's. And we still say that now. I'm like, how do we have conversations now that we're still learning things about each other and we've been married this long?

Well, it's because we had this business together and we were not talking. We were only talking about the business, and if we went to dinner, it was like, okay, so can you call this staff member and tell them? Can you go and train? How are we going to do this?

And it was never. They were always business Angie: meetings. Yes, Shannon: never. This definitely Angie: strikes.

So, and and we already it was Shannon. I when you when you listened to the episode of me on Arnor Adventures, like through the course of the episode, Shan and I are like, really, you too? I mean, they're like parallel lives here in lots of different ways, even some timeline stuff that I didn't I didn't know before. But I also think we we are we have to figure out Jim and I.

We have to very are very careful and intentional about like today. Like this is a business because he works for Career Benders. All of you out there, he's literally sitting here listening to this conversation because he produces No More Mondays, and so I need to be careful what I say about him. But it's you have to be if you're in business or you have like a spouse who works for you, have to be really intentional about when to talk about business and making sure you do and talk about kind of like.

Other things, and we learned that the hard way in a similar, similar kind of. We were we actually bought a business together that failed, and we went bankrupt around the same exact time that you guys were selling off and moving to the beach. I was like, wow, timeline wise, we were just like in parallel universes, which is why we went tiny. So for for I we're let's talk about let's go there.

I Shannon: love the schooly talk. Angie: Yeah, we're gonna talk about minimalism, and for all of you that like to watch Tiny House Nation on on House Hunters, this the next few minutes is for you because I I don't actually talk about this much on this show, but Jim and I lived in a micro tiny house for four years. He actually sent me a chat when you said you moved into a 500 foot tiny house. He was like, "That's not tiny, because ours it wasn't the school.

It was 225 square feet. We built it in a bus, and we lived in it for four years until we until we bought our house in July, which was kind of our goal of of the tiny living. It's a really interesting experience that, in a way, I think almost all Americans should kind of go through. Totally, Shannon: totally, Angie: because minimalism, in in however you want to define it, is such an interesting experience because you just realize how much you don't need when you don't have room for it, and I also think that then translates to like what you end up having for you you make you make up for in space of non physical things, mental energy, physical energy, emotional energy.

How did what is your experience in that? Shannon: So I I always say that I am I was two people. Jerry Jerry kind of goes goes along with the ride. Like he, he has always sort of been the person that didn't need a lot of stuff.

No, he enjoyed it, and he will tell you right now that he he loves our lifestyle that has less. I was two different people. Like I something clicked. I don't know what.

I don't know what happened. I was the person who converted in our old old old Shannon old house, converted one of our bedrooms into a closet. Like I had, you know, I made it into a closet. Somebody come in, made it into a closet.

Now it makes me want to vomit thinking about that. Like, who was that? Like that was just. But you know, you go through things to become the person you are now, but now I say all the time, minimalism helped also reduce my mental clutter.

Like if things, if I have physical clutter in my life, you can almost guarantee that the mental clutter is there, and and to get rid of the physical clutter, it also helps my mental stability. It call it whatever you want. You know, I've talked to my therapist, and it can be a control issue. It can be a way of just like purging and having cleansing.

Whatever you want to say, it doesn't matter. What matters is that it? It's something that helps me, and what helps me is having clarity, having less to worry about, having less distraction, and I think that there's so many you know philosophical ways to look at it too. But I think at the end of your life, no one looks and says, "I wish I had more shit.

You don't say that. Angie: That's totally true. It really does come down to like, what are you gonna regret? Yeah.

And and I think it's. I almost have this idea in my head that it's like minimalize to maximize. Maybe there's an episode title in there somewhere. But it was really interesting.

I think for for our experience is that you know in a way we kind of got more stuff, but it was almost for a very for the very specific reason of adventuring. Yeah. Now and now that we live in let's call it a normal house, which has been a lifelong goal of mine, and at 42 I finally got to make it real because the boss allowed us to do it, you know. We are very.

I I find myself being conscious about not reacquiring tons and tons of stuff. So of course we had to get furniture and stuff for the house, but trying not to like fall back into giant consumerism of like refilling a closet with all the things that I got rid of and stuff. You know, 8020 rule. Everybody, you only wear 20% of what's in that, anyway?

So it's almost like, and not you know, we're like totally on a soapbox, and but I think the point is take stock of of what in your life is taking up space and the purpose of it, so that you're intentional about having it. You know, for us, you know, we're intentional about having paddle boards and lots of skis because we do those things 50 days a year each, and so I would say think about what you're acquiring and where it fits. That in and of itself could even be a little bit of a minimalist type of type of exercise without getting rid of everything.

Shannon: Yeah, and and just less consumerism overall. I think it's. Interesting, and we were talking about the soapbox, and I can totally get on a soapbox. But you know, now you were talking about earlier.

I'm going to go in two different directions here, but you were talking about earlier the husband, wife, and Arnort Ventures is a business now. It generates income, you know, from our website and and all of that. It was totally unintentional. We didn't even know that we were going to be building a community off of it, but it does, and we we work to create content and put out information for people to understand that it is a simpler lifestyle that can help you know make your life more fulfilling.

And so, Jerry and I, while it is our lifestyle, we do make a intent. We do set the intent of not talking about it so much. The Arner Adventures part outside of what I call work hours. But what I was getting to is, I think that it's interesting that so many people can really poo-poo the this lifestyle, or you know, say I can't do that.

There's no way I can do that. Well, first of all, that's fine. It's not for you. I'm not saying our lifestyle is for you.

Yet, when someone comes to visit us, or when someone comes into our sphere, they will almost always comment. Gosh, it's so calming! It's so calming to be around you guys, and it's so calming. I'm like, I know, but it didn't used to be like that, did it?

It used to be chaotic. It used to feel so chaotic, didn't it? And and I just think that's interesting. Like, take note.

Like, what it is is you don't have all the crap. Whether it's you know the stuff in our minds or the things that were going on constantly, and and all just the stuff. It's just we have a a more calming environment. And even if you reduce the things in your life just a little bit, you're going to just find that it opens things up so much more and experience so much more.

Whether it's adventure or just a walk on the beach, whatever it is, an advent. Angie: I totally adventure is exactly where we're going next, so it's perfect. But I think to me, where I summarize that is, you know, the minimalist, the tiny living is very much a physical stuff type of thing, and I think the important kind of like say overarching message here is there's a difference between clutter and the things that are like let's say necessary or a component of the the life that makes you happy, right?

And that clutter could be responsibilities at work and stress that is distracting from your happiness. It could be physical stuff that you're putting too much energy and emphasis on because you think it makes you happy and it doesn't. It could be any number of types of clutter, and I think we are very good at accumulating that clutter, whether it is tangible or intangible, without ever stopping and saying, "Do I need this piece of tangible or intangible clutter in order to live the lifestyle I want to have, or is this just something I'm supposed to have, or supposed to want, or wear like a badge of honor?

Shannon: Oh gosh, sometimes in something I still work on. Sometimes it can be boundaries, like you don't, you don't have. I I tend to. It's something I constantly work on, and that is clutter.

If I don't hold my boundaries with certain people or certain responsibilities, that is clutter, and it's like mental clutter. And I have to get rid of it and hold those boundaries back up. And that's a great point that you make. That yeah, Angie: boundaries is an excellent way to put it because I think when you have the mental clutter, it then becomes very hard to be present.

And we know in today's in today's world, we are just so distracted all the time that we're kind of like never really present. and And I think that your story is such an amazing testament of like when you remove a lot of the stress, a lot of the clutter, and you create boundaries. Now you and your relationships are more meaningful and and have greater value because you can be present to them because you've taken out a lot of the distractions, physical and non physical. Shannon: Gosh, that's that's a really good point.

You know, I I told you before we got on here that my my mom and I we we were all all from Central North Carolina, and we moved to one end of the state, and she moved to the other. And she tells me that now that I've made this lifestyle change, that we have a better relationship because even though we're further in distance, we have better conversations. We make more time for each other because before it was just so chaotic mentally, and you know, I just didn't have time. I didn't make the.

You didn't make Angie: the time. I think that's a really important distinction because we are all really good at saying, "Oh, I don't have time. I don't have time. You have time.

It's just you choose where you allocate it. Shannon: Yes, Angie: and. Let's talk about adventuring, since you have a a business called Artur Adventures. I know adventure has kind of come into your life, and really, I would say help because you you made space of it.

And I I want to because I talk a lot about adventuring because we live in the mountains and we like I'm gonna say like literally in the classic definition of adventure, like are skiing big mountains and whitewater paddling and going on backpacking trips, and so I know there's probably people out there that are like, "Ugh, here goes Angie talking about like adventures. But I, one of the reasons I love this idea for you is because I think we have the ability to like define adventure for ourselves and bring it into our lives in a way that kind of makes sense for us.

That we push our boundaries a little bit, but it's not too like ridiculous. So, what's your take on that? Shannon: Yeah. So we, when we, you know, made this change and we we started the blog so that we didn't have to deal with the conversation.

We were like, you know what? This is just an adventure. It's an adventure, and we're just gonna, you know, if someone asks, "Are you guys crazy? Are you going up the deep end?

No, it's an arter adventure. So we started the blog and put you know armor adventures, but we have always said whatever whether it's a good thing, whether it's a challenge, whatever. We're like, well, this is an adventure, but we we love to travel, we love adventures. So whether it's like an experience on the water or hiking or whatever, so we kind of make this joke that even if we go hiking on a Sunday morning, we always just like it's kind of a joke between us that we'll just yell, "It's an honor adventure!

I love it, you know. So, but we always think if it's it's like our mentality that if it either happens unexpectedly, if it is no cost, like if you or if it's a cost, like if it's a trip that's planned, if it's an experience, then it's an adventure, so it could be that we go on a trip and we actually planned it, and it's a you know a vacation. I just feel like if it's something that is something that you experience in life, even our grief journey to us later, you look back and you go well.

It was an adventure. It was an adventure because it it was something we had to navigate. It was something that we worked on together, and it was a journey. And it brought us to where we are now.

We experienced it. It was our adventure. So for us, it's the good, the bad, the ugly, and experience. It was our honor adventure, so it doesn't have to be something that we go, you know, hang gliding today.

And that's where I draw the line there. I don't do heights things, Angie: but I love that the word experience was exactly what was on my mind. Is it's it's kind of that idea of experiencing something that you haven't experienced before, whether it's intentional or unintentional, i.e.

the journey and the adventure of this big life change that you knew you were going into a new experience, but you don't necessarily know what the adventure is going to look like until you're until you're in it in real time. But there's this idea of like experiencing something you haven't experienced before, and when you when you make it something that's more like an intentional selection, going to a new restaurant, eating a cuisine you've never eaten before, going on a trip or to a city you've never been to before, it it goes back to that present piece because you can it kind of takes the clutter away because when you're adventuring or you're experiencing, you're really in that moment and and everything else kind of goes away and it's very freeing.

Shannon: Yes, because it's not so planned, and it's not. I used to be the one who, you know, when we did, because I felt like we could never do it. But when we were able to leave, I would have the spreadsheet of all the things that we were going to do while we were gone. And now I'm like, yeah, let's, you know, it's it's autumn.

Let's go to New York, and whatever happens, happens. And now I don't think about it, and I can, you know, the be here now. Like I just feel like let's be here now, and let's just experience that whatever happens, happens. And it sounds very woo woo, but it's just a better way of living for us.

I think that the the Angie: other word we could tie to this is like put a little spontaneity in your life. We are so planned. Guilty as charged. Thank God I have a husband who is who is like the opposite of me and actually makes me go do fun things and things that I didn't put in my calendar.

Otherwise, I would be like even more square than I already am. And that's where I think it is: is like go do something different, do something you didn't plan and just enjoy the ride. Shannon: Yeah, I mean, look, I still live and die by my Google Calendar. Okay, I still have everything of my batch work days, all of that, but I still have my off times, and that's when I'm like, okay, gonna live in the most.

And you know, you still have to live your life in a str. I mean, I still have to live my life in a structured way for work and for other things. But for the for experiencing life, I want to experience it in a in a be here now way. Yes, Angie: absolutely.

So let's let's give everybody out there some advice. What I guess what tools or actions somebody out there is going, man. I wish I could just be more spontaneous. I wish I could just look like go do the thing.

Like, what advice do you have for people out there who might be in that place and don't know how to take a step forward? They know they're not where they should be or want to be, but they're like, okay, what do I even do? How do they get the ball rolling? Shannon: So I feel like when people hear, and that's why I wanted to make sure that I said, you know, I didn't, we didn't make this decision in one single day, right?

So I don't know if selling your house, doing everything in one day, is the decision. Now, look, you you did say on our podcast, and you said it here too, that if you are at a stage where you're burned out, sometimes quitting your job right then is what you have to do for your health, right? I think if you're at that point, you've got a different decision to make, and that's where I was. I mean, I needed to make some decisions, and there's all these studies through like the Great Resignation and people who sometimes are like, I don't care how I get through it.

I will work a drive-through. I will. I will wash cars. I'll do whatever I need to do to get out of this terrible situation.

Right, and so I think what you have to do is look at, and not to be negative and not to be in. I think the end of life is a beautiful time. I think it's a golden time. I think what you have to do is look at the end of your life and say, "What what will I look back on and and be happy that I did?

The whole thing is just why wait? Why wait on whatever it is that you want to do, and so I wish earlier we would have looked at everything that we wanted for our life and have it have it happen earlier. It didn't, but I think that you just look at it and say, "Where do I want to be, and what steps do I need to take to get there? So if it's you know downsizing, you you need to assess to look at the things that you don't need in your life.

You need to assess, understand that the things that you have don't encompass. You know, if your grandmother gave you a a piece of pottery, she's not in that piece of pottery. You don't need to keep it. The the things that you have aren't what matters at the end of life, and so I think that you need to assess the things that you have and really assess what matters.

And is that going to make a difference later? I think the biggest piece of advice is don't wait. Make things happen now, and don't wait. Life is too short.

Do Angie: something. You know, the other thing I think that comes into play here is like we are so paralyzed by perfectionism and like overanalyzing things. We convince ourselves we we can't do it or can't start it unless it is perfect. It is okay to not do there, there is no perfect way to do this.

There's definitely some imperfect ways to do it. I think some I did it in some imperfect ways, but just take a step forward, explore something new, do something new, learn something new, just do something. Shannon: Yeah. What What is the whole the adage?

Done is better than perfect. Done is Angie: better than perfect. I'm a big fan. Yeah, yeah, Unknown: me Angie: too.

Because if we go back to the 8020 rule again in this episode, it is typically not worth the effort for what you get out of your last 20% Right, 80% of your results should come from 20% of the work. So, Shannon: right, right. I think that, and I know I have I have told several people this in my life, and I might have told it on my podcast before. And my family's probably tired of me telling it, but it's the truth.

My grandmother passed away a few years ago, and she, oh, she just if we gave it to her, no matter what time of life this was, she kept it, and I she wasn't a hoarder or anything, but she kept it. But when she passed away, we all had to go in and figure out what we were going to do with all this stuff. And so I just think it's not fair to have to go in and figure out what you're going to do with all of this stuff. And she would have really been very very sad for us to go in and to deal with this, and so I think you just you know enjoy each other's company more than than the stuff.

I Angie: think it's totally true. Have the Shannon: experience, Angie: and I think all of this circles back to kind of what I said at the beginning of if you're not where you want to be, it's okay to start. Exploring how to get to where you do, and I I think that you can learn a lot from what you don't want to begin figuring out how to translate that into what you do want because I think that's also what kind of keeps people from taking action. Right?

Is they're like, well, I just know I'm not where I'm at, but I don't know where I want to go, and and and you won't you won't necessarily jump that whole chasm at once. But if you're intentional, you make space. You make space for for the exploration. You can start to kind of inch yourself forward.

But if you keep all of the stuff and the clutter and everything that takes up all of that bandwidth, you're just going to stay right where you're at. Chan, we're geniuses. Everybody should love Shannon: us. Stay up on this soapbox for a little bit.

Angie: Let's just stand around. Maybe there you go. Minimalist to maximize a soapbox from Angie and Shannon. There's your episode title.

Wonder how that one performs in SEO. Right. So, speaking of how amazing we are, I could like I could do this all day, especially because we have so many, like we could talk about food together. We could talk about rescue pities together.

There's like all these things that like not have choosing not to have kids. Like there's like literally everybody. There are so many parallels, and so like I'm sad that we have to wind things down, but we're at a good point to wind things down before we get on another soapbox. So, speaking of how awesome we are, where do people find you?

They get Arner Adventure resources. What kind of resources are you offering? Like, tell us how how we all engage in your journey. Shannon: Yeah.

So you can go to arneradventures.com. That's A R N E R adventures.com, and we share all types of resources from a declutter challenge, and just all free resources.

A declutter challenge with 30 days. You can start at any time. You just want to do it 30 consecutive days of how to daily bite-sized tasks of how to rid physical clutter, mental clutter, and at the end of the 30 days, you've sort of created this routine of just sort of living more simpler, simpler, and then having a better mindset. We have resources for getting outdoors more, all types of resources.

Then we have, gosh, then you know because we are pet parents and you know are child free by choice. We have you know recipes for you know dog treats and and we also think it's really important to be live a sustainable life. So we have garden tips and all kinds of things about living simpler. And so we there's all these studies that show and why we moved here about you know living by the water, and so we have lots of things about living by the ocean and then protecting it and keeping it clean and you know sustainability facts and all of that good stuff.

So yeah, arnerventures.com. Our website and blog is the home base for everything. Move Angie: over, Marie Kondo.

Here comes Shannon Arner, and I and I I am I love so many of the resource. I love the idea of the 30 day clutter. Everybody, I'm going to throw down a challenge and and and encourage you all to to just do it and to don't try to plan it in your calendar. Just go do it.

There's your spontaneous act. Yeah, but I think that there's so many elements there of not only kind of simplifying and streamlining your life, but also doing it in a way that makes us good stewards for this place that we live. For you know, for you guys, it's it's oceans. For us, it is rivers, and we have a huge water issue here in the West, and protect like protecting our winters and all those kinds of things.

So I love that you bring that in as well. Shannon: Have you read the book Blue Mind? Angie: No, I love it when people throw out book recommendations here. Tell me more about that.

Shannon: So he wrote a book about the he he did all this research about the studies of how important it is to, of course, protect water, but studies that show the healing properties of being near water, and even you know your heart rate. Just if it's if it's even just being near bodies of water, it just reduces. And I read it right before we moved here, and and I just and I've reread it several times. It's a it can be a little imposing.

It's a it's a thicker book, but it's well worth the read. I highly encourage you to read it, Angie: and that's the kind of read that comes to you the first time exactly when you needed it. Like there was not that was not a coincidence that you happened to read that right before going to the beach at a time when you're when you're really burnout. But even if you're not didn't consciously or really know that that that there is statistically proven water can like it does have healing properties.

Just think about like how good does it feel to go to the beach or when you if you went to a lake or something like that. It does. Or if you're even in proximity to water, you can like you can't see it, but you can feel it. It's it is is totally true.

So hey, there's another first step. Could make plan a trip, go to the water. Shannon: Yeah, go just go hang out by some water. Exactly, it's Angie: funny when I and maybe this was a an accident, but when I first started CareerBenders, I had this video on my homepage, and it was me sitting by a river talking about how you should get outside to go find inspiration.

How's that for full circle, Shannon? Shannon: That is what a nice segue. No Angie: kidding. All right, so as we as as we kind of close things out, let's give everybody just a little bit more inspiration.

Even though this whole episode is is inspiring, to just regardless of the soapboxes, choose the life you want to live and go after it. I think is the big, big, big inspiration here, and lots of little pieces of wisdom and recommendations on how to do it. So let's give everybody one one more big piece of inspiration as we kind of say adieu. How we're all about no more Mondays here, and I know you love you love that kind of out idea idea too.

So in your everyday life now, because I would say you made a huge change to combat the Sunday scaries, but how do you continue to do that and make sure that you continue to love Mondays a little bit more? Shannon: I will tell you, I when I think of Monday also shows my age, but when I think of Mondays, I think of it as fresh, and I think of outcast. You know, so fresh and so fresh and Angie: clean, clean. Shannon: You know, ain't nobody.

Don't ask me answers. Angie: So fresh and so clean, clean. Shannon: I think of it so fresh every single Monday. I think of Mondays as fresh every single Monday, and it's interesting to talk to people who aren't in a place where they're happy, and they, and you know the percentage of the people who it's gotten worse Angie: recently.

It was it was 70% Yeah, it was 70% which I think is still normal. But the additional, more troubling statistic is now that 40 40% of people wouldn't hate their job, wouldn't wish their job on their worst enemy, which effectively means 40% of employees are in hell. Shannon: I mean that's terrible. So I I have learned and that Sundays, I I yes I used to have the Sunday scaries, but I used to feel like I had everyday scaries.

But I Sundays is you have to again. You have to embrace every single moment for what it is to come, and every hour, not even just day, but every hour, every minute. But Mondays for me is a fresh start, and even though every day is Monday is a fresh start. And if you start your morning, if you wake up and the first thing you do is start it with dread, the whole day is going to be dread.

You can't. You can't start it that way. So no matter what kind of job you have or what kind of life is going on, I encourage you every single morning to get up and have a gratitude practice and think of you know three things that you are grateful for, even if it's breathing that day, even if it's that you have shelter, even if it's that your dog is sitting beside you, and how grateful you are that she's sitting there, and even though if she's begging for her food and you have to get Angie: up, whatever it is, Betty White, love Betty.

Betty White lives on everyone. She lives on as as Shannon's adorable little white pity. She's so cute. Yes, Shannon: she's the best.

She is a golden girl too. She's the best. The more morning rituals and routines set the tone for your day. So Mondays are a fresh start, but every morning is a fresh start, Angie: I don't know why.

Even like I used to for a while, I worked on Sunday through Thursday, but for for some reason, my I always mentally have a reset on Mondays, and I think it's for 20 years in the professional world. And I and I I'm a huge fan of morning routines, and I think if again if we go back to what's one thing I can do, add a morning routine to your lineup, and even if it's only 15 minutes, and you sit and you meditate or pray for three of them, take a walk for five, and maybe journal your gratitude for Unknown: what's left Angie: in there.

Six minutes. My math is bad. Sorry, Dad. But like it, it can just incremental changes can really, really build.

And I think that that's what Shannon and I have talked a lot about through this whole episode, so there's lots of great stuff here, but I think in the big message is if you're not where you want to be, take a step to get you there, right? Shannon: Definitely, don't wait, Angie: don't wait, Shannon: take the step, Angie: and it doesn't have to be the perfect step too short. It doesn't have to be the perfect step. You don't have to sell your business, your house, and all your stuff in one fell swoop.

Everybody, you can clean out your closet, but take a bed and do it. Because in all honesty, that's what we did too. It was like downsize, sell it all off, get a storage unit, and move into a bus. Hey, there you go.

That's right. If it works for us, it could work for you. So don't don't knock tiny living till you try it. Shannon: You'll have to wait Rio down.

There too, yeah. So they can go see Rio. For all of Angie: you that are curious, Rio does still have an Instagram channel. She has more followers than Career Bender's Instagram channel, hilariously enough.

But is a bus called Rio. If you would love to see what the adventures of Jim and Angie Tiny Living looked like for those four years, she's still out there. Shannon, it's always so much fun to chat with you. Thank you for being here and for likewise sharing your story and inspiring everybody out there to kind of live a life of purpose and and on their terms.

Shannon: Thanks for everything that you do with Career Benders. It's it's so powerful and so wonderful. I appreciate you so Angie: much. And don't forget two plugs.

One, there is the flip side of this conversation at the Arner Adventures podcast, which we will link in the show notes. And if you feel like you need more tips to combat those Sunday scaries, we actually send a newsletter out every single Sunday afternoon with seven tips on how to improve your work week. So you can head over to careerbenders.com and sign up for that if you actually want some practical tips to just kind of progress your professional development in your life, and Shannon's going to be our guest, our guest post coming up here in the next edition of Combating the Sunday Scary.

So we've got all kinds of great stuff for you. Yay! And as far as all of you go out there, thanks for tuning in. We always love hearing from people who are navigating their own career and life crossroads.

And in the case of Shannon and Jerry, they're helping others do the same. So, Shannon, thanks again for being here and being part of the No More Mondays movement. Shannon: Thank you, thank you. Angie: And for all of you out there listening, I would love for you to subscribe to No More Mondays and Arnor Adventures wherever you get your podcasts.

Leave us five star ratings. It's a huge help as podcasters like Shannon and I continue to do what we do and bring you inspiring stories and resources to inch yourself forward in life and career. If you want to leave us comments, feedback, drop guest suggestions, or grab all the links and show notes and book recommendations from today's show, visit us online at no more Mondays. Info, and I will see you next week for another episode of No More Mondays podcast.

Thanks for joining us for another episode of No More Mondays. Tune in next week as we bring you more insights and actions to help you improve your professional life and find career satisfaction. Don't forget, visit us online at nomore Mondays.info for all the details, show notes, and recommendations from this episode.

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