The Vine with Joe & Katie Devine
As branches of the same divine Vine, we embrace the power of community and the guidance of faith, aiming to inspire and uplift our listeners as we collectively journey toward greater understanding and connection. Welcome to a space where vulnerability meets wisdom and where, together, we discover the beauty of being intertwined in the vine of life.
The Vine with Joe & Katie Devine
Loving the Life You Imagined and Why That's Not a Good Idea
What happens when meticulously planned itineraries give way to spontaneous adventures in the wild? We found out on our recent trek through Olympic National Park, where glaciers, rainforests, and driftwood-strewn beaches set the stage for unforgettable experiences. Join us as we recount not only the thrill of these natural wonders but also the delightful surprises, like discovering the best crab at the Seattle airport. The contrast of chilly adventures and our longing for Greenville's warmth offers a playful backdrop to our tales.
Is dreaming of the perfect life setting us up for disappointment? In our candid chat, we unpack the tension between pursuing endless adventures and finding satisfaction in the present. Society often nudges us toward constant achievement, but we explore how this can lead to unmet expectations and a consumerist mindset. Through personal reflections, we delve into the concepts of FOMO and JOMO, shedding light on how finding joy in missing out can lead to richer, more authentic experiences. We even draw parallels with celebrity lives, using them as a springboard to discuss the subtleties of contentment.
Imagine vacationing with spiritual purpose in mind, where spontaneity meets faith. Our journey in Washington wasn't just about sightseeing; it was a pilgrimage that intertwined with daily routines like attending Mass, ensuring our spiritual compass stayed true. We ponder how such moments foster gratitude and highlight the role of spiritual practices as guiding stars. Our episode concludes on a lighter note, featuring amusing stories about our dog, Oliver, and a fun quiz on U.S. city populations—a reminder that life's simplest joys often offer the most profound insights.
33 Days to Eucharistic Glory: https://www.dynamiccatholic.com/33-days-to-eucharistic-glory/33EG.html?srsltid=AfmBOoodzIGN3vm1UQBiu-E-ZtYAU7-z34wTSVF4DzYA5bLuQeLAZSU-
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Hello party people.
Speaker 2:Hello, that was a pretty standard issue entrance for you.
Speaker 1:Is that a good thing? Yeah, I feel like that's what makes us unique. Well, sometimes, Not really. Hi everybody.
Speaker 2:Hello, I'm katie I'm joe and this is the vine welcome back yeah, welcome back everyone. I feel like it's it's real gloomy out today, so I feel like if we have low energy, that's no low energy allowed here high energy only wow, we didn't even plan that in the club in the in the club we're all friends.
Speaker 1:Wait. What's the what's the trend? Uh, I don't know oh, man, now, now I do, I do like in the club is ringing a bell, but I don't know the actual trend.
Speaker 2:We at the hotel, no motel holiday.
Speaker 1:No, we got to stop singing to them. I really don't feel like they enjoy our singing.
Speaker 2:Well, it's for me, Sorry everyone.
Speaker 1:This is a me moment. Just pause if you don't like it.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Anyways, welcome back. We are excited to be here. We got a lot of good stuff to talk about.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Joe, how? Oh, no, no, no Joe how?
Speaker 2:Oh, no, no, no, joe, how, come on? You know this, I know Every single time I forget Joe, peak and pit. So my peak and I assume this will probably be the same for you as well- is our trip to Olympic National Park.
Speaker 2:It was so fun, it was awesome. It was about two weeks ago when we went. We went hiking and we ate some good food and then we went to the top of a mountain and went snowshoeing and that was honestly not what I expected at all, but it was absolutely beautiful. I was not prepared. No, no, we were not prepared. I didn't realize. Snowshoeing is just hiking in the snow with giant clocky shoes on clockyy shoes Clocky clocky. You know it. It's crazy. They just tell you the time they clock. They're TikTok. Clunky, maybe Clunky.
Speaker 1:That's what I was trying to say Giant, clunky shoes that don't stay on your feet, yeah, and we're like layered, like so many layers, because it's freezing obviously, and my shoes kept like falling off and we're from the South, you know, we do things slowly and I do things like extra slowly and so these people are like lugging it up this mountain, and as fast as possible.
Speaker 2:We're not lugging, they were booking it. Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1:And I am struggling to keep up the entire time, but it was beautiful. It was so fun we got to see like three, four different um landscapes, climates three three, no three. Yeah, it was the rainforest um the glacier peak, yeah, the glacier, peaked mountains um.
Speaker 2:I don't know what that was. The beaches oh yeah, the beaches were cool. That was another crazy part. It was this little stretch of beach that had just an immense amount of just giant trees that were all driftwood and they basically tell you not to go swimming out there because essentially you'll just get crushed by all the giant logs and trees that are just like thrashing about in the ocean it was horrifying.
Speaker 1:We went like at high tide, we were trying to get to this certain spot that everyone goes to and we couldn't even make it there, like we had to dodge these trees. Um, but it was.
Speaker 2:It was a lot of fun if you.
Speaker 1:If you see me in person, please ask me to show you that video, because it will make my day and it'll also make your day, because he falls like an old man. It's like a little old man it's so funny, it is that rainy out there though it is rainy, it is pitch black at like five o'clock um, and so I go to bed when the sun's down.
Speaker 2:So we were sleeping 6 15 every day and didn't get up till like nine o'clock.
Speaker 1:It was awesome, but it was a fun trip.
Speaker 2:Sorry, I like took over your peek and bit I know and I didn't say anything, so it's fine, I guess.
Speaker 1:Whatever, nothing is my own anymore I was just gonna say it was fun because it was so impromptu and like.
Speaker 2:That's not like us yeah, I'm a big planner and katie loves that about me and hates it about me at the same time yeah, sometimes I just like want to do things without thinking more than one second about it. I've already planned out to that far in my head I know now my expectations aren't met.
Speaker 1:Now we know we can do minimal planning and still have a good time.
Speaker 2:Yes, and shout out the Seattle airport for having really great crab.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, can you believe we were in Washington on like the like ports, like that? We were by the coast and they're known for Dungeness crab. I could not get steamed crab anywhere. There wasn't a single restaurant where we were that served just straight up crab so at the airport, lo and behold, we had, like, some of the best crab ever, so it was good, yeah yeah, it was good.
Speaker 2:um, my pit is I've been traveling up north a lot for work and it's cold and I just don't really vibe with the cold. I almost said a bad word on accident, a different four-letter word. Yeah, I just don't really love the cold.
Speaker 1:It is cold here.
Speaker 2:It is cold in Greenville too it's going to be in the teens next week. What?
Speaker 1:is going on. I don't know how I'm supposed to run outside, yeah so there's my pit I'm.
Speaker 2:I'm ready to be like I'm good if it's in like the 50s. You know that's fine, but I'm done with like cold cold even like the 40s, I can tolerate, but less than that. 40s with a windchill no, thank you yeah, 40s in like when we were in in washington because it was like humid and kind of misty like it. It wasn't horrible, it wasn't like super windy or anything yeah, it wasn't that cold in washington we packed like it was gonna be zero degrees every day anyways nice perp did you hear it?
Speaker 2:nobody heard it, but I saw it. Thanks for exposing. Everybody knows, guys, that little pause was katie burr.
Speaker 1:I'm drinking a poppy. Okay, he's carbonated that probiotic though.
Speaker 2:That yeah all right. My guy's very happy you're peaking pit um, obviously, washington was so fine.
Speaker 1:I just think that, like I said, it was so impromptu, very spontaneous, and I just feel like we needed that, like we needed a good little push to the start of 2025. We literally spent New Year's Eve with my parents and then left.
Speaker 2:Well, hang on, we went to bed at like 6.45 or whatever.
Speaker 1:No, we went to bed at like 8.39 and had to leave their house at like 5.30 to catch the flight the next day, new Year's Day, to go to Washington. So it was just fun. It was just the two of us. I wish we could have brought the doggies, but it's fine, they probably don't travel well.
Speaker 1:Airport doggy people and I just felt like that's what we kind of needed to kick start the year, um. But I don't want to talk too much about that because that was your peak. But I also fun stuff. Joe's birthday was last friday, it was so that was fun. I took the day off and it snowed like that was a fun little birthday gift, but I also fun stuff.
Speaker 1:Joe's birthday was last Friday, it was, so that was fun. I took the day off and it snowed Like that was a fun little birthday gift for you from God, yes.
Speaker 2:Yes, he knew.
Speaker 1:We wanted some more snow, but that's okay, it might snow next week, we'll see. And that was a lot of fun. It was just a fun like fun little blurry flurries, fun little flurries, fun little flurries.
Speaker 2:Not blurries, flurries. Holy cow, you're on a roll.
Speaker 1:I know Today's hard. I mean Pitt. I would say I just started this new medication. Here I go again with, like, my tummy issues. It wasn't just tummy issues, though. It was like I had a migraine all day last Tuesday at work. I worked through this migraine. I was so nauseated, it was so painful and was able to get home. My coworkers were so nice and let me go home early, and I got home and I was ill for the rest of the night.
Speaker 2:And of course, I was on the road and I feel like every time that I try and like plan around when you may be sick or things of that nature, I try to like plan around when you may be sick or things of that nature, I try to like plan to be home and then every time it's like it doesn't matter, I'm always just gone, yeah you feel really sick or are really sad. I just, I'm always gone.
Speaker 1:I guess I just need to learn.
Speaker 2:I know I'm sorry deal without you. I love you. I'm sorry that I travel.
Speaker 1:It's okay, but my mom came to the rescue the next day. She did. She came and hung out with me for the day. Luckily, I was feeling a little bit better by then, but it was just. You know, moms, they just have the mom magic. They know how to heal you.
Speaker 2:The mom magic. Wow, mommy magic.
Speaker 1:Yes, I can't wait to have mommy magic one day. Oh, mommy magic one day, oh my gosh. So our topic, katie. Today we are going to be talking about loving the life you imagined and why that's not a good idea yes and that kind of stemmed from our trip to washington. Actually I did it really well, at least for me.
Speaker 1:I guess I never really had this written for a while well, we, I guess we have, but it really came to fruition. While we were in Washington, I realized I was taking all these fun pictures, all these fun videos, making it look like a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun, I'm not going to lie.
Speaker 2:Showing everyone how I tripped and fell.
Speaker 1:Yes, showing the world All the things, and I had a lot of fun just sharing that and I realized, wow, I really haven't posted a lot or been interactive with social media in a while, until now. And then it occurred to me we just what I want our life to be like all the time, like fun, fun, fun, doing all these things, um, living adventurously, and that's just not reality. And if we stayed in a place where that's what my expectation was for our life every day, can you imagine how disappointed we would be?
Speaker 1:all the time. That was only four days out of 365 days we had together yeah and like. Anyways, that's kind of where this idea came into fruition, and so we just kind of hashed it out and realized that this is a common thing that we fall into just being humans wanting to have a fun life and how you.
Speaker 2:It's good to have these goals and dreams that you have for yourself, but how much more important it is to see where you are and love the life that you have currently yeah, I think that, um, there's like just a lot of dangers in idolizing the, the life that you want, and assuming that if I could just live like this, or if I could just get the bigger house, if I could just get that other job, like if I could and like it's always that word just if I could, just if I could, just if I could just.
Speaker 2:And that is that's dangerous, because ultimately, I feel like you, you begin to pass by your actual life. You know, like I think about it, um, because it's also easier sometimes to to live in that imaginary life like one of the. I mean, I know I've talked about it on the podcast before, but oftentimes, like a lot of times, my coping mechanism is to just disassociate and to kind of just not pretend that things aren't happening but acknowledge them and then be like, oh well, that has no effect on me. And one of the things that comes out of that is like I just start imagining just these other lives that could be, you know, like a life where we do have children, right, or a life where you know I was able to make more money or get a bigger house or whatever, and like I just kind of almost pretend to live in that life, and what's super dangerous about that is that I'm not living our life currently here with you.
Speaker 2:You know like I'm not going through some of those emotions whether good or bad.
Speaker 1:Yeah Huh, it's hard to be present.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, and I mean you do have to be present in the life that you're currently living, you know, but we got a little ahead of ourselves. I think I forgot to ask you what is like. Where did you imagine our life to be right now?
Speaker 1:Well, I know we were just talking about this and truly we do love our lives. Like we, we have a very simple dreams. I think if you set your expectations low, you can constantly feel like you're meeting them.
Speaker 2:It's a. It's a common phrase in sales under promise and over deliver.
Speaker 1:Literally Joe is like biggest dream and we have a lot of shared dreams. It was like just to live and settle down in greenville and here we are.
Speaker 2:yes, we should accomplish.
Speaker 1:I'll just die happy now we just checked that one off, and so that we are very grateful, for we are living a big part of what we dreamed of. Um, but truly at this point in our lives, like I, I expected to be a stay-at-home mom with maybe two kids at least one, maybe a bigger house, more land. I mean, these are a lot of dreams and aspirations that we still clearly have, but that's what I was hoping for our lives at this point currently, and that's just not where we are. We're still in the first house that we bought, which is absolutely nothing wrong with that. We've only been here for four years.
Speaker 2:Side note Sorry, I'm just thinking, and this is a little off script, but I was just realizing like it's so easy now especially with like the society we live in to, when you want something to just get it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like you know, especially if you're able to financially and stuff like that, even if sometimes if you're not, like you know you can take a loan.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you have a credit card. How?
Speaker 2:easy is it to literally click the Amazon, you know, buy now button.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was actually joking with Allie and she was like oh, I was getting these ads on Amazon and then suddenly I just bought them. Like you can click the like buy now button and it'll just like automatically send it over and it's so dangerous.
Speaker 2:Yeah and it's literally like, it's just an impulse of like I want, I want, I want, and I mean we fall into it all the time and it's like, ultimately, I can hear ourselves and I can hear myself think of the idea of like, oh well, well, I wish we had, you know, two kids with a house with a giant yard and live on the lake and everything, and I'm like we're in our late 20s. You know it's like and I'm like now, where is it?
Speaker 1:Why are we not? And what's hard, too, is that we have a lot of friends that are older than us.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And so we see the lives that are unraveling for them, that they've worked really hard to get to, and we're like, wait, why aren't we not there? Because we're all at the same point, like we all feel like we're on the same level of life, which or stage of life which we are. But naturally, you have more time.
Speaker 2:You have more time to get there and there's always, I think, going to be something more that we could, or there's always going to be someone that we can compare our lives to. I mean, there's a famous saying, right, comparison is the thief of joy. Yeah, but I know you wanted to talk a little bit and this leads right into like, all right, so this is FOMO versus JOMO.
Speaker 1:I know, Listen the way you said it made it sound so bland.
Speaker 1:FOMO versus JOMO, everyone I wasn't even going to say the acronym. All right, we're all very familiar with the joy. The fear of missing out Like that is a common toxic trait of our society. And also this is not like an original idea. I have been going through the 33 Days to Eucharistic Glory by Matthew Kelly. It was like the Christmas gift from my parents' parish and it's just one of those little devotionals that they give every year. I've loved it. So if you are probably listening, you probably go to that church and you probably are very familiar with these words.
Speaker 1:They make up like 90% of our listeners, yeah, so you are very aware of this and it struck out to me because that is such a common toxic trait of our society fear of missing out. We're constantly wanting to be a part of the best thing that's going on, or feeling guilt and shame for deciding to stay in at home when all your friends are out, or whatever it might look like.
Speaker 2:Because our life is not what you know where you are imagining it. We imagine ourselves always being with others or doing things.
Speaker 1:Self-gratification like living on that um dopamine high all the time there you go.
Speaker 2:I know were you worried for a second.
Speaker 1:I was like oh, I don't know the word, I don't know the word. Um, so we're addicted to that high and kind of the cortisol stress too that is associated with it. But this book dives into the difference between FOMO versus JOMO, which is the joy of missing out.
Speaker 1:Yes, there can be joy and missing out like intentionally choosing to miss out on these things because of the things that you are valuing in your life it goes into a lot more depth. But if you are choosing to stay in because you want more quality time with your family, there is so much joy there. Sure, all your friends are hanging out on a Friday night, but you get to choose to spend intentional time with your spouse or your children, or you're in school and you don't have time to always hang out with everybody, but you need to intentionally choose to stay back or go to the library and study, because that is nurturing your academics and your studies and whatever it might be. There is joy in the things that you are choosing and I think that that's a really cool. It's something that I've really taken to heart because, first of all, we are one to always stay back and say no to plans because we are homebodies.
Speaker 1:But I do struggle with the guilt of it sometimes and I think, just putting things into perspective, like okay, why did I choose this and where's the joy in that? And anyways, I just thought that was really relevant to loving the life, you imagine why it's not a good idea, because FOMO is literally that, it's fear, fear of not living the life that you imagined your life and you feel like you're missing out.
Speaker 2:One of the things that somebody once told me I can't remember where I heard it, but it has stuck with me is that when you're comparing your life to someone else's and you've got that fear that you're missing out or you're not measuring up, you got to remember that if you were going to take somebody else's life and want to live that life, you have to live their entire lives right, not just the good parts. Want to live that life? You have to live their entire lives right, not just the good parts. Like I think about. You know it's an easy you know easy person to think about, but imagine like kim kardashian we've been talking about her, I know well, she's easy, she's like, very like everybody knows everything going on in her life.
Speaker 2:You know and like, and you know, imagine I'm sure there are millions of people out there who go like I just wish I could live her life. But like, do you actually want to live her life? Like, do you want to not be able to go to the grocery store? And get swarmed by people do you want to have every single moment of your lives televised and filmed and produced for drama?
Speaker 1:you know like.
Speaker 2:Thank you there's just so much that we don't see and there's so much that we just ignore and we're only looking at the glamorous parts of other people's lives. And I think it is know that and to realize like, listen I, I have the ability to make my life better. And to you know, um, to our, our kind of point, to you know, love the life that I have now because there's so many people you know I. The other kind of thing that I think about a lot is um, and you and I've talked about this is Anthony Bourdain. I think about him all the time.
Speaker 2:So if you don't know who he was, he had a super, he was a super famous chef. He wrote a book called I think it was called Kitchen Confidential. That was super successful. And then he had a travel show where he would literally travel all over the world and meet people and eat good food and like everything about his life seemed like not just happy, you know, like good and exciting, but like it also seemed fulfilling, you know, like he's traveling the world, he's meeting people, he's forming these relationships and he ended up overdosing, you know, and like he still had demons he was battling and I think about, you know these there's videos of, and you know I don't know videos and I guess you know stories and stuff of people who go visit, you know, uh, people who are, you know, uh, super, you know, living in third world countries and you know they're literally, you know, walking miles and miles for water.
Speaker 2:They're wondering where their next meal is going to come from, but they're so happy you know, and I feel like you know, ultimately a lot of people at face value would be like oh, I'd much rather live Anthony Bourdain's life than somebody living in a third world country, but oftentimes, sometimes, those people are much more happy and much more fulfilled.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I wrote a poem. I don't have it up but I'll maybe share it on Instagram or something. But it's Right when you Are is what it's called, and it's inspired by the saying like the grass is greener on Instagram or something. But right where you are is what it's called and it's inspired by the saying the grass is greener on the other side. And the whole poem and reflection is about actually no, the grass is greener where you water it.
Speaker 1:So where are you putting your attention? Are you watering the grass around your own feet or are you constantly longing for the green pastures ahead that you can't even reach? And so that's something that I was inspired to write, because it felt like that's what I was doing, like I was constantly reaching for something not within reach, and if I just paid attention to the grass, the surroundings around me, I could make my grass as just as green as those pastures. So like loving the life that you have is so important, but also maintaining those aspirations and dreams for the life that you can could have, that we can have together. But a big pivot from what we're saying is actually what?
Speaker 2:So I really sorry, you go, you go.
Speaker 1:Well, I was about to transition, so if you want to say something, say it. Well.
Speaker 2:I like the verse from Colians um that we have on our notes. It's colossians 3 2, and I think it really kind of encapsulizes what we've been talking about is set your minds on the things that are above, not on earthly things, right, and I think that to your point of where do you, you know, where are you watering um? A lot of times. The reason why and I know we've also spoken about it at length on our podcast in Joy but the reason why people of the Lord tend to be the happiest and tend to be the most joyful are because they're not worried about the things on the earth. But sure, they're probably stressed about paying their bills, just like everybody else is, but they know that that is not who they are. That is not what makes them human.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all these things are going to pass, and that's what I was about to shift to is you can't idolize either. You can't idolize the life that you have and you can't idolize the life you imagine, because none of it is everlasting, none of it is eternal, none of it is going with you to heaven.
Speaker 2:It's going to change.
Speaker 1:It's going to change and that is something I think that we just get comfortable with life, and that's the scariest thing is when you're too comfortable you're not willing to change because change is going to happen no matter what. So, yeah, that verse set your mind on things that are above and not on earthly things is just a really good direction to to keep keep your heart postured towards, because that's just so true. And something that we've discussed is like well, what? What drives you each day? Like what is, what is the secret to your day? And a lot of us might say like, oh, my family or money, like I need to make money, that's my driving factor. Or simply just staying alive.
Speaker 1:I don't know what it might be, but John Paul II has a really good quote and he says the Eucharist is the secret of my day. It gives strength and meaning to all my activities of service to the church and to the whole world. Let Jesus and the blessed sacrament speak to your hearts. It is he who is the true answer of life that you seek. He stays here with us. He is God with us. Seek him without tiring, welcome him without reserve, love him without interruption, today, tomorrow and forever. And I feel like this just kind of put into perspective, like okay, so you're saying we have to set our mind to things that are above. How do you do that?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Like, how can that be the secret to your day? Are you, I guess, just like even just being aware of, like the presence of God in your life and the presence of God and the people around you, like are you making that intentional effort to recognize that?
Speaker 2:you making that intentional effort to recognize that? Yeah, and I think that it's. It just gives perspective. I feel like, on on your day to day and I think that if you are concerned with the earthly things, if money is your driving factor, then anytime you don't have money or anytime money is tight, you're going to be, you know, inconsolable. You're going to be so stressed, you're going to be so worried.
Speaker 2:Or if you're, you know, your family, like, let's take something good, you know, because money sometimes can usually be used as like, oh, money's a bad thing. Let's take your family. If your family is your driving factor, they're going to let you down at some point. You know you could have an amazing family, but they are going to fail, you, you know, or maybe not even fail. You Like they may get a job opportunity in a city far away from you, or they may, you know, be busy building their own family or your friends, like, if those are your driving factors, you're still setting yourself up for failure. You know, put your driving factor as the one person that will not fail you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think something that I've really enjoyed in this book, the 33 Days to Eucharistic Glory, is this idea that we are just pilgrims in this life and like I say just pilgrims, like it's like a meaningless thing, but pilgrims are usually um on a journey for some purpose, like they are purposefully journeying in this world, um, and also pilgrims are just passing through, like this is nothing, nothing is permanent about this life that we're in, um are just passing through, like this is nothing, nothing is permanent about this life that we're in.
Speaker 2:Versus being a tourist yeah, Somebody going on a vacation that's like very curated, right, like they have. You know they're on a cruise where all your meals are provided for and everything is very timeline driven and you know when you go on your excursions, you you know you have to be back by this time. You leave the boat at this time like everything's very I don't know, for lack of a better term like very sterile and very like provided for, whereas, like, when I think of a pilgrim, I think of, like you know, the people who came to america in the 1600s and everybody's like dirty and and they have like literally no idea what they're getting themselves into.
Speaker 2:Like tourist seems like kind of glamorous, whereas like being a pilgrim seems like in the nitty-gritty yeah like getting down in the nitty-gritty, like I got my buckle hat on and I've got my long stockings we're about to go celebrate thanksgiving dinner.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're celebrating thanksgiving dinner with the, with the native americans you know and like and I like, imagine, like could you imagine going, you know, across the atlantic ocean having no concept of where, you know what the other world is, you know the new world quote unquote is going to look like like, like that's a, that's a leap of faith, right, like that takes, I don't know, it takes so much gusto and trust and I, I just love that image for us as Christians. I don't know how do you feel about like that image of us as pilgrims.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I think that's why our trip to Washington was really special too, because I felt like we were really leaning into not having a plan.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I mean, although it did look glamorous, I took great pictures. What can?
Speaker 2:I say you did Shout out. I love your little videos. I'm an influencer.
Speaker 1:But it was truly not planned and we just enjoyed each other's company. It just felt like the essence of living life without a plan and enjoying where you are. Now naturally, that's not our life, but there are ways that we can take things away from that experience. We can't plan everything to a T in our day-to-day lives. Yeah, we also can't get comfortable with the life that we're living, because we're not going to be here forever. And what exactly is it that we are striving to reach?
Speaker 2:and that's heaven yeah, a hundred percent. And I think that, um, you know, the cool thing is, our lives are, you know, are a combination of what we experience. Like our life is sometimes being on the fun vacation, but it's not the only part of our life, you know, it's not the, it's not the every day. And I feel like oftentimes, if, if that was our every day, you know we wouldn't, we wouldn't appreciate it anymore. You know, it's so easy to take things for granted that make us happy and bring us joy, especially if we're experiencing them over and over and over again. It kind of reminds me to our point on the, you know, amazon shopping. Like if you're just constantly living the exact life you want, it's just going to get numb. You know, you're going to be numb to everything around you.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, and kind of like a pilgrimage within a pilgrimage.
Speaker 2:Oh, P squared.
Speaker 1:Yeah, p squared. I was thinking about how, when we go on vacation, like just how like natural it is for us to like go to mass on Sunday, yes, and like how much mass on Sunday, yes, and like how much of a gift that is, like I think it's pretty common in America Like you're on vacation, like you're not going to do anything else but stay in your beach house and that's it.
Speaker 1:Like deservedly so. Like you probably need a good vacation, but the way that we were raised and this is something that I think we're both really grateful for is we have to give thanks to the one that allowed us to even be here and like that just comes natural for us.
Speaker 1:I know that might not be the case for everybody and we're grateful that that's how we grew up, but it is something that blows my mind. Like when we were in Washington it was only natural to drive 45 minutes out of our way to find the closest Catholic church.
Speaker 2:Yes, and of course we brought up the gifts because we were the only young couple at that church.
Speaker 1:I think that's like our shameless, like guilty pleasure, like if you ask us to bring up the gifts at a church that we've never been to. We're like, oh okay.
Speaker 2:He's like do you know when to come back for?
Speaker 1:the gifts, I was like yes, I do, sir, right before the offentory. But it's such a gift to be able to do that. And so I say P-squared, because we're on this vacation, this pilgrimage, whatever Within that vacation, we're still going on a mini-pilgrim. Not a mini-pilgrim Like that is a pretty big deal, like we're going to Mass, like we are meeting jesus in the eucharist at this random church in washington, yeah, and that's.
Speaker 2:I haven't, uh, I haven't thought about it like that. But yeah, it is true like going to mass, going to church, is a pilgrimage every single time it is, we are you know, we are making that journey to christ when we go to church, when we go to mass. That's cool.
Speaker 1:I haven't thought about it like that well, in jp2, like he says, the eucharist is the secret of his day and something that matthew kelly in this book kind of harps on is like are you, like, aware of the closest tabernacle? At all times and I think subconsciously, like when we go on vacation, we have to google closest catholic church, because we got to figure out our plans on sund.
Speaker 1:But by doing so, we're like making ourselves consciously aware of, like, where Jesus is physically closest to us, and like that is that conscious effort, I think, also helps you center yourself on like what the true purpose is every day, and that's a really, really cool thing that we get to partake in.
Speaker 2:It's kind of like our. It's like I mean, it's our North Star right Like it's. It's.
Speaker 1:It's what's showing us the way yeah, you know, and I mean I know for a fact, where's the lighthouse.
Speaker 2:Yeah, show us, god, shine your light. Uh, like I know for a fact that we have planned vacations around when we go to mass. Yeah, you know, like I, when we were in hawaii for our honeymoon, like the way the flights worked out, we were literally unable to go to mass. So we went to daily mass, like during our trip there, and and then I mean we went to the sunday mass, um, later on that week.
Speaker 1:But I know we, we like we arrived on a sunday or something and we're like what in the world, what do we do? Yeah, I can't remember what we were like. What in the world, what do?
Speaker 2:we do yeah. I can't remember we were like watching like three different masses on the plane or whatever.
Speaker 1:I remember that Not because we felt like guilty, but because, like, this is just our Sunday, like we needed this in order to, like, feed us for the week. But just something that popped in my brain now is thinking about how mother Teresa and a lot of like common, like big saints that you've heard of how much their lives like revolved around like adoration and just like spending time in front of the Eucharist.
Speaker 1:Um, every single day she would spend at least an hour in adoration and if you know mother Teresa, she had a pretty big impact in the world. She was changing a lot of lives, doing some big things, naturally because she is a saint, and somebody had said to her hey, imagine how much time you were essentially wasting by spending time in adoration. Think about all the different lives that you could change with that extra time. I'm sorry if you can hear lucy whimpering in the background.
Speaker 2:She's just sleeping she's dreaming.
Speaker 1:She does that a lot, anyways. Somebody said, like imagine how much more time and how much more, how many more lives that you could impact by you know, like cutting down that time to 30 minutes. And mother teresa was like, uh, no, like this time that I'm like dedicating to every day is what makes these interactions impactful, it is what gives my life every day purpose. Yes, in fact, after that conversation, I think she like upped her adoration time. She's I'm going to spend two hours every day.
Speaker 2:Reverse Uno card more adoration.
Speaker 1:Which I think that is just so cool. Like that is her energy source, like that is our energy source. Obviously we're Catholic, if it hasn't been clear. But if you are not Catholic, like spending obviously, I mean, hey, come on over to Mass Like it's a good time, yes, but spending time in scripture, quiet time that is something that we learned growing up in the south and I absolutely love it. It is a sacred time of like an hour in scripture, reading the bible. Like that is a an awesome way to start your day.
Speaker 2:like that is just as beautiful and I think that's the important thing, like as we kind of circle back to the, the overarching theme of like kind of being happy with where you are, like practical habits like going to mass, going to adoration, intentional prayer, I think is a really strong one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that quiet time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly Like not just, you know, saying a prayer for the sake of saying you've done it, but to actually a 30 second intentional prayer is so much more powerful than 15 minutes of just kind of going through the motions prayer you know, just like you know with any relationship you know with someone, if you know, a one minute conversation that's really intentional is more important than 15 minutes of just talking about how crazy the weather's been.
Speaker 2:you know, and that's what God is reaching out to. And then again, I love your point of like spending some time in silence, whether that's in adoration or looking, you know, reading over sacred scripture.
Speaker 2:And then I think you know and this is what I'm by far the worst at, because I'm the, you know, I'm very bad at practicing aestheticism, um, but sacrificing daily just small things, you know like you know little little choices, like you know what I'll have no chick-fil-a sauce with my with my chicken nuggets, you know, like small things like that, um, just kind of sharpen I feel like your, um, your perception to the world in general and kind of perceptions like, wow, I have a lot of like there's so much good in my life that I can so very easily sacrifice some of these small things, and I know they're going to make me stronger, because then when you have to actually sacrifice something big, it comes natural yeah, you're more prepared for it when sacrificing daily also goes hand in hand with like serving and yes, we've got a lot of good friends that are mom and dads out there like you spend your entire life serving your family.
Speaker 1:Like that is. That's exactly what that looks like. Um, and I want to go back to spending time in silence, because I think that's something that none of us do enough of. Like that is such an uncomfortable thing, and thought like to even entertain, like why should I spend time in silence? Well, because you should probably learn how to enjoy spending time with yourself.
Speaker 2:Yes, 100%.
Speaker 1:And that is kind of the best way you do that. Like I am the queen of avoiding all kinds of silence and awkward easily and giving yourself the space and the time to express. That, I think is really important, because if you don't like and if you don't enjoy spending time with yourself, how can you expect other people to enjoy spending that time with you either?
Speaker 2:100%. I was in the newest Brandon Sanderson book. I'm still waiting for a quote that's just as good as the one we used a couple weeks ago. But there's a character and he's dealing with a lot of his own inner demons and everything like that. And one of the practices that somebody gives him to help combat that is spend time in silence and create the guys like a warrior and he says says, create little thought soldiers, to protect you from like some of your bad thoughts. And he like literally the character, like talks about how he's imagining like he'll have like a thought that like he, he's worthless and like he's not, he's no good and like he doesn't deserve to go on.
Speaker 2:And then he's like I just you know, he imagines a little warrior like defending, like fighting off that thought yeah, and I think that's I like it seems super silly, but I'm like that's actually kind of practical, like when you let you know when, if your thoughts do wander sometimes to those more dangerous or or darker thoughts, like you can fight back like make yourself a little thought soldier, and it's's not always going to work. Sometimes your thought soldier is going to get beat up, but you know you can always make more.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, if you're like me and you're like not good at sitting. Still, a good way to spend time in the quiet is like physical activity. Obviously, exercise is good for you in general but, like for me, running is a really good way for me to like spend time with God. Like check off all the boxes, spend time with God, spend time in silence and also get some exercise in, or even just walking, like there are so many ways to incorporate centering your day to day on God in your faith and loving the life that you have and also loving the life that you can imagine, while also expecting heaven and wanting and desiring all of those things. You can do them all. There are so many practical habits out there and I guess, like the biggest advice, like these are just bullet point things that we've noticed.
Speaker 1:Yeah advice like these are just bullet point things that we've noticed. Yeah, but honestly, if you look at if there was a mentor that you look up to or a saint that you like or somebody that you're just like I want to be like that look at the that person's habits, like what are the things that they do day to day to achieve that life that they have, without idolizing it?
Speaker 1:You know, there's a way to do that, but I think that that those are good places to start, because I feel like, um, it can get so easy to I don't know, my thought went blank. It can get so easy to forget what you're about to say yeah, exactly, but like it can be, so easy to um. I think we're going to get like to think that you don't have the power to. Oh, that's what I was gonna say. It can get so easy to to feel overwhelmed by this you know like okay, well, how do I do that?
Speaker 1:and then to just give up.
Speaker 2:But consistency, I feel like, is the biggest thing, with faith and like perseverance, yeah so, uh, our dog oliver has been walking back and forth between katie and I uh asking for pets.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that's what's distracting us right now.
Speaker 2:He's like I don't know. He's being very needy and now he's rubbing up against the computer, so it's just an electric podcast.
Speaker 1:Everybody this has been a great time yeah um, but yeah, don't. I think the biggest thing is don't get overwhelmed, don't give, give up, persevere. If you read the 33 Days to Eucharistic Glory, these are things that he really harps on. If you want and you're interested in a book that is just like easy to read, not so like over your head and very straightforward and only 33 days, like it's just a chapter a day, I highly recommend it. Anyways, don't get overwhelmed, keep on pushing through your life is better than you realize.
Speaker 1:You have a good life. Chances are.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we have our marriage meeting. So, as Katie mentioned, we've been kind of traveling a lot lately and when I was on the plane I was actually reading an article that said greenville is like I think it was ranked number four of cities to move to in the country, which I thought was crazy because I was like man that's a like we're high up on that list.
Speaker 2:So I was just curious and I'm like greenville does feel like it's getting bigger, um, and then I looked up greenville's population and it's really like still not that big like I think greenville is only around like 80 85 000 people, which is like a pretty small city. So, katie, I was gonna see and have you guess the top five biggest cities in the us oh no and just to see what your, what your thoughts were on those cities, were so Okay. You can do. Maybe you want to do a top three.
Speaker 1:New York City.
Speaker 2:That's number one Good With 8.2 million people.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Isn't that crazy? That was crazy so there's how many people are in Greenville. It's 100 times more people than that live in Greenville.
Speaker 1:That's wild. It's already crowded here.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's too much. Their traffic is probably worse than 85.
Speaker 1:They're all hiding in the subway. They are.
Speaker 2:All 8.3 million of them. That's really good All right number two. It's a place we have not been Okay. It's been in the news a lot recently.
Speaker 1:California.
Speaker 2:Well, that's yeah. What city in California? Los Angeles yes Number two, how many people less do you think LA is from New York City? So New York City had 8.2. What do you think Los Angeles is?
Speaker 1:I think they're at 8.2 million people in new york yes I think los angeles is at 4 million. Wow, for real. I was right for real 3.8 million I get lucky sometimes.
Speaker 2:Uh, it's like half. It's like you you think of, la is like also being like super congested and crazy.
Speaker 1:It's half the amount of people'm telling you they're all hiding in the subway.
Speaker 2:That's subway man.
Speaker 1:They're all just vibing. They're all subway people.
Speaker 2:All right, do you want to try and guess one more?
Speaker 1:Okay, can you give me a hint?
Speaker 2:It is in the Midwest. It's a city that we have talked about going to.
Speaker 1:Wisconsin.
Speaker 2:Not Wisconsin. Visit the bunker, not the bunker. Wisconsin is a state, but this city is near the state of Wisconsin.
Speaker 1:Milton no.
Speaker 2:You're thinking we have family in this city that we've talked about going to visit. Oh, john and Kristen's place. No, you're thinking we have family in this city that we've talked about going to visit, oh, john and Kristen's place where they live?
Speaker 1:No, Though they live near the West.
Speaker 2:Where does Ken live?
Speaker 1:Chicago.
Speaker 2:There you go.
Speaker 1:Oh, so it's Chicago. Yeah, it's Chicago.
Speaker 2:So Chicago is number three with 2.6 million people.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's so dramatic.
Speaker 2:To round out, the top five is Houston and Phoenix. Arizona is the fifth largest city. Phoenix.
Speaker 1:I know I was like.
Speaker 2:Phoenix what are people doing living?
Speaker 1:in Phoenix being hot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, being very hot. Let's see how far we have to get. Charlotte is 15. That's the closest city that we are. Wow, let's see far we have to get Charlotte is 15. That's the closest city that we are. Wow, let's see the biggest city in South Carolina. Let's see I'm scrolling, we're not even. Let's see, we're at, we're at 100. I have not seen Boise. Idaho is bigger than any city in South.
Speaker 1:Carolina.
Speaker 2:Let's see Birmingham, alabama, is bigger than any city in South carolina. Uh, let's see birmingham, alabama, is bigger than any city in south carolina take this up with wikipedia if anything's wrong. So charleston, okay, what number do you think? Charleston is holy cow, and I think that's the biggest city in south Carolina. Wow, it's triple digits. I'll give you that hint 225. 171. Oof, so it's the 171st biggest city in the country.
Speaker 1:Hey, that's alright, let's keep it that way. Nobody come to South Carolina.
Speaker 2:Yeah, unless you're visiting us, then come on down.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's hang out, let's have dinner, yeah, well, anyways, thank you guys for listening.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:This was fun. We hope you have a great week and we will see you next time, so let's keep growing together.
Speaker 2:Bye, thank you.