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May 21, 2025 12 mins

In this episode, I talk about my trip to Great Barrier Island, about 95km from Auckland, visiting friends who ditched their corporate lives in their late 50s for a simpler existence. No TV, no news, no social media, and definitely no traffic noise – just the natural world around us.

Walking along the coast on day two, I found myself sitting on rocks, watching the tide move seaweed around beneath the surface. It got me thinking about how rare these quiet moments are in our everyday lives.

Let's be honest – we fill our days with constant noise. We rush from bed to work, meeting to meeting, then flop on the couch for TV while scrolling through our phones. And maybe there's a reason for all this busyness – we're uncomfortable with what might bubble up if we actually slow down.

During my "off-the-grid" time, I found an injured Oyster-catcher bird. That small moment of helping this lovely little creature became very meaningful. As I watched it recover, something clicked: I was able to enjoy this moment because I took the time to be available for whatever came along.

The takeaway? When we turn down the volume on life's distractions, we create space for the stuff that really matters to surface naturally.

Any thoughts or questions? Send me a text!

Thanks for listening! See you again soon.

Rob

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