Small Town Happiness

Join Guy and Michelle as they reflect on discovering small-town hospitality during their trip to Griffith for Michelle's first TEDx talk on mindset. Michelle shares her pre-release nerves about the upcoming talk, which leads to a heartwarming discussion about their memorable stay at Quest Apartments and the broader lessons about community connection.

The Small-Town Experience:

Their conversation takes us through their experience at Quest Griffith, where they received what Guy describes as "the best customer service we've ever had at any hotel." From the generous offering of local oranges to the genuine warmth of every staff member - from front desk to cleaning team - the hospitality stood out compared to their experiences at five-star hotels worldwide.

Michelle shares her perspective of adapting to small-town life during her university days in Wagga Wagga, where she had to learn to slow down from her Sydney pace. Guy responds with his own story about a delightful pedestrian crossing encounter in Noosa, highlighting how small-town mindsets create space for genuine human connection.

Creating Your Own Village:

The pair discuss how they've brought small-town vibes to their own neighbourhood in the city. Their morning coffee ritual on their front porch has become a catalyst for community connection. They chat about their neighbours stopping by, international friends (like opera singer Julia) experiencing their "village" atmosphere, and their street's growing tradition of community celebrations for Halloween and Christmas.

Guy and Michelle's Tips for Creating Small Town Happiness:

- Make time for community rituals, like their morning coffee sessions

- Acknowledge and greet your neighbours

- Participate in community events

- Create opportunities for connection

- Slow down and be present in your interactions

The episode wraps with their shared belief that small-town happiness isn't about location - it's about intentionally cultivating community wherever you are. As Michelle notes about their successful street community: "We create this, we make this happen."

Michelle's TEDx Talk can be viewed here - https://youtu.be/2zB_wcF1YMo?si=fkkNZqIRGzHuHpAA

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
G'day listeners. In this podcast we talk about creating small town happiness, creating an

(00:07):
environment around yourself which is reflective of the beautiful atmosphere you get in small towns.
It's based on our experience staying in Griffith when Michelle was doing her TEDx talk and how we
received probably the best customer service we've ever had at any of the hotels. And we talk about
how you can create that same sort of atmosphere in your village. Enjoy. Why did it count backwards?

(00:34):
Oh no, we're now recording. What? Hello captain. What do I do?
Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly. What are we going to talk about? I don't know.
So leadership, life and everything else. Yeah.

(00:59):
And we're live and excited. Oh we're live. Oh we are. Cool, you finally admit it. We're live
and recording. I'm excited because your TEDx talk is coming up very soon. It is. Not coming up as in
being released very soon. Yeah, yes, yes I got a text from Sarah. Yes, can't wait for it to be up.

(01:21):
I'm kind of, I have to admit I am a tad nervous because it's this thing that I've done and then
now it's been, you know, it's got to go through approval and editing and everything and now
because it has been a while I've been enjoying the fact that I'm a TEDx speaker but no one's
actually seen it, including me. I don't think you should be nervous. I was there and it was amazing

(01:47):
Michelle and I can't wait for everyone to have access to watch it. I'm sure that they're going
to be just as blown away as I was. Thank you. But it reminded me of a podcast I wanted to do with you
about our experience in Griffith when we were down there for you to do your TED talk and we both
travel a lot. We've both stayed in lots of hotels and I haven't experienced such warm and friendly

(02:13):
service as we did in Griffith and we stayed at the Quest apartments in Griffith. Yeah. This is not a
paid advertisement. This is giving credit where credit is due. When we arrived we'd driven from
Sydney to Griffith. With the kids. With the kids. It was a long drive and it wasn't always

(02:34):
un-stressful. No. And we got there and the welcome that we got and the service that we got,
not just from the front desk but from the cleaners who were cleaning the room just before
we arrived, just before you typically check in, was extraordinary. It was beyond anything I've

(02:54):
experienced in five-star hotels around the world. Yeah. And it got me thinking that what were they
doing right that all these other large hotel chains can't necessarily always do? Well, I think
when we drove into Griffith there were orange trees everywhere and vineyards and at the front desk

(03:17):
there was a huge, I'm going to call it a bushel, like this huge container of oranges and it's like
take as many as you want and of course you know there are lots of oranges in the town but just
even having local produce that most people would have seen. And they were beautiful oranges. But
every time the kids would take some and I was taking some they'd go, oh have as many as you

(03:38):
want please. You know, it was like yeah, oh if you love the oranges take more, take more. But I just
remember the welcome that we got at the reception desk which I thought was just extraordinary.
And then when we went to go to our room the cleaners were still in there and they were,
oh we're so sorry we won't be long. They weren't pommies. I love putting accents on everything

(04:01):
just because it makes it fun for me. No, they weren't pommies. They were like, g'day mate.
No, they were down to earth Australian people. No, I mean there was just this beautiful group
of people and every single person there had the same energy. It was wonderful. I think what it was
was that it wasn't a job. It was like it was their own. They had skin in the game. It was their own

(04:25):
place. Do you think so? I do. The cleaners as well? I don't know if they did but it was, it felt like
that. Oh sorry, you're saying it felt like that. Yeah, it did. It did. And it just made me remember
what small towns are like. We both grew up, yeah, moving around the country and we both lived in
small towns. And small town hospitality, small town happiness is a thing isn't it? Yeah. Well,

(04:47):
yeah and I think it is a chain and we don't know the business structure of it whether it was family
owned or not but it came across as family owned and just the little touches that yes it's a chain
and understandably the chain would want to replicate a certain look and feel across all of its

(05:08):
hotels but the little extra bits made it, yeah, if I go to Griffith again that's where I'm staying
and I would recommend other people go there because of it too and just being not so strict
on check-in, check-out, obviously they had the ability because the room was free to do that but
just you know do you want a coffee whilst you wait, have some water, asking us about our trip,

(05:31):
what we're doing, just little things which I know it doesn't sound like much but and people are busy
I get that that you know they have a role to do, they have tasks to do not just address the people
that are in front of them but they stopped and really paid attention, they were curious. So

(05:52):
but why is it different in small towns and big towns? What's your thought?
They could be, we could be relatives of someone they know, I don't know. Well my theory is just
simply the pace and hectic life of a big city, the challenges of getting from one place to another,

(06:13):
the obviously the traffic like we spoke about in the last podcast and you know just the pressure
of living in a big city there's so much more to have to negotiate and navigate whereas in a small
town things tend to be a bit slower, tend to be a bit more friendly, you walk down the street and
people say hello to you and that was another thing I noticed in Griffith, thank you Griffith for the

(06:35):
warm reception we were getting just walking down the street compared to Sydney. How many people in
Sydney do you say hello to? Yeah true, I remember when I started uni I went to Wagga and to
Charles Sturt. How many Wagga's does it take to make Wagga Wagga Wagga? It takes two Wagga's to make Wagga Wagga Wagga and the first week I

(06:57):
walked that's the main street of Wagga like I was in Sydney and people were like whoa what's your
hurry? Slow down girl. I wasn't even seeing people, I was just on a mission to get from here to there
and I just walked with a purpose and yeah probably realistically two weeks later I was ambling,

(07:17):
I was taking in everyone, I was looking at everyone. Chewing a piece of hay going get a mower.
I had a similar experience in Noosa so I lived in Noosa for a year, had a bit of a sunshine
you know getaway, escape yeah so I just spent a year up there and I remember the first day

(07:37):
I went for a walk and I just thought I'm gonna go for a stroll and just feel the atmosphere here
and I'm in Sydney mode because that's where I was living beforehand and I walked up to this crossing.
Now there was no pedestrian crossing, I did not have the right of way and I stood there and I
looked to my right there was a car coming so I just stared into space waiting for the car to go past

(07:59):
and so I'm waiting and then I noticed that the car hadn't gone past so I turned to my right to
see where the car had gone to see whether I could cross the road again and they were sitting there
staring at me, waving me across and I'm going no no you go you go you'll get the right of way
the other car and they're going no you go you go and we look at each other waving waving waving

(08:21):
and then they went to move a little bit and I went to move a little bit and then they stopped
and I stopped and we laughed at each other and then they sat back they took their hands off the
steering wheel and they gave me this big wave across the windscreen going no it's your turn
and I walked past we smiled at each other they took off I got to the other side of the street
and I thought ah now I understand why I've taken a year off of the hectic pace of Sydney to come up

(08:48):
here it was just yeah it was like you learning to amble I learned to learn to learn to be
you know just expect that people will be present and think about others in a small tent.
But where we live now everyone's very continuing.
Well that's what we've created hasn't it? Yeah yeah so one of the things we are so we sit out

(09:09):
the front with a cup of coffee every morning and catch up and chat and our neighbours walk past
and now we when we say hello to them all and so whether they like it or not they might think
that we're stalkers we're Esme Watsons or was that her name Esme Watsons? Yeah yeah. Is it
country practice or whatever? That's right. Yeah but we say hello to everyone and they stop and

(09:29):
they chat and they talk and you know we've had a couple of busy neighbours go oh don't you have
the life and we always say yeah we create this we make this happen we choose to sit here and
slow down time and you know we also don't realise we're up at 4.30am exercising and doing stuff and
taking a little bit of time. Yeah so we're having a break in our day because we've already

(09:52):
touched up in the morning. And they're already rushing on their way to work. But small town
happiness it's a real thing isn't it? It is yeah. Because they've learnt how to slow down and be in
the moment and be present and connect with people. Well our community where we live their shop owners
talk to you so it's that a similar hospitality because it's community and maybe that's the small

(10:13):
town thing. That's the secret. Find a village within a city and turn it into a small town.
Or create your own. Create your own. That's a good idea. So how would people create their own
small town when living in a big city? Well my friend Julia when she came to stay with us
we dragged her out the front. International opera style. Yes we dragged her out the front with us to

(10:34):
have coffee and just you know chew the fat talk and say hi to neighbours and there Julia is very
attractive. So there were some neighbours who were very amoured by her. Just her beauty. They
wouldn't leave. Yeah it's our turn to talk to her. Michelle hasn't seen her for a year or two.

(10:54):
Yeah six years. Six years oh my goodness. But Julia before she left she said where she lives in London
she it's very much everyone minds their own business and if you were to call out and say
hello people would think oh what's wrong with you. Yeah who are you. Mind your own business.
And she's now thinking that she wants to seek or create a community similar because it's just that

(11:22):
that feeling of community. A feeling of connection. Yeah. Gathering around like like-minded people
and also it just slows you down. Yeah you know one of my favourite moments Michelle we've created a
lovely community around us but when we're sitting at the front having a coffee and this little

(11:42):
smiling face pops its head over the fence they're standing on the tap that's on the other side of
the fence and they go hello. Such a beautiful moment and to hear them when they're coming back
from school or whatever. But yes if you if you want to create a small town happiness you have to
cultivate a community around you and treat it like a little village. Treat your street like it's

(12:08):
a little village. Get to know your neighbours. Say hello slow down. We have the best street. We do.
That we missed Halloween but they closed the street and just had from reports. Amazing time.
Yeah there's this. I can't wait for next year. Two families who have really taken upon themselves to
Daniel, Jess and Deb. Yes and they're committed to making Halloween an event in our street because

(12:32):
we do Christmas really well in our street. We do. We close off the street. Yeah and so they're
joining in in this this community atmosphere we have in our little section of our village. Yes.
I just quickly wanted to say because we were talking about happiness so much it reminded me
about the movie I saw a few years ago Hector and the Search for Happiness. It's a bit of a I don't

(13:00):
know almost indie film but there is a scene where there's a lady with a delicious accent and she
talks about happiness because Hector is searching for happiness. He takes a year off and goes and
searches and she she's very funny and anytime someone says happiness I think back to this scene
to this scene and she says with her accent I am looking everyone is looking for happiness.

(13:26):
I look for happiness every room I go in. I love happiness and it's just it's a bit rude but it's
funny. Well if everyone acted more like a small town I think the world would be a better place.
Yeah yeah with their dogs. With their dogs. More dogs. We need more dogs. That was a nice
short one. It was. All right. It's called 10 Happiness. Bye. Well that was fun. That was fun.

(13:50):
You're such a clown. Lady Happy. And who's gonna listen to this? Maybe our moms. Thanks mom.