Simple Living, Simple Design. Healthy Body, Healthy Mind.

We’ve always found it difficult to send out newsletters regularly. So many thoughts in our heads, but which of those should we write about? How do we present them in a way that’s appropriate for your email inbox?

What we’ve decided to do is break our newsletters into bite-sized segments, focusing on Simple Living, Simple Design, Healthy Body, and Healthy Mind. Sometimes we may cover all of these categories, sometimes we’ll cover just a couple of them.

Hopefully, this makes writing regular newsletters more sustainable for us, and reading them more digestible for you 🙂

Simple living; a thought.

Recently, we came across a quote attributed to Vernon Howard: “You have succeeded in life when all you really want, is only what you really need.”

Despite not being a quote about minimalism, we thought it really sums up what drew us to simple living, before we even understood what minimalism meant exactly.

Sure, there’s convenience in owning less. Having fewer possessions means less clutter and a greater sense of lightness.

But to us, the essence of minimalism lies in desiring less. The true gift of minimalism has been the freedom to live the way we truly want to; not bogged down by distractions and unnecessary expectations instilled in us through societal pressures.

(Related post on Instagram: Minimalism for Everyone)

Simple design; an update.

Since switching from our beloved floor desks to Uppeal desks months ago, we’ve been dreaming up our ideal home office setup for 2025 and beyond. The desk setups are coming together nicely, and we’ll have a full video on it soon. For now, have a first look at Glo’s new setup, with a preview of HL’s to come very soon!

Just like the last time we did a desk setup makeover (it’s been 3 years, wow!), we custom-made wallpapers ourselves, to fit the themes we’re going for.

The wallpaper collection for Glo’s new setup is called “Dunes”. If you’re interested in beautifying your desk setup or smartphone home screen, you can check out the collection here!

Healthy body; a story.

When was the last time you woke up, feeling grateful for the ability to see or hear? Most of us take our senses for granted until we start to lose them.

Losing hearing is a virtually inevitable part of aging. HL’s dad’s hearing hasn’t been ideal for a while now, so he finally decided to go to a specialist and get fitted for hearing aids.

Out of curiosity, the two of us decided to take one of those quick online hearing tests for ourselves. We received unfortunate, and frankly shocking, news.

According to the test, HL’s “hearing age” is close to 80! We knew her hearing wasn’t great, but we don’t remember it being that bad the last time we did the test.

Thankfully, Glo, on the other hand, has a hearing age (~25) that’s way below his actual age. Now we know who’s the better listener! 😏

(Fun fact: research shows there’s a strong connection between untreated hearing loss and the risk of cognitive decline. Try a simple hearing age test for yourself, and please take care of your hearing!)

Healthy mind; a puzzle.

Something to tickle your brain. Unscramble the letters to form the correct word, the letter that’s not underlined is already in its correct place:

M H R N Y A O

Hint: We hope you find balance and peace in your life!

ICYMI:

💟 We made an apparently “controversial” short film for Valentine’s Day xD (YouTube)

🗑️ Mentally exhausting clutter you should let go of, minimalist or not. (Instagram)