Local author Jen Tota McGivney is a firm believer that the hero for our time is someone few people get right: Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau wasn't a hermit in the woods. He lived during a time like ours, of rapid technological and economic changes, political division and a pandemic.
Like us, Thoreau reassessed his priorities: What does success really look like? What is my duty as an ethical citizen in a less-than-ethical world? How can I live a good life amid all of this?
His solution: Pare down to trade up.
Finding Your Walden combines classic literature with happiness studies, exploring how expert support Thoreau's ideas as guideposts for today's Great Reassessment. It combines insights of the 1854 classic with people who embrace the pare-down-to-trade-up philosophy today, whether through major life changes, such as tiny homes or sabbaticals, or smaller life hacks, like digital sabbaths or meditation practices.
On the next Charlotte Talks, we sit down with McGivney for the hour and learn how to live the good life, simply.
GUEST:
Jen Tota McGivney, author of "Finding Your Walden: How to Strive Less, Simplify More, and Embrace What Matters Most" and columnist for the Charlotte Observer
