We all want to make a difference—whether in our own lives or in the world around us. But with the demands of daily life, making meaningful change can feel overwhelming—maybe even impossible. Here’s the surprising truth: you don’t need hours, huge resources, or drastic measures. All it takes is 35 minutes a day.

By dedicating just 35 minutes each day, I’ve been able to consistently work on Inner Path Seekers and The Heart Warrior Project, conduct impactful interviews with experts, host support meetups, and organize events that have reached and inspired countless people. And the best part? You can do it too, without making drastic sacrifices. From the comfort of your own space, you can take small steps toward creating the change you want to see in yourself and the world.

And so, I turned 30 years old in 2023! Five years ago, I decided to make time every five years to reflect in-depth about all that has happened in my life and everything that I have learned over those past five years. Therefore, I am releasing a new edition in the archive. Hopefully, by sharing my lessons and insights, you can find some truths of your own that can help you in your own life. Note: Everything I share in this video are insights and lessons I learned in life. These are not meant as absolute truths. A realization I had in my life might not hold true for you or align with the beliefs you have in your life. Timestamps Beginning 00:00 - 02:02 1. The One Certainty in Life Is That Life Is Uncertain 02:02 - 05:10 2. Meaning, Community, and Love Can Drive You Through Any Darkness 05:10 - 08:28 3. This too Shall Pass 08:28 - 09:56 4. Learn How to Die 09:56 - 14:05 5. If You Don’t Invest in Your Wellness, You Will Invest in Your Illness 14:05 - 18:48 6. Every Step Counts 18:48 - 22:18 7. Life Is About Letting Go 22:18 - 23:50 8. Build and Maintain Relationships: They Are Super Important 23:50 - 27:33 9. Passion and Meaning Over Money 27:33 - 29:07 10. It’s All Just a Story 29:07 - 32:14 11. Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket 32:14 - 34:56 12. Someone's Dream Life Is Someone Else’s Nightmare 34:56 - 38:00 End 38:00 - 38:39 ________________________ 📚Resources Mentioned📚 Videos: - What to Do If You Feel Suicidal: Advice from Someone Who Attempted Suicide https://youtu.be/HQw-k1Gf-t8?si=bMBxrRyMokOIdHbl - Living with an ICD: Surviving a Cardiac Arrest, Recovery, How It Feels, Most Often Asked Questions https://youtu.be/QtEqlWUvhB8?si=LVgn6kOZs7zhwKqT - The SMART Way to Get in Shape https://youtu.be/5aL2Suh2JH8?si=YOMT0P4pS4uHh1La - Year Review: 10 Crucial Questions to Ask Yourself Every Year https://youtu.be/HzyqzgDZB8o?si=RPYDQrdTOvNHd39m Interviews: - Lessons about Life and Death from a Cancer and a Cardiac Arrest Survivor | Dr. Martin Inderbitzin and Jellis Vaes https://theipsproject.com/2023/04/lessons-about-life-and-death/ Websites: - The IPS Project https://theipsproject.com/ - The Heart Warrior Project https://heartwarriorproject.com/ ________________________ 🎉CONNECT WITH ME😀 WEBSITE: https://linktr.ee/jellisvaes FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/Jellis.Vaes INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/JellisVaes

This podcast episode is meant to share advice and words of caution to show the full picture and not just fragments, like so many other videos, of what it’s like to be a digital nomad. Hopefully what I share can help you prepare for this lifestyle even more, so you won’t be caught off guard when confronted with all the aspects of life as a digital nomad, and to enjoy it more fully. Intro 00:00 - 01:52 Frequently Asked Questions How Do You Become a Digital Nomad? What is a Digital Nomad? 01:52 - 02:29 What Do You Do? 02:29 - 04:45 The IPS Project: I founded an educational platform on life, called The IPS Project where we provide education on life topics. https://theipsproject.com/ The Heart Warrior Project: I am also the founder of The Heart Warrior Project, a project that provides support to fellow cardiac arrest survivors. https://heartwarriorproject.com/ Advice for Aspiring Digital Nomads 04:45 - 05:00 1. You Don’t Have to Start Your Own Business 05:00 - 05:40 Freelance platforms like Upwork or Fiver can be very interesting to check out. - https://www.upwork.com/ - https://www.fiverr.com/ 2. Do it Because You Want to Do it, Not Because it is Trendy 05:40 - 08:21 3. You’ll Still Have to Work 08:21 - 09:19 4. It’s Really Cool, But You May Experience Social Burnout and Loneliness 09:19 - 11:53 5. How Do You Meet Other Digital Nomads? 11:53 - 15:43https://nomadlist.com/ - Coworking places - Meetup https://www.meetup.com/ - Coliving https://colivingcompass.com/ - Find a tribe like Wifi Tribe https://wifitribe.co/ - Facebook groups in the specific country. 6. Be Careful with Buying Courses on Being a Digital Nomad or Hiring a Digital Nomad Coach 15:43 - 17:20 End 17:20 - 18:08 ________________________ 🎉CONNECT WITH ME😀 WEBSITE: http://Jellisvaes.com FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/Jellis.Vaes INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/JellisVaes ________________________ #digitalnomad #nomad #lifestyle

The questions mentioned in this podcast (and which you can find down below) are questions I recommend asking yourself every year. If we aren’t close to the new year yet, don’t wait, use them to reflect back on the previous year.

Because we all accomplish so much more than we give ourselves credit for. Taking time to reflect and acknowledge this, is not alone fun, it is also empowering and greatly helps in designing your life even more in the direction you want it to go.

Three Reasons for Doing a Year Review:

1. To see what you want to do more and less of in your life
2. To reflect back, to celebrate your victories and the steps that you have taken in life
3. For fun and to feel grateful for what you have done or overcome

Go through the following questions while looking at the photos that you took during the year you are reviewing. This is to help you remember things that you did that year and to relive those memories.

Some questions explore two categories: personal and professional life.

• What were some of your awesome/best moments of 2022?
• What did you accomplish in 2022? (PROFESSIONAL/PERSONAL LIFE)
• What are some of the things from 2022 that you want to duplicate in 2023?
• What was challenging this past year? What do you not want to happen again?
• What did you learn by going through these experiences?
• What were some of the most important decisions of this year for you?
• What decisions might you make next year as a result?
• Biggest professional lessons from 2022?
• Biggest personal lessons from 2022?
• What are your goals of 2023?

___________________

🎉CONNECT WITH ME😀

WEBSITE: http://Jellisvaes.com

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/Jellis.Vaes

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/JellisVaes

On 19th February 2021, I had a sudden cardiac arrest and died while I was asleep. I was 28 years old. Thanks to the quick thinking of my girlfriend and the paramedics showing up within minutes, my heart started pumping again. And now I’ve been given a second chance at life.

Even though I have stayed quite positive and optimistic throughout this journey, it has been rough, with many ups and downs.

Many thoughts and insights about life and death have occupied my mind in the last year and a half since my cardiac arrest. Here in this video, I share a few of these thoughts that I think are worth sharing.

Books, websites, and other resources mentioned in this video:

• The IPS Project: This is an educational platform on life that I founded. It provides education on topics we learn little to nothing about while growing up, such as mental health, relationships, the mind, the body and brain, and money.
• The Heart Warrior Project: This is a new project I started that offers emotional support to other cardiac arrest survivors through interviews with fellow survivors, cardiologists, and articles to improve your quality of life after surviving a cardiac arrest.
• Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl: This is the book I talked about. Highly worth a read, especially if you are currently going through hardships.
• How to Help Someone Who Is Suicidal: This is the video where I share more about the suicidal thoughts I struggled with for 6 years and why they came to be.

Video games saved my life… It’s true. Between 12 to 18 years old, I hated my life and found it extremely boring and dull.

The way I escaped this stage and found some joy was through video games.

Back then, I loved (and still love today) the MMORPG genre. I played literally all of them: Warhammer Online, Star Wars Galaxies, City of Heroes, Guild Wars, Final Fantasy XI, Everquest, The Secret World, Aion, DC Universe… you name it. But the one MMO world that I adored and regarded as home was… (you might have guessed it) World of Warcraft.

I literally spent thousands upon thousands of hours there.

In this episode, I am sharing the four major things I found in video games that real life back then did not offer—and I thought it never would. I also share how I eventually did find them in real life.

Additional helpful resources:

Struggling with suicidal thoughts or think someone might be? Check out the two videos I made here on my channel.

• How to Help Someone Who is Suicidal 🧡 I Struggled 6 Years with Suicidal Thoughts https://youtu.be/yZJ7U9BXG10
• What to Do If You Feel Suicidal: Advice from Someone Who Attempted Suicide https://youtu.be/HQw-k1Gf-t8

Books

• Man’s Search for Meaning
• Way of the Peaceful Warrior
• The Road Less Traveled

Podcasts

• The IPS Podcast
• Tim Ferriss
• The Jordan B Peterson Podcast

___________________

🎉CONNECT WITH ME😀

WEBSITE: http://Jellisvaes.com

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/Jellis.Vaes

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/JellisVaes

If you rather like to watch the video on YouTube, you can do so here: https://youtu.be/yZJ7U9BXG10

If there is one topic in this world that I don’t mind taking a risk being judged, despised or condemned for, it is suicide. Even though it is not easy for me to talk about it publicly, I feel that the importance of talking about it outweighs everything else—knowing how easy it can happen to ANYONE.

Whoever you are, if you’re reading this text or listening to this episode, you have my deepest respect. Thank you for keeping yourself informed about suicide and how to help someone who is suicidal.

Suicide is a heavy topic. It is a confusing topic. And it is a topic that is hard to understand. Yet, it is real. It happens every day. But it is people like you who can help to decrease these numbers.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you again for being here.

Timestamps:

Intro [00:00]

Top 3 Questions People Ask Me About Suicide

• Why did you feel suicidal? [9:01]
• Do you feel happy today? [26:25]
• Do you still think about suicide? [29:06]

How to Help Someone with Suicidal Thoughts

• The Lessons I Learned Working at the Suicide Hotline [30:37]
• The Do's and Don'ts of Suicide Prevention

DO NOT:

• Trivialize [36:45]
• Inflict guilt [37:55]
• Say it will be fine [39:01]

DO:

• Listen with the intent to understand [40:02]
• Have/Show empathy [42:00]
  
• Conclusion on How to Help Someone with Suicidal Thoughts [45:00]

Questions:

It is important to ask questions that cannot merely be answered with a simple yes or no. To learn more about this and how to have more meaningful conversations, check out the video we made and posted on the YouTube channel of The IPS Project: “Three Golden Rules for More Meaningful Conversations”.

https://youtu.be/lfTpHkhM490

Phase 1: Questions to measure the acuteness/seriousness of the situation

• Do you often think about suicide? How often?
• Do you feel you lose control sometimes?
• Do you have concrete plans for the future?
• Does thinking about your own death reduce you to tears?
• How soon would you want to commit suicide?
• Have you ever talked with anyone about this?
• How have the past months been for you?

Phase 2: Questions to better understand their ‘why’

• What do you seek in suicide?
• What does suicide mean for you?
• What hurts the most in your life right now?
• How does it feel to talk about suicide?
• What is the most difficult thing you are struggling with right now?

Phase 3: Questions to work towards a solution—Reason for Living

• What is stopping you from committing suicide?
• Why do you think suicide is the only solution?
• Could it be that somehow you do not want to commit suicide?
• What changes would you like to see in your life?

You can also watch the episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/W4WfxJqy8Qo

Note: I do not want to come across as a relationship expert. I am not. Nor am I saying that my girlfriend and I do not have our ups and downs. We do. Every relationship has them.

This is simply an episode where I want to share the tools and systems that have significantly improved the foundation of our relationship. Hopefully, this will introduce you to some new concepts for your relationship—or your future one.

{THE AND}

A card game with 199 questions per deck that allows people to easily experience more meaningful connections anywhere you may be.

I have recommended this to almost every couple I know—and even singles. There are several different editions of this game. Depending on your status at the moment, I recommend one of the following: Friends Edition, Relationships Edition, Long-Term Relationships Edition, and Strangers Edition.

http://theskindeep.refr.cc/jellisvaes

Spicy Board Game

To make sex more fun and learn more about each other, check out Tease & Please.

Half-Year Review

We do this on Valentine’s Day. We set a date night, get some cocktails, and go through the following three questions:

1. What did we do well?
2. What can we do better or differently?
3. What are our current worries?

Find a Shared Hobby

Climbing is awesome. If you’ve never tried it, give it a go. It is a whole lot of fun.

Some other hobby suggestions to do together are: learning the salsa or any new dance, doing acro yoga, making music, or playing any team sport.

Have a Shared Calendar

Don’t use this to constantly spy on each other. If that might be a trap you can fall into, you should probably skip this.

How to sync calendars:

https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/37082?hl=en

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-set-up-google-calendar-ical-sync-1172184

Share a Google Photos Album

We use a shared Google Photos album for all our photos as a couple—from trips to parties, activities, etc.

It’s easy to set up and makes life as a couple much easier as you have one place for all your photos together.

Splitwise

An incredible tool to make all your payments as a couple so much easier.

https://secure.splitwise.com/

Shared Notion Page (The Relationship Board)

This is a shared Notion page we created that gives an overview of everything about us as a couple

• To-Do List (any shopping or house cleaning or other chores that need doing)
• Apartment (general info about our apartment, like insurance, decorating, contract, etc.)
• Events (any events like house parties or other activities we want to do)
• To explore (any products we’d like to try out, for example, a puzzle, a fun-looking board game, etc.)
• Review (our half-year review)

Bonus

It is essential to improve flexibility in your relationship. Or, if you are still single, look for someone who is flexible. ook for someone who is not set in their ways but rather open to new ideas.

Here are some articles on how to cultivate this trait:

• https://www.verywellmind.com/be-more-open-minded-4690673
• https://www.wikihow.com/Be-Open-Minded
• https://hbr.org/2018/11/a-new-way-to-become-more-open-minded