Thank you for an amazing past few weeks!
During the month of July, my family embarked on a 3,000 mile journey from Omaha, NE to Atlanta, GA to Austin, TX to celebrate the release of Things That Matter: Overcoming Distraction to Pursue a More Meaningful Life.
During that time, we visited 12 cities to speak and meet thousands of you from the Becoming Minimalist Community.
In 2016, we toured the West Coast when The More of Less released.
In 2019, we toured the East Coast when The Minimalist Home was published.
And in 2022, we toured twelve cities in the Midwest and South for Things That Matter.
Because my speaking events began outdrawing the capacity of bookstores back in 2019, we rented space on college campuses for this tour. This change brought a lot of extra work, but allowed so many more people to attend. I’m thankful for my wife Kim who handled all of the venue logistics. If you’re looking for a Tour Manager… I know one! :)
Each event contained a guest speaker, a talk from me on the topic of “overcoming distraction to pursue a more meaningful life,” a Q&A with the audience, and time for book signing & photos.
At every event, I was met with the following words, “Thank you for coming here.” But I learned early in the tour the person who benefited the most during our time together was me.
Getting to meet so many of you face-to-face and hearing your stories of how Becoming Minimalist has impacted your life was truly inspiring. It was encouraging to me each time to keep doing what I’m doing.
I publish words on the Internet. I read the comments that are left on articles or posts on social media. And I get to read emails from many of you. But nothing can replace getting to see you in-person and hearing your stories firsthand.
So, from the bottom of my heart, to everyone who attended one of the events, thank you!
I visited the following cities: Phoenix, Omaha, Des Moines, Chicago, Indianapolis, Louisville, Nashville, Atlanta, Birmingham, New Orleans, Houston, and Austin.
And if you did not have a chance to attend an event, rest assured, there will be more.
If you could have attended one of the events, it might have looked something like this:
Special thanks to the following guest speakers who joined me on stage:
- Adam Baker
- Kim Becker
- Joe Darago
- Bob and Linda Lotich
- Scott Rose
- Joel Runyon
- Rachel Macy Stafford
- Bob Thune Sr.
Along the route, I took some extra notes. :)
Based entirely on the popular vote, here were some of my family’s favorite places to visit during the tour:
Our favorite Restaurants:
- Atlanta Breakfast Club, Atlanta
- The Original Ninfa’s on Navigation, Houston
- Fong’s Pizza, Des Moines
Our favorite Ice Cream:
- Coneflower Creamery, Omaha
- Graeter’s Ice Cream, Louisville
- Jeni’s Ice Cream, Nashville
And our favorite Activities:
- Georgia Aquarium, Atlanta
- Chicago Architectural Boat Tour, Chicago
- Cafe Du Monde, New Orleans
This is, almost certainly, something I will do again. There is a season of life right around the corner when my kids will no longer be at home and I will be able to travel with Kim and do more speaking events at that time.
Until then, you can find all of my upcoming speaking engagements, or invite me to speak at your next event, here on My Speaking page.
I would live to know more about how you started the nonprofit organization Hope Effect. Your has book has been so inspiring
It was great to see you in Austin! I’m the slacker who said I’ve done your Becoming Minimalist course about five times. Well, I think it’s actually seven times, but I’m getting better with every attempt! Next on my de-clutter list – flower vases, and then more clothes, and then dishes, and then….just kidding. I have already gotten rid a ton of stuff, going from a 6-bedroom house (yikes!) to three.
Thank yall for coming, and I’m giving your book TTM to many friends!
My husband and I missed you by one day. We were visiting our son and his wife in Phoenix and were flying home to Philadelphia. The funny thing is I was talking about you while visiting because my daughter-in-law payed me a big compliment. She was talking about getting headaches thinking about emptying her father’s home out when he passes. It sounds like he holds on to everything. She told me ” you I don’t worry about because you started paring down years ago”. Thanks Joshua. I’m a constant reader of your blog.
Adam Baker!!
Haven’t seen him around since the early 2010’s wow… Glad he’s still out there doing his thing! And way to crush it, as always Good Sir.
It’s great reading all your posts and blogs but seeing you in person was so much nicer. Omaha was so happy you came and we look forward to your next visit
Joshua,
I have all your books and have followed your amazing life journey through my email account.
Come to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and give a talk !
Next tour, please come to New Hampshire! Glad you got to be a tourist as well as a speaker.
Yeah, that would be good. On the East Coast tour we started in VT, but did skip over NH. I won’t make that mistake again :)
I bought my ticket early, looked forward to it and then….my Mom got shingles and was really sick and then got COVID and I was exposed! Ugh! I was so upset that I didn’t get to come.
Is there any way I can get a signed copy of the book? I will pay for the book and shipping.
So sad at Vandy.
Teresa