0:45

You are listening to episode 210 of

0:45

the Mindful Productivity podcast.

0:50

I'm your host, Sarah Steckler. And this week, I want to share

0:54

seven shifts that I've made that have

0:54

completely changed my daily life,

0:59

from mindset shifts to looking at things

0:59

differently to things I'm doing regularly

1:05

and some bigger projects I've been working

1:05

on, these things have completely

1:10

transformed my life in more ways

1:10

than I could have ever expected.

1:14

And my hope is that if you're feeling low

1:14

or you're in a current slump in your own

1:19

life, this episode might bring you a

1:19

little hope and inspiration into some ways

1:24

that you can meaningfully

1:24

improve your life.

1:27

So let's go ahead and jump

1:27

into this week's episode.

1:31

Welcome to the Mindful

1:31

Productivity podcast.

1:34

I'm your host, Sarah Steckler, and this is

1:36

the place to be to live a more

1:36

mindful and productive life.

1:40

If you're ready to turn daily chaos into calm and start your days with intention,

1:42

then get ready to join me as we dive deep

1:46

into mindful living and

1:46

personal productivity.

1:49

It's time to connect with your true self

1:49

so you can live the life you want to live.

1:53

And it all starts now.

2:05

Welcome back to the podcast, friends.

2:08

I have been spending a considerable amount

2:10

of time lately thinking about

2:10

the past seven years of my life.

2:17

I know that's a very specific time frame,

2:20

but for me, the start of 2016

2:20

leading up until all the way through 2023

2:28

has been one of the most

2:28

difficult chunks of my life.

2:31

And I was reflecting back on all the

2:31

things that went wrong, all the struggles.

2:36

And I was also really thinking about the

2:36

seven cycles or the seven-year cycle.

2:42

I've heard different things. I need to look into this about how

2:43

your body generates and all this stuff.

2:47

But I was just reflecting

2:47

on how hard it's been.

2:51

And I was also really feeling grateful for

2:51

how so far in this new year,

2:56

in 2024, I have felt

2:56

exceptional gratitude and I only

3:02

am feeling better and

3:02

better about my daily life.

3:06

And there are reasons for that.

3:09

I think I also am just having

3:09

a good moment in my brain.

3:14

But I was also thinking all

3:14

the things I've been doing

3:18

leading up to this new year that have

3:18

drastically changed my life.

3:24

Now, just as an aside, and I just share

3:26

this for some context, I am someone

3:26

that is currently dealing with.

3:31

I've been diagnosed with PTSD, and that is

3:33

something that greatly impacts my life,

3:33

has greatly impacted my mindset.

3:39

I get nightmares all the time. There's a lot of things that come with

3:42

that that make daily life feel

3:42

like a bigger struggle sometimes.

3:48

So when I tell you that I've been in a

3:51

head space that's been just naturally

3:51

positive, that feels like such an

3:57

incredibly huge win for me because that's

3:57

something that my entire life has not...

4:03

That's not my baseline. My baseline has not always been just

4:04

like, I wake up and things are good.

4:09

I tend to look for the negative.

4:12

I tend to feel very, very down and heavy.

4:16

And so the fact that I'm not

4:16

feeling that way is wonderful.

4:20

But I was also reflecting on

4:20

some of the things that I've built up in

4:24

my life recently that have truly created

4:24

momentum for making this process easier,

4:31

making my gratitude and my

4:31

good moods more consistent.

4:36

Now, I'm not here.

4:38

This podcast episode is not about telling

4:38

you that you need to have a consistent

4:42

good mood because

4:42

we're not about that over here.

4:44

We're not about toxic positivity.

4:46

But what I will say is that some of the things I've done recently,

4:48

I've just been blown away at how much

4:53

it's improved my life, my mental health,

4:53

my physical well-being, all of it.

4:58

So let's go ahead and jump into this list

5:00

because I think you're going to

5:00

find it pretty inspirational.

5:04

For the past year plus, ever since we

5:07

moved into our new home here in

5:07

California, my husband's in the military

5:13

and we moved down here, I have been

5:13

working to drastically declutter my life.

5:18

And let me tell you, it

5:18

has been a major process.

5:21

I've always been someone

5:21

that's had more stuff.

5:24

But in the pandemic, I realized all of a

5:24

sudden I had started accumulating

5:30

more things at a rate that was just

5:30

out of hand, could not keep up with it.

5:36

My life became very chaotic. And in a lot of ways, I noticed myself

5:38

trying to pad my life with stuff.

5:44

That could be a whole other

5:44

We will not get into that today.

5:47

But I have been working on decluttering.

5:50

And one thing I really realized, my

5:50

biggest struggle in my house

5:54

was that I could not

5:54

keep my kitchen clean for the life of me.

6:00

And I know a lot of people say that

6:00

your kitchen is the heart of your home.

6:03

I really resonate with that because if the

6:05

kitchen is messy or dirty or any

6:05

of those things, I can't function.

6:11

It's hard for me to get

6:11

work done in my business.

6:13

It puts me in a bad mood. And so I finally, after a year of

6:15

decluttering the rest of my house and

6:20

slowly getting rid of more and more stuff,

6:20

I had been putting off the kitchen.

6:24

And so actually not too long ago, I

6:24

finally sat down

6:30

and took a whole day to go through

6:30

everything that was in the kitchen.

6:35

And this was big because I honestly

6:35

really had no idea what all we owned.

6:40

You would think that because we move so

6:40

often, I would have a really good idea.

6:44

But it's also really easy I did not pay

6:44

attention because

6:47

we have movers that come and pack

6:47

everything up and wrap everything up.

6:50

And then it just gets dropped off at our new location and I just shove

6:52

everything into cabinets.

6:56

At least that's what I did during this last PC as I just could not bring

6:58

myself to go through everything.

7:01

So I finally did. And I got rid of quite a

7:03

bit of stuff in the kitchen.

7:05

And I finally now have

7:05

a place for everything.

7:08

So that means there's no

7:08

clutter on the kitchen counters.

7:11

Every single piece of

7:11

Tupperware has a home.

7:14

I can connect all the Tupperware together,

7:17

and that may take up more

7:17

space in the cabinet.

7:19

But if I go to get a Tupperware container,

7:19

I have the container and I have the lid.

7:25

I don't have to go searching for either one. They're together, combined,

7:28

like little friends, and it

7:28

makes my life so much easier.

7:32

So I did all of this and I completely

7:32

decluttered the kitchen,

7:35

and I immediately noticed that I

7:35

drastically had more mental energy.

7:39

When I got up in the morning, I wasn't trying to ruffle through

7:41

stuff to make my coffee.

7:44

I wasn't frustrated that there

7:44

was already stuff on the counter.

7:47

If I wanted to make a smoothie, it was super easy because the

7:49

kitchen counters were clean.

7:52

When I got home from grocery shopping, I

7:54

could put my groceries on the

7:54

counter and not the floor.

7:56

These things made such a huge difference

7:56

in my life I cannot even tell you.

8:01

My friends are tired of hearing about it

8:01

because every day I'm like, I cannot

8:05

believe how much more mental energy I have

8:05

because I am not constantly having to move

8:10

crap around on the counters

8:10

to do basic stuff.

8:13

It's allowed me to more

8:13

easily cook healthy meals.

8:18

For whatever reason now, eating a meal or

8:20

going in to get a snack doesn't feel like

8:20

this impossible task where I was mentally

8:25

so over stimulated by how much stuff was

8:25

on the kitchen counter that

8:30

it just became this impossible thing,

8:30

and I couldn't figure out why.

8:34

So the fact that I've now done that

8:34

has completely changed my life.

8:38

In fact, that's why it's the first thing I'm sharing today, because it is

8:39

probably the biggest impact in my life.

8:43

And that actually led me to So doing

8:46

something I wanted to do for a while, and

8:46

that was getting myself a little reward.

8:51

And I actually went out and I

8:51

bought a small little 24-inch TV.

8:56

It's only a 720p HDTV for the kitchen.

9:01

And because I was talking to my

9:01

mom and I was like, man, I love...

9:04

I want to be in the kitchen more like

9:04

meal prepping and doing all these things.

9:07

But for whatever reason, even though I've

9:07

got a cute little kitchen lamp in there,

9:11

it just feels like a

9:11

depressing place for me.

9:13

And for whatever reason,

9:13

it's It's a place where...

9:16

My husband's deployed a lot recently.

9:19

He's gone a lot. And I feel alone.

9:23

I feel lonely in the kitchen. I'm not someone that

9:24

feels that way very often. I am very introverted.

9:27

I love my alone time. But for some reason, when I'm alone in the

9:30

house and alone in the kitchen, I'm

9:30

just like, it just feels extra that way.

9:35

My mom was like, well, why don't you

9:35

get a TV and put it in the kitchen?

9:37

She's like, that's what I do. She's like, that's what I

9:38

did when you were a kid.

9:40

She's like, I had one of those

9:40

double TVs with the VCR in it.

9:44

And she's like, I watch movies

9:44

and all this stuff in the '90s.

9:46

I was like, man, you know what? That sounds fun.

9:49

So I went out and I looked up and I

9:49

found a really sweet deal on a TV.

9:54

It's a little 24-inch thing.

9:57

I think it has an Amazon stick built into

9:59

it, which is nice because it

9:59

has the little voice control.

10:03

So if you're looking up a YouTube video or whatever when you're cooking,

10:04

you can just talk in the remote.

10:06

Fabulous. And I found a great deal on it.

10:09

It was only 75 bucks. I was like, sweet.

10:11

And so I went and did a

10:11

curbside pickup at Best Buy.

10:14

I don't know why I'm telling all these details. Took Bella with me.

10:17

We picked up the TV,

10:17

brought it home, set it up.

10:21

And when I tell you, it completely

10:21

changed the mood of my kitchen.

10:25

And that brings me to the second point, which is I am now listening

10:27

to music all the time.

10:32

So we're going through these seven things I'm doing. This is number two.

10:36

When I was in my early 20s

10:39

and all through high school, middle

10:39

school, you name whatever device I had at

10:43

the time, a walkman, a cassette player, a

10:43

CD player, and then eventually all the

10:49

different kinds of MP3 players you

10:49

could imagine, they would all break.

10:53

I tried them all.

10:53

I listened to them all.

10:56

I always had headphones in

10:56

and I was always listening to music.

11:00

And then something happened as I just got

11:00

older and grew into adulthood, where I

11:05

just found myself listening

11:05

to music less and less.

11:08

And I actually just started...

11:12

This TV just ignited this thing because I

11:14

was like, oh, Obviously, I could watch

11:14

shows or Netflix or whatever on there.

11:18

But I could also, there's all the radio

11:20

apps and all those things

11:20

that I could download.

11:24

So I did. And I started, I've been

11:24

listening to music so often.

11:27

The minute I go into the kitchen, I

11:27

turn on that TV and I put on some music.

11:31

And I'm a big fan of EDM. So that's my music of choice that I go to.

11:32

It's got a good beat.

11:37

It just puts me in a good mood. And I have noticed that my mood

11:38

is just through the roof lately.

11:42

So now I make it a point to listen

11:42

to more more music all the time.

11:47

I also think it's really helpful because

11:47

I'm someone that will naturally ruminate.

11:51

I need to get out of my

11:51

mind and out of my brain.

11:55

I am someone that will think things into

11:55

oblivion and overanalyze them and

12:00

Honestly, I will go back in my past and

12:00

bring up stuff that's really difficult.

12:05

And so listening to music

12:05

distracts me in the best way.

12:08

It keeps my mind occupied and it gives my

12:12

brain something to float with

12:12

while while I'm doing other stuff.

12:16

So now when I'm in the kitchen, instead of

12:16

thinking about all the reasons to be sad,

12:20

I'm like, oh, my God, what is this new song? I want to add it to my Spotify list or

12:22

just find myself singing along or dancing

12:28

or just having the time of

12:28

my life in the kitchen now.

12:31

And it's really, really fun. It's also inspired me to keep the kitchen

12:32

cleaner because I know that if I go in

12:38

there to do the dishes, I get to listen

12:38

to music, and that really makes me happy.

12:41

So having music on all the

12:41

time is really, really great.

12:44

I've been listening to more music in the car as well and taking time to connect my

12:46

phone to the Bluetooth if I want to

12:51

so that I'm really listening to music that

12:51

I want and not just flustering through all

12:55

the radio stations until

12:55

I find a song that I like.

12:58

And it's also drastically decreased my

12:58

screen time in terms of time on my phone

13:05

and time doomscrolling or even watching

13:05

TV, ironically, having the TV in there.

13:13

Even though it's on, I'm listening to So

13:13

that's been really nice because I find

13:18

that I'm just doing some

13:18

of those other things less.

13:21

The third thing I want to mention

13:24

is that I'm focusing more on what I have

13:24

and not what I don't.

13:29

And maybe that sounds like an obvious

13:32

gratitude practice, but

13:32

I'm someone that I'm currently 36.

13:37

I'm currently thinking about where my life

13:37

is, what have I done or not done yet, what

13:44

if I don't do big milestone things

13:44

that everyone else is doing?

13:47

And I spend a lot of time thinking about

13:50

all those things, worrying

13:50

about all those things, right?

13:53

And I think it's also really fascinating

13:53

just the patterns

13:56

of what we all tend to worry about and

13:56

focus on in different decades of our life.

14:02

I remember in my 20s feeling like, oh, I

14:05

don't have a career yet or I

14:05

haven't done this and that.

14:08

I'm so old. And now that I'm approaching 40,

14:10

I'm like, you had so much time.

14:13

What were you worried about? But these feelings are all valid, right?

14:16

We all go through these different phases. But in focusing on what I have, not what I

14:21

don't, I don't just mean being like,

14:21

oh, I have a muffin in front of me.

14:25

I should enjoy this muffin

14:25

instead of wishing I had pancakes.

14:28

I don't just mean that, right? In the simplest of terms.

14:31

I don't just mean being like, I have

14:31

a roof over my head, blah, blah, blah.

14:35

Like, yes, all those things,

14:35

100 % great gratitude practice.

14:39

More so, I've been going deeper with it.

14:42

So I've been really focusing on what I

14:45

have, So one thing that often comes up

14:45

for me is I have that tender spot, right?

14:50

Where if I see other people having time

14:53

with their grandparents

14:53

or spending time with their dad, I get

14:57

really sad because those are things

14:57

that I no longer have in my life.

15:00

And it can be really easy when you don't

15:00

have someone or something to be like, oh,

15:05

man, life would have been

15:05

so much better, right?

15:07

Life would be so much better

15:07

if my dad was still around.

15:09

But I flipped that more and more. And I think, yeah, but your mom is still

15:14

here and Gosh, our

15:14

relationship is so amazing.

15:18

We talk all the time. In fact, the other day she was saying,

15:20

because we do a call almost every day.

15:25

And she was like, I think we talk more

15:25

now than when you lived here, right?

15:27

Because I've had to move away. And I'm like, yeah, I think you're right.

15:30

And I've just been trying to focus

15:30

more and more on what I have.

15:34

And what happens when you really focus on

15:34

enjoying and finding the joy and what's

15:41

right in front of you is that you

15:41

just naturally stop worrying so much.

15:46

It's really reduced a lot of my anxiety and repetitive

15:47

thoughts because I'm not thinking about

15:52

what's on the other side

15:52

of that fence, right?

15:54

What is the grass greener? I'm really like, man, I love my home.

15:58

I love my Squish and Ballows in my office.

16:01

I love my Bulldog and our cat, even though

16:01

our cat screams bloody murder all the time

16:06

the second she thinks

16:06

she's going to get food.

16:08

I love that I have this amazing husband. I love all these things, right?

16:12

And so in doing that, when you really

16:12

crowd out your brain, when you really just

16:18

fill it, I think I imagine these blobs of

16:18

sparkly pink joy in my brain.

16:24

And if each one of those things is

16:24

something that takes up space in that mind

16:29

space in my brain,

16:29

it just fills up every orifice and corner

16:34

and gap, and there's not

16:34

room for anything else.

16:38

So then instead of feeling like, man, I

16:38

wish I also had this, it's almost like,

16:43

I can't even imagine having more

16:43

or because of what I already have.

16:47

I hope that makes sense. There's always going to be times in our

16:50

lives where we're sad or we miss people or

16:50

we have regrets.

16:55

But there's really something powerful about digging really deep and really

16:57

acknowledging what you have

17:02

because chances are that you have

17:02

something, a friendship, a relationship,

17:07

an experience, a lifestyle that someone

17:07

else in the world would try to have.

17:12

And really just realizing how special that

17:15

is for you can be completely,

17:15

completely life-changing.

17:20

The fourth thing, the fourth shift

17:20

I've been thinking about that goes a lot

17:24

in tandem with this

17:24

is really shifting my mindset that

17:30

happiness does not mean that

17:30

nothing bad can or should happen.

17:35

And here's what I mean by that.

17:37

I, like I said,

17:37

have had this seven-year-long stint

17:42

that just feels like I've had

17:42

some of the worst luck ever.

17:47

I go back in my diaries and journals or

17:47

Facebook memories and I'm like, man, I

17:53

forgot about that or

17:53

like, wow, what a rough time.

17:56

And I've said that so many months

17:56

out of the past seven years.

18:00

Like, wow, this might be the hardest

18:00

thing I've ever went through.

18:03

And then something harder has happened. And it's like, man.

18:06

And I remember I got into this pattern for

18:08

a while because

18:08

at some point in your life, unless you're

18:12

lucky and it doesn't happen, you're

18:12

going to have things happen back to back.

18:16

And it's going to feel like,

18:16

what did I do to deserve this?

18:21

That's a very natural human feeling.

18:23

I also, in my early 20s,

18:26

got into this really, personally, I think,

18:26

toxic spirituality place where I really

18:33

thought that it was my fault or I could

18:33

control more of my life by controlling

18:41

what I thought or writing stuff

18:41

down a lot or any of those things.

18:43

And I think a lot of young people go through those different

18:45

phases of magical thinking, if you will,

18:51

or get caught up in it

18:51

because it can be fun.

18:53

But the more I realize that life just

18:57

happens and that

18:57

for me personally, this is my belief,

19:00

there's not necessarily a

19:00

reason behind any of it.

19:04

Things just happen because they happen.

19:07

There's something that takes

19:07

the pressure off of that.

19:09

And now when something bad happens,

19:09

instead of me

19:14

adding it up in my mind is like

19:14

another reason why my life is so awful.

19:19

Like, why do I have to go through this?

19:21

It's more acknowledging

19:21

that things will go wrong.

19:25

Your life is never going to get to

19:25

a place where things don't go wrong.

19:29

You're never going to get to a chapter in

19:32

your life where there's

19:32

never any more problems.

19:35

And raising

19:35

my Bulldog, Bella, and taking care of her

19:39

every day has really been

19:39

a great example of that.

19:43

When we first got her, we went through There's so many different

19:45

medical issues with her.

19:47

She's had so many different

19:47

surgeries and things.

19:51

And I mean, Bulldogs tend to.

19:53

But I remember feeling like every time

19:53

it happened, I just couldn't believe it.

19:58

I could not believe that we were

19:58

having to spend money at the vet again.

20:02

I could not believe that she had another

20:02

infection or this or that and the other.

20:05

And so then every time it happened, I'd

20:05

be like, of course it's happening again.

20:10

Of course, all these things are happening. And now I'm to the point where where I've

20:12

accepted that having a dog and having a

20:19

bulldog specifically means that

20:19

things are going to happen.

20:22

Yeah, she's going to get allergies. She's going to get ear infections.

20:25

She's going to have things happen. You're going to have to make decisions.

20:28

You're going to have to spend money. Sometimes you might not be able to do what

20:31

you want to do with the vet

20:31

because of financial reasons.

20:34

But you will always make the best decision

20:36

with the information that you have at the

20:36

hand at the moment you have it, right?

20:41

You'll make the best decision with what

20:44

you have, with what you know at that

20:44

moment in And just

20:47

thinking about all of this

20:47

has really shifted the way that I look at

20:51

the outlook of my life, because in the

20:51

past, if something bad was happening, I

20:55

couldn't simultaneously

20:55

find joy at the same time.

20:58

Now I'm able to recognize that there are

21:02

difficult things that can happen in my

21:02

life, and I can also make an amazing

21:05

dinner, and I can also still enjoy

21:05

parts and moments of my life.

21:11

Happiness does not mean that everything

21:11

is going right the same time.

21:16

It means that you're finding happiness in

21:19

different moments despite

21:19

what might be happening.

21:23

Number five,

21:25

and these are all building on each other,

21:25

and that is I have spent more time in my

21:30

little nudge to you,

21:30

spend time acknowledging your struggles.

21:34

I think it's also natural for us to be

21:34

scared of spending too much time going

21:39

over things that are hard or things

21:39

that have happened in the past.

21:42

But there's something to be said about

21:44

acknowledging struggles and

21:44

also reflecting on them.

21:48

I was actually going back through

21:48

some of my voice memos in my phone.

21:51

I have some back from 2015.

21:53

And what's really funny to me is every

21:55

time I've been extremely sick to the point

21:55

where I've lost my voice or I have a cough

22:00

that sounds like I'm dying,

22:00

whatever reason, I made a voice memo.

22:03

Why do we do this? I made a voice memo like,

22:04

smelly cat, basically.

22:08

Like, oh, my God, I'm so sick. Hear how sick I am.

22:10

And it's funny.

22:12

And I was going back through and I was actually surprised by how

22:14

sick I got in both 2022 and 2023.

22:19

Like, horribly sick, back to back

22:22

issues, had some antibiotics, and

22:22

then that made things even worse.

22:28

You know what I mean? Just like, you're so sick and you

22:29

cannot believe how long you're sick.

22:32

Like, those two years, I was sick back to

22:35

back, both years, twice

22:35

for over a month each time.

22:38

So four months out of 2022 and 2023,

22:38

I was really sick.

22:44

Like, unbelievably sick.

22:46

And a lot of that could have been due to

22:49

getting out of the house again for the

22:49

first time, moving to a new area, being

22:53

surrounded by a bunch of new kids going

22:53

to a new school, like Germ Central, right?

22:58

But that really changed my mindset

22:58

about being grateful for my health.

23:03

But point is, acknowledging your struggles

23:05

is important because it allows you to see

23:05

how far you come, but also

23:10

what you were able to accomplish

23:10

despite all those things.

23:13

So I look back at my past year my life.

23:16

And even though it wasn't the most

23:16

lucrative year in my business,

23:20

I still look at everything else I

23:20

accomplished, all the things I was able to

23:23

move through, the very sparse amount of

23:23

time I got to see my husband and all the

23:29

things we were able to

23:29

still enjoy together.

23:31

And that is really important. Number six.

23:35

This is something fun, but

23:35

it can be fun to go on your own little

23:40

scavenger hunt in your brain, and you can

23:40

bring someone along with you if you want.

23:43

But for example, and I started doing this

23:47

unknowingly, this wasn't

23:47

an intentional thing.

23:49

But every month or every so often, pick

23:52

something that brings you a lot of joy or

23:52

pick something to get obsessed with and

23:56

then look for it everywhere and just be

23:56

surprised by how much joy it brings you.

24:00

For example, right now, and most of the

24:00

time, I'm obsessed with strawberries.

24:05

I love strawberries. I love eating them, but I

24:07

also love them in decor.

24:10

And so it's been really fun because I've

24:12

had strawberries on my mind and everywhere

24:12

I went lately, that's all I see.

24:16

You're going to find

24:16

what you're looking for.

24:19

And it's been fun, though, because

24:19

I've brought my mom into this.

24:22

And since we're in different states right

24:25

now, it's a fun way to connect

24:25

with her throughout the day.

24:28

So while she's at work and stuff,

24:28

if I'm out and about

24:31

and I find something, I found a strawberry

24:31

vase at Five Below the other day.

24:36

And I was like, oh, my gosh, can you believe this? And I sent her this photo.

24:38

It was like, all these strawberries.

24:40

And she's like, that's so cute. And then she'll send me a photo.

24:43

If she sees something that

24:43

It's a strawberry or whatever.

24:46

And it's just this fun back and forth.

24:48

And then it just becomes this little boost

24:52

of serotonin, boost of joy every time

24:52

that you see one or you find one.

24:57

And this could be a color. This could be It could be anything.

25:01

It could be a frog, whatever.

25:03

But it's just fun to focus on

25:03

one thing and find it, right?

25:06

It's a fun little mindfulness exercise

25:06

that can bring you a lot of joy.

25:12

Number seven, and I think

25:12

this is so important.

25:15

This is Something that is something someone actually said to me

25:16

during my first corporate job when I was

25:20

in the break room and I was like,

25:20

oh, I just wish it was Friday.

25:23

And this guy, I can't remember his name.

25:27

I had never talked to him before

25:27

because I worked in a company.

25:30

There was quite a few people. And I'd see new people all

25:31

the time in the break room.

25:33

He whips around with his coffee mug and he

25:37

looks me dead in the eye and he goes,

25:37

don't you ever wish your weeks away?

25:41

And it's always stuck with me. And I think about it all the time.

25:45

I think about it when I'm driving and I

25:48

hear them on the radio being like, we made it. It's Wednesday.

25:49

Only two more days. And it'll be the weekend.

25:51

And I get it.

25:53

We all want to get through the work week. But there's something to be said

25:55

about not just living for the weekend.

26:00

And really doing what we can

26:00

to cherish every single day.

26:04

Just because it's Tuesday night doesn't

26:04

mean that you can't make it special.

26:09

And planning little tiny things throughout

26:12

your week to look forward to

26:12

can make all the difference.

26:16

Your best memories don't have to only come

26:19

from Saturday and Sunday or

26:19

whenever your weekend might be.

26:22

They can happen anytime.

26:25

Sometimes this can mean watching a special

26:27

show on a specific day of the week

26:27

or or maybe you bake something fun

26:33

on Thursday nights, or if you don't have a

26:33

ton of time and you are exhausted when you

26:37

get home, maybe it means that you have a

26:37

special ritual or you have a special

26:41

blanket that you get or a heating

26:41

pad or a candle, whatever.

26:45

Or just don't wish your weeks away because

26:45

all those days that you're just grinding

26:50

through and hoping will end

26:50

are also the days of your life.

26:55

Now, remember, life is not about

26:55

arriving at any one place or destination.

27:00

It's about enjoying the journey as

27:00

cheesy and corny as that sounds.

27:05

And truly, I believe that the more excited

27:05

you can get about all the little micro

27:10

moments in your life, the more happy

27:10

and the more joy that you'll find.

27:15

Because there's so many things that are

27:17

hard to accept and hard

27:17

to process in our world.

27:21

And the more that you can find and claim

27:24

your joy throughout all these hard times,

27:24

the better it'll be.

27:29

So that is my wish for you.

27:31

And I hope that you enjoyed this episode.

27:35

As always, you can always

27:35

come and say hi on Instagram.

27:39

I'm at Sarahh Steckler. If you want to share anything that you

27:42

heard from the episode or let me know

27:42

anything that you do that's similar.

27:46

You can always find more resources

27:46

for mindfulness and productivity and

27:51

all of those things by visiting

27:51

my website, Sarahsteckler.

27:55

Com. Until next week, thank you so much for

27:56

listening to this episode, and I hope you

28:00

have a wonderful day ahead,

28:00

no matter where you are.