In a Funk? Here’s How I’m Supporting Myself Through Mine and How You Can, Too

I recently found myself in a funk, overwhelmed by the hustle of life post my (mostly solo) trip to England. This reality check led me to explore personal growth strategies to find balance and happiness. Embracing self-compassion, I realized that self-care isn’t a luxury but a necessity, especially for busy moms like me.

Reflecting on my journey, I discovered the importance of focusing on self-improvement and cultivating practical daily habits. Understanding how to stop being a perfectionist has given me the freedom to embrace imperfections and enrich my life. This approach can guide anyone seeking personal growth towards a more fulfilling existence.

More for Moms Conference, use code “LISTENER” for $20 off: https://www.aboutprogress.com/moreformoms

About a few other things...

Sign up for the Go Getter Newsletter to get Progress Pointers in your inbox every Wednesday.

You can listen the episode below, or on Apple Podcasts/iTunes, Spotify, Youtube, Overcast, Stitcher, Pocketcasts, or search for “About Progress” wherever you get your podcasts.  If you like the show please share it, subscribe, and leave a review!!

⁠More for Moms Conference⁠ 
Access exclusive supporter benefits
Sign up for the next Sticky Habit Intensive
Book Launch Committee
Leave a rating and review for the podcast!
Lend your voice and experience + be featured on the show HERE
Join Monica on Facebook and Instagram
Songs Credit: Pleasant Pictures Music Club

This episode is brought to you by goPure Beauty, get 25% off @goPure with code PROGRESS at https://www.goPurebeauty.com/PROGRESS #goPurepod

TRANSCRIPT

Monica Packer: [00:00:00] I went on the trip of my life, which you know, is amazing,

but it's hard to come back to reality in some ways. It also, really made me think about some parts of my life it's led to bigger life questions.

Monica Packer: Hi, this is Monica Packer and you're listening to about progress where we are about progress made practical. I'm going to do something very. Different. Today. I'm gonna be a little bit more raw and real with you. I am joining you the Monday after the More for Moms conference ended. So this is October 13th and typically my team and I have my episodes ready a week before.

And when I looked on the calendar to see what I should have had ready by today, I was like, I. I've got nothing. What I had planned was to talk to you about the three habits that [00:01:00] are, that are helping me show up lately, and while I do have those, what's more on my mind is how I am feeling. Very burnt out.

Tuckered out, burdened, and just done with. This adulthood life and it's all first world problems. I'm just gonna say that straight out. None of this will relate to the real, real issues that are going on in the world and also outside of the privileges, which I have. Um, meaning me and our family are not experiencing like huge health issues, our financial issues, just the normal stuff.

And, you know, we don't talk about. The normal stuff a ton, because a lot of times it's like, why? You know? 'cause we're all going through it and also it feels out of touch. So I'm just gonna say that all upfront. So you know, I know, I know that my problems are really. Great problems to have [00:02:00] and I still know that it doesn't feel great right now and you likely have similar stuff going on.

Maybe you're just in a funk. Maybe you are burnt out or overwhelmed or burdened by the responsibilities that you carry as an adult and you would sure live love to hear from someone in real time how they're working through that. So this is going gonna be less about me bemoaning my life, although you will be hearing about some context and more about how I am moving myself through a bit of a funk, and again, in real time.

So I'm gonna set this up for you and then I'm gonna walk you through it just like I would. To a coaching client, but in essence, I'm gonna be coaching myself through it all, with the desire to help you do the same if you're in a funk right now, so you can coach yourself following the same kind of pattern that I'm gonna walk myself through and this pattern.

It's not gonna be clean, it's gonna be messy. It's probably [00:03:00] gonna be all over the place. I'm not gonna get on the other side like the superwoman, thinking like, I got this, like nothing's wrong and I am awesome and everything's good on my life. And now like I'm all better. But I am gonna get to a better place.

I already know I am. And that's my hopes for you today. So if you want to hang on for the ride, buckle up and get ready. That's all coming up after a quick break for our sponsors.

Monica Packer: Just because your neck and arms might be more covered this fall doesn't mean you should pretend they don't exist. Your skin still needs love, especially your neck. And why not your arms? That's exactly why Go Pure created the neck and arm cream bundle, a powerhouse duo designed to visibly firm smooth and restore the look of sagging crepey skin where it matters most.

I think a lot of us have some kind of drawer full of barely used products. These creams will not be one [00:04:00] of them. I can speak from personal experience because my first jar of the Titan and Lift neck cream is one of my few empties, meaning a jar that's totally empty.

I recently went on to go pure.com to replace it using my own code, and instead of just getting that jar, I went and got the neck cream and arm cream duo because for a limited time it's 57% off that bundle.

Go Pure isn't just about transforming the skin on these areas. They have a full line of science backed skin and body care to tighten, lift and smooth skin from head to toe without the harsh chemicals or hefty price, go pure over delivers on value with over 100,000 real women.

, with real results. Right now go Pure has a crazy deal. For a limited time, you can get 57% off the Titan and Lift Net Cream and Sculpt and Tone arm cream bundle. You can also get 25% off all other products by using Code [email protected]. So head to go pure.com and use code Progress for huge discount.

And after Goodbye, do us a [00:05:00] favor. When they ask where you heard about Go Pure, tell them it was from our

show.

Monica Packer: I have really exciting news on the book front. A quick catch up, if you haven't heard, I have been writing a book on gentle, flexible habit formation for women this year, and I am so lucky to have gotten a literary agent and now a book deal. Which means I can officially tell you the book is called Happy Habits and it will be released hopefully in the fall of 2026.

And this is where I need you. Leading up to the launch of this book, I need a committee of gal pals just like you to be my early test readers, to pre-order the book and to act as grassroots publicists moment each of these steps are made ready and to potentially act as an advanced reader.

Would you like to be on that book launch committee? And get the latest updates behind the scenes and first dibs on all book news. While you're at it, go to about progress.com/book committee, and when you sign up, you'll get a newsletter automatically with all the past updates I've given, [00:06:00] including behind the scenes and sneak peeks.

The link is in the show notes for you. Again, it's about progress.com/book committee. I can't wait to share as much as I can with you along the way, and I am so eager for you to get your hands on this book

Monica Packer: I think funks are normal. Uh, how much of this is hormonal? I dunno. I think, I think a lot of it could be, that's gonna be one of my biggest questions when I get onto the other side, like, Hey, how much of depression and or anxiety, stress, things I was experiencing with my body was just hormonal. I wanna know.

Um, so yeah. It could be that, um, it could be life circumstances. It can sometimes just be life on repeat, like how we have to do the same. We have the same responsibilities day in, day out, day after day. It can feel monotonous or burden burdensome. It also can be a. I'm almost 40 problem. I'm well aware. I'm like, this may be a prime time for a midlife crisis.

Um, and so that [00:07:00] could be it too. So regardless of why it is for you, what I'm gonna do again is coach myself through how I'm feeling. In hopes to help you do the same. If you are in a similar position of just feeling like you're in a funk and a funk to me, I would just say this is not like a Webster's dictionary definition, but a funk to me is where you're just not yourself.

You're just not feeling quite embodied. You're feeling out of it. You're having a swirl of emotions, whether it's. Um, sadness or anger or boredom or resentment or bitterness or despair or like confusion. So it's like that kind of swirl. I would not say it's depression. I would not say it's a clinical depression or a generalized anxiety disorder.

Those are very different. And as someone who has gone through those two, um, and you have children who've di been diagnosed with certain. With both of those at different times. This isn't to downplay those at all. That's when you get like doctor help, psychiatry, help therapists, counselor, friends, family, all that kind of support.

A funk feels a little [00:08:00] bit separate from that, but a funk can turn into those things too. So. Again, it's kind of like just when it goes on like that for a little while, let's walk. How we do that, and I always first think of this episode I did years ago with Natalie Norton. Early on in the podcast we had an episode that was about how to get out of a a funk, and this woman has been through, I mean, thing after thing.

I don't wanna like go through all of her life story, you've just gotta listen to that episode. But she's, she's, she had experienced severe grief from losing her brother, who was more like a child to her. Um, and then she lost a child and then she lost foster children that. They thought were theirs for many years under their care.

Uh, she went through some major health issues and so she came on like as someone who, yes, I know grief and trauma and depression and anxiety, and here's how I worked myself through days where I'm not feeling myself. And, and that's [00:09:00] like not separate from maybe like being right in the thick of those things.

And also how I helped myself through those same things too. So even if what you're going through is way worse than just a funk, hopefully this can help too. But the thing I've never really forgotten about what she said is it really does start with basic self-care habits like hygiene, ensuring you are.

Taking a shower, feeding yourself, going on a walk or something to just move your body. And as basic as those things seem, I mean, Natalie just really presented it as this major case of truly caring for your body, which helps you care for your soul. And that's where all. Strips back to her for, because she says that's always the first thing to go.

If I'm in a funk or if I'm in a depression, hygiene is the first thing to go, um, brushing my teeth or showering or uh, getting on clean clothes. Like those are the first things to go. So I always start there. So that's where I've started the last few days. Um. I've just tried to make sure I'm [00:10:00] prioritizing basic ways to take care of myself.

So with that being said, now I'm gonna walk myself through how I would coach a client and I'm gonna just coach myself. And again, like if this keeps going on for a long time, not even a long time, if this goes on for much longer, then I think it would be time to maybe consider more support from a coach and or a therapist.

Um, definitely recruiting my husband Brad. We've been talking a lot, which is really helpful. Um. This is where I am right now. Again, this is raw in real time. So where I always start with my clients is I ask them to zoom out, and this is where we just get straight informational facts that are objective about what and what's going on with your life that may have led to you not feeling totally like yourself or that you're off or whatever it is.

So that's what I'm gonna do right now. So what are the facts right now? Right now I am just coming off of the biggest project I have ever taken on work-wise. It was the more for Moms conference and as rewarding and worthwhile as it was, and it was all [00:11:00] those things, it was also. So all consuming and very intensive work for six months straight.

Every spare second of work and free time that I had, like outside of my work hours went to this. Um, almost every moment of work time went to this too. Outside of. Doing the podcast, um, and then the lead up to it, I, I had to do it all by myself. I didn't have the budget to hire someone to help me. This is typically, I'm just thinking to myself, I have to acknowledge it.

This is typically something that people have a team for a team, not just one team member. Like they have a team. Setting up the conference, I, I, I could go through the entire litany of what it takes to put on a conference, but just know the list is long and endless from minute to very big picture things.

And I was a one woman show, so I have to acknowledge that this is normally something a team [00:12:00] does, and I did it all and I did it all myself. That's a zoom out. Another thing. It was just very, a very intense couple of weeks. As part of that, I was really happy with the conference, very happy with how it turned out.

I, I didn't quite hit the targets I wanted on my end of things in terms of enrollment and stuff. So that's disappointing. That's a fact. Right now I'm dealing with some disappointment. Um. What else is going on? I went on the trip of my life, which you know, is amazing, and I said in the messy middle that I recorded the day after my trip, like, Hey, I'm actually doing pretty good.

But it's hard to come back to reality in some ways. So that trip, if I'm thinking of zooming out and looking at my context, it was the best week of my life. It also, um. Really made me think about some parts of my life and how busy I am and if how I've made myself [00:13:00] busy is even worthwhile. It's led to bigger life questions.

It's led me to wonder if I like what I've done the last 10 years online. Has been worth it in any degree personally and monetarily. If maybe I would've been better off not, or if I would've been better off going back to school much sooner and getting a quote unquote real job. It makes me wonder if we could do something different as a family.

I mean, part of my funk is I've been like on chat GBT, finding out what visas my family would need to live abroad and if my husband could get a job in London, um. And also being there makes me think of the bigger life questions, like where do I wanna be in 10 years? And for much the past 10 years, I mean, where I wanted to be was.

Really ambitious oriented, which is a part of me that I had to bring back. And I'm so glad I did. And now I'm like, I don't want to be ambitious. I just want to garden and hike and [00:14:00] quilt, even though I haven't even gotten started on my quilting hobby that I want. Um, and I just wanna read and do that all day.

Basically, I wanna retire. But that would also mean like I would wanna retire from all of life's responsibilities, which I choose not to. I could, I could run away. I could abandon everything, including my family, and I would never do that because ultimately this is who I am and this is what I want and this is where I wanna be.

But you know, a trip like that will make you think like, am I on the track that I wanna be on in my life in general? Um, other life circumstances. You know, just kids are a lot. I have a kid who has pneumonia right now. He's doing okay. He's actually doing really well. Probably will be able to go back to school very soon.

Um, but that's a factor too. Like once I got back it was hit the ground running like every second of every day. Like it was like a six to seven hours a day thing was on the conference. When I don't have. That work [00:15:00] time. I only have three hours allotted most days. Like, uh, unless something goes wrong, which happens.

So I had sick kids that, I'm just trying to think of other circumstances. Um, heavy stuff with the daughter getting bullied, but things are working out there. Um, yeah, I'm just kind of thinking that, I think it's mostly the circumstance of being in that, having that harsh juxtaposition has made me think in ways that are hard and deep, but also good.

So knowing that. And, and in kind of leveling myself with my circumstances, with a zoom out, I can now say, well, no wonder. No wonder you're in a funk, Monica, you just went from doing one of the biggest things you've ever done and kind of having it. Prove to yourself in some asinine way, like it's not really proving, but in the basis at, at my basis Self, this big project has yet approved, again, proved to me that what I'm doing is a joke.

So. There [00:16:00] you go. No wonder, no wonder you're questioning your life's choices because you just had the most life changing experience that is good in refining and making you think differently about your life. And that's a good thing too. But no wonder that. And no wonder because you have five kids and, and your own business and it's just, and they have a lot of special needs, and that's a lot.

That's a lot on anybody's plate. So no wonder you have been feeling this way. And when I give myself that moment, I honestly can feel myself kind of backing off from the ledge and also backing away from selling our house and moving to England maybe. And it's giving me a literal moment to breathe. And I just did that.

I dunno if you saw, if you heard it, but if you're on the video, you saw me like literally take a breath. And that was just, just happened when I gave myself that validation and that compassion. No wonder you're feeling that way and it's [00:17:00] okay. And now that I know that, I also know that I don't have to stay in this, I don't have to stay in this.

This place of being like, you know, for all these terrible reasons, life is terrible. BA like I hate it, and I'll just stay here. Now I know I need to zoom in and I need to get some perspective and clarity on my inner life now and what I can do from here, and that's what I will do after a break for our sponsors.

Monica Packer: If you owned a business, would you sign up for continuing education to support it? What if you were or are a teacher, a beauty technician, a doctor, a photographer, a dental hygienist, or anything else? The answer is, of course, you would sign up for continuing ed, because that is what all good professionals do.

So if you would answer yes when it comes to investing in a job, [00:18:00] then why are you any different? I have found that online education for parenting abounds, I have signed up for countless courses and conferences for parenting. My A DHD children.

But and our pursuit to be good mothers we put parenting and mothering above being humans, which affects those things obviously so deeply. So where's the online education for moms to learn, not just how to be a better mom, but a better fulfilled, joyful human.

That's where the More For Moms course comes in. This was my More For Moms conference, turned into a self-paced course made up of 25 world class speakers who will educate you on how to be you again in ways that are deep and practical. from making sense on why you lost yourself to good intentions in the first place, to helping you explore what it would look like if you were on your own list to tactile ways to improve your every day from dinner.

To style, to hobbies, to [00:19:00] fun. The More For Moms Course has it all. I want to invite you to invest in continuing education for yourself by signing up today for $20 off with the Code Listener at checkout. This is an exclusive code to listeners of the About Progress podcast when you sign up

everything from the More For Moms Conference becomes a self-paced course. You get access to all conference material from video to transcripts to audio so you can catch up or revisit all speaker sessions for years to come. And my favorite part is the More for Moms Conference audio.

It's a private ad-free podcast feed with all 25 speaker sessions, so you can listen on the go, which is my preferred medium. Again, you can sign up for $20 off with a code [email protected] slash more for moms. It is time for you to invest in continuing education for you because you are a person too. Again, sign up at about progress.com/more for moms for $20 off using the Code Listener at checkout.

[00:20:00] 

Monica Packer: As I'm doing this in real and unedited time, I have to acknowledge that already. Like I have these thoughts coming up of being like, do you know what's happening in the world? And you're taking the time to like walk through your amazing life and how bad you feel about it. Yes. Because sometimes an amazing life feels heavy.

And again, I hope this can be validating for whatever you're going through too. So let's just keep going with that acknowledgement in mind again. So I've zoomed out, I've taken an objective look at my circumstances, and I validated and I see them for what they are. Now I'm gonna zoom in on the inside. And after that I'm gonna do some practical, like what are my choices from here?

So now zooming in, I'm gonna kind of think about what about these circumstances are triggering some things inside me that I need to pay attention to. And I think I'm gonna start with one of two questions I typically ask. I'm gonna ask one of them and I'll [00:21:00] probably ask myself the next one. And the first I'm gonna ask myself is, what do you want Monica?

The first answer I came up with like out of nowhere is already making me laugh 'cause it's, I want life to be easier. Okay. You want life to be easier. Why do you want life to be easier? I'm just gonna keep asking myself that. I want life to be easier because it just feels like too much. Why does it feel like too much?

Because some days it is. Some days, and sometimes it is too much and I'm tired, and I think I've done it this way for too long.

Okay. I think that to me feels more like a heart of an answer there. I'm tired and I've done it this way for too long. Okay? So we want life to be easier. [00:22:00] I wanna dig into that a little bit more with myself because. I know life isn't meant to be easy, and actually I don't think I want an easy life because I know that also can weirdly be a hard and vacuous and unfulfilling life.

So I guess I had asked myself, well, what? If we're not gonna ask, I want an easier life. What do you want life to feel like? Oh, I want life to feel rewarding. I want life to feel full. I want it to feel rich and beautiful and meaningful. Okay, so now I'm gonna ask myself, well, what would make life fill those things?

I think that's what the trip really highlighted for me. If I'm being honest with myself, for my life to feel more rich and full and meaningful, I need more time

and I can't invent more time. So now I'm thinking I, I think I need more downtime. I think I need more rest. And I feel dramatic. [00:23:00] I feel dramatic right now, but. I feel like I need more time for reading and thinking and hobbies. Okay. That's really instructive. Why am I getting all teared up about this? Okay.

Because it feels right. Yeah. I'm tired and I need more of those things. Also, this is seems so, um, opposite, but I need more adventure. I've realized the last couple months I've been kind of mulling this over. I have my list of values hanging up right next to me.

Most of them feel accurate. Love of learning, creativity, self-development, beauty, leadership. Those are my top, sorry. This is what happens. So the floodgates open for me, apparently, which is happening more, which is good for me. So those values all feel good and right to me, except one, and it's the last one.[00:24:00]

Leadership really was resonating with me during, um, COVID times. And to me it felt more like I needed to rise up to be a leader in my home, in my work online. And, you know, I still believe in that and I think I can make a good leader. But to me, adventure is what needs to be. Replacing that, again, I've been feeling this way for a couple months, but like that trip really settled in I for life to feel rich and meaningful and fulfilling.

I need adventure and that likely for my life does not mean that I can go, uh, live internationally with my family. It also probably doesn't mean that I can travel as much as I'd like to. Because of time and money, but it still means it's a value that I need to honor. And that's where I'm gonna think about that more.[00:25:00]

Um, I'm gonna think more about downtime, hobbies, and adventure. So those are really it. Like I think that's what I'm missing. I'm missing downtime for rest and hobbies and which involve creativity and self-development. And I'm. And I'm also needing adventure. Okay? Writing those down for myself. And when I ask myself one more time, what do you want?

Nothing else is really coming up. So now it's weird. Like I feel like I have more clarity. Okay, this is what I know I actually want. So maybe I don't want to sell my house and quit everything and live abroad and retire. Who can do that anyway, we couldn't, it wouldn't be probably good for my kids either.

But I know that there are still some things here that are giving me information on what I can choose to do. So with that, I'm gonna ask myself one more question before I move to the practical side. [00:26:00] The next question I'm gonna ask myself, oh, and this might be Bring the Waterworks again, and it's What are you afraid of?

I. I think another thing, this thing, trip drummed up for me is, um, part of why it was so meaningful is because it had been so long, it had been so long since I had put myself on that list in such a big way. Like that was a big way, and it's not practical to my life. And so I think there's this fear of like, what if it's another like.

How many years that was 15 years since I could do something big like that for myself, to spend that time for myself, to really invest in myself, to step away in a big way like that for my responsibilities and get that clarity and peace and healing. What if it's another 15 years and so I'm afraid of it not happening for a long [00:27:00] time.

So that's good information to have. What else am I afraid of? I'm afraid of my responsibilities making me a bitter person because I have. I always been too big for my britches. I guess. Like I've always wanted more and I've learned to validate that, but, but sometimes it's like, well, life is like this, so I am afraid of that.

I'm afraid of turning in to someone I'm not because of unmet dreams and possibilities for myself. Okay. What else are you afraid of? I guess I'm just afraid of not having those things, so this is where I'm gonna walk myself through that bit. I think it's good for me to validate those fears because the truth is, is I want my life.

And I choose [00:28:00] it. And the responsibilities my, of my, the practical side of my responsibilities does make it so it wouldn't be good or wise for me to, you know, do those big, big things like move across the pond or, or also even take trips that big for myself. So maybe that can't happen, but it doesn't mean.

It's an all or nothing because that's what the fear is trying to tell me that it's all or nothing. Like either I do something big and drastic or put myself on the list in these big ways more often. Like go on a trip every six months by myself for a whole week or move to England. Um. My, my brain, my, the fear side of my brain is saying it's either those things or nothing.

And now is where I'm going to decide. This is like the third kind of phase for me, and it's what's important. Now, Monica, this is where I'm going to step into making some choices. [00:29:00] Choices that are not driven by the all or nothing fear. I choose my life, I choose it. I choose these kids and their responsibilities.

I choose my, my husband and our jobs.

I, I'm gonna choose a lot of good things. Like I choose to not burn my business to the ground right now, but I think I also need to choose to be open. To exploring Plan Bs a little bit more, and I did this a lot in 2024 when it was like we make it or break it year with about progress. And then we got to a point where it was clear like, I actually can continue this, but we're still on a touch and go basis, and it's a little bit of a limbo place.

That's hard to be. I think if I could prepare myself to think more through what Plan Bs could look like for me to help financially out with my family, while also leaning into my interests and my skill sets. As a potential career, it may help me make better decisions about whatever it needs to be moving forward.

So for right now, I'm not burning everything into the ground, but I [00:30:00] do think I need to choose to explore what could be next. So I'm giving myself that. I'm also going to choose to give myself some, some rest. Now, I did already do that. On Friday, the last day of the conference, technically, but I didn't have any work.

I had to, I didn't have to upload all the, I'm not gonna bore you with the details. I didn't have to spend hours of work on the conference that day. I could just spend an hour on it. So I went for a very long walk during my work time instead of working. I went for a long walk and listened to Taylor Swift's album.

That was a good choice On Saturday. We just watched a lot of shows afternoon and evening and oh, on Friday night, Brad and I went on a nice date and got ice cream too and just got to spend time together. And we watched The Martian through the weekend too. Um, I spent a lot of time in my garden over the weekend as well, so like I gave myself that, but I think I can see, [00:31:00] I need to, to give myself some more gentle care this week, so I'm gonna do that instead of just going on Right to the next thing, which by the way, is the book.

Which is why I don't wanna bring things to the ground too, because I have a very exciting opportunity. I think my own fear of it not being a success is making me afraid of it. So I, instead of diving right into the, the book writing, I'm still gonna give myself at least a couple days of not moving right onto the next project.

I can see I need a little bit of a break. What else can I choose? What's important now I need to start sewing. I have a sewing machine I bought in June or July, and I haven't even opened it yet 'cause I truly haven't had the time with the conference. It's not even like a, for me, it wasn't even, I chose the conference.

There was no alternative though. That wasn't all or nothing thing. But now I can do that. So that's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna choose to open the sewing machine and spend some time. With a hobby, I need a hobby. I need [00:32:00] a hobby bad. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna start learning how to sew my tree skirt that I really wanna do.

And the final thing I'm looking at here is I'm seeing like for, again, for life to feel rich and full and meaningful for me, I need downtime. I need, oh, reading. So that's another thing I can really prioritize. I did do that a lot this weekend too, so I'm gonna prioritize reading. But the other thing was adventure.

And while I, again. I'm gonna choose to stay in my house and not abandon our responsibilities and move away or spend all of our money to travel. Yet, I think I need to talk to my husband about, Hey, w. How can we prioritize adventures around here as a family without even spending, like, without going a hotel room Even.

Like how can we go to adventures here as a family? And then also how could we do like little hotel rooms, like maybe Lava Hot Springs is a family, or St. George or Moab, or stay in a cabin in Park City that's like 35 minutes away. Like, can we do stuff [00:33:00] like that more? We can't prioritize big trips really, but can, um, as a family, but can we prioritize those things?

And then I think I'm also going to talk to Brad about how I think it would just help level my fear state to know that I can go on another trip for myself and how we can make that possible. Financially and time-wise as a family. 'cause Brad was the best while I was gone. There was no worries with him and him stepping up to the plate.

He was fantastic. And the kids did great too. So I, I could see my house in a burn down and everyone was fine without me. So how can we make this happen? Even if I do just go locally once a year and just have that time and space? Maybe it's not a week, maybe it's two days, three days, you know? So I'm gonna talk about that.

So as I do all that and I decide what's important now, I feel now more settled and grounded. I have [00:34:00] clarity. I still feel a little scared about some things. I still feel a little worn out. Of course I do, but I also have more perspective and clarity and I and I, as part of that, have choice now in my hands.

And I am choosing some hard choices, which include I'm choosing for life to not be easy. Because it's not for anybody. If my life doesn't feel easy and I have such a great life, then there is no life out there. That is easy, but I still can choose to change some things still about my life to not make it feel maybe easier, but at least more like I need it to be right now.

And then I still just come back to, girl, you're just worn out. You're just burnt out. Remember how every six months you wanna quit everything? That's true. But most of the time I just put my head down and I keep going instead [00:35:00] of like feeling it and experiencing it and thinking it through. And this time felt different.

This time felt like all the breaks were getting pressed, actually slammed. All the breaks were getting slammed, and I had no choice but to stop at all and pay attention. So that's what I've done. I've paid attention and that's where I'm at. And in sharing this very messy middle episode, this is speaking of messy middle.

This is a real messy middle one. Let me try to give you some pointers. I always end with, I hope this episode gave you the heck and kick in the pants you need to grow and share some progress pointers. So here's what I'm gonna do. When you feel like you're in a funk, give yourself space to feel and to heal and to be kind to yourself.

Let's start there. Second. Zoom out and get an objective. Look at your circumstances and how they are leading to these feelings. [00:36:00] Three, zoom in and more deeply. Process what you want and what you're afraid of. And four,

choose what's important now. Create some ways that you can use your agency to make choices about your life and what you can do next to make it more like you want it to be. So there you go. I'm gonna have to go through the audio and type that all up for you, but I appreciate you listening. I really don't know if I wanna air this, but I don't have any other time.

So as this is it, this is it. I hope my family don't listen to this one. But thank you for listening and I do hope it gives you the courage, um, and the know-how to go and do something with what you learned today.