One thing that had previously always gotten in the way of me making any real efforts to change was my real or perceived lack of time in my schedule to fit in all the things you're supposed to do in order to become a better human being. As a wife, a mom to two kids and a full-time employee, I felt pretty short on time. For many years, I was also a member of an improv group that got me out of the house a night or two per week. Taking additional time on top of that to work on myself more seemed, well, selfish. Somehow, wasting hours on Facebook every night while sitting next to my kids or husband on the couch didn't seem selfish to me, but I digress. For many years, I lived with the idea that unless I had alone time, I could not work on things that would improve my mood, morale, general well-being. Don't get me wrong - I did get alone time (and probably more than I even realized), but if I'm being honest, I squandered it.
One thing I did have going for me, though, was a 45-minute (give or take) each way commute to work. For years and years, I listened to the same radio station every morning on my way to work. By the fall of 2017, though, I had switched it up and was flipping between a handful of radio stations, talk radio, or listening to my Spotify playlists. When I first watched the Rachel Hollis video on Facebook, she mentioned that she did a weekly live stream that happened to take place during my commute. I thought, "What the hell - I liked this video, maybe I'll tune in," and I made a note to check it out. Turns out, she was funnier and less cheesy (maybe she's cheesy in the same way I'm cheesy) than a morning drive DJ. I started to tune in weekly or listen to older episodes I found on Facebook. Her show reminded me of the types of conversations I used to have with friends when we lived together in college - with a little bit of motivation mixed in. She would randomly burst out into song. She would talk about how she used to eat fast food every day and the steps she took to develop a healthy relationship with food and her body. She would talk about her pimple that was so big and pervasive that she named it Steve. She would mention her podcast and other podcasts she liked.
What are these "podcasts" you speak of? Obviously, I had heard of podcasts but had never tuned in or even explored how to do so. Wouldn't you know it - the iPhone has a whole app dedicated to them?! I found Rachel's podcast and others she recommended (How I Built This and School of Greatness come to mind) but I also just started poking around in there and finding all kinds of podcasts on productivity, leadership, happiness, organization, business and getting unstuck. I started listening to a bunch of them (for me podcasts are hit or miss - the most wonderful content can be ruined by bad delivery) and found several that I liked and would often listen to during my commute.
At that point, though, I was mostly just absorbing content. Even though I had the time to listen to the information during my commute, I continued to tell myself I didn't have the time to apply it. But I was starting to build up some good ideas.
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