Learnings from New Endeavours

Do you know that feeling? You are doing something new, getting into the groove, learning by doing. And then you can’t help but wonder, 

Why didn’t I do this sooner?

For me, that was the case with my podcast. 

When I started my business to empower working moms to live their best lives, I had “podcast” somewhere on my annual goal sheet. I thought having a blog and a big Instagram following would be the bigger topics for me, the higher priorities. 

Until I got that itch and just did it. One afternoon in May I just went for it. I started my own podcast. Watched a few tutorials, read a few articles. Listened to hundreds of stock music files and it all fell into place. 

The podcast helped me get to know myself better. I had to learn new things and deal with technical issues and figure those out, but more so I realised that I actually need to say things out loud to really compartmentalise and understand myself and my feelings or experiences. 

Writing alone doesn’t bring out the real insights, it’s saying it out loud – even alone in a room – that does it for me. 

As I’m closing season one of my podcast I want to share with you 5 key insights that I’ve learned from this new endeavour – and I know that many of you who want to start something new will resonate with those and benefit from hearing these.

Let’s start.

Good habits don’t just happen. 

They often need time to be planned and integrated into your life and learned until they become natural. This means that when you start something new, it might not feel “right” at first. It might feel unnatural. It might feel weird. Like speaking your thoughts out loud in my case, or letting work be work and going for that lunchtime walk. 

It might feel wrong. It might feel like it’s going to ruin your evening or make you work late. But if you stick with it you’ll see how much better you can focus thanks to that interruption of a walk. How much more refreshed you feel, how much less coffee you need. No matter how full your schedule.  Trust the process, try out the new and roll with it for a few weeks until you make a judgement.

Listen to your inner voice more. 

If something resonates with you, don’t just think, oh that sounds nice” but actually do it. Too often we don’t even notice how quickly we brush off a thought or ignore a feeling. It’s nearly automatic thanks to social media having trained us to like or scroll on within split seconds of seeing something. But when something really feels nice, or resonates repeatedly. Or, if something really feels off or upsets you repeatedly. 

Listen to that inner voice. Follow the positive impulses as thy can lead you to your passion and purpose in life. And decrease exposure to the negative, the things and people, the places and situations that don’t align with YOU. They will only drain you. That friendship that you just keep up because of the years you’ve known each other. That restaurant that your partner loves but makes your tummy curl up. Reduce that exposure. Like my naturopathist  said to me once; a loud no to others is a quiet yes to ourselves. Listening to your inner voice is self love. 

Look at things with perspective. 

When we are young we strive to have a formed opinion on things and people and situations. But the older we get and the more experience we gather, we really start seeing that there’s always another way to look at things. I can definitely feel a shift towards that in recent years, where I don’t focus on winning the argument anymore but rather on salvaging the relationship.

Researching topics for my blog and podcast has been a really great exposure to lots of opinions and views on topics that I live every day, like working mom, single parenting, connecting with children, burnout and more. When you feel like an expert on something or are in the thick of it, try to take a bird’s eye perspective and seek another angle. It’s not about adopting that other perspective but it’s about keeping an openness, even if you are an expert. 

Self-reflection requires output. 

Let me explain this one. When we read, think, receive, consume… we get input and we might have thoughts or opinions about what we consumed. We compartmentalise and digest the information. But that’s somewhat internal. Only when we use the information, when we not just recognise but create something with it, that’s when we really understand and put it into action. Recognising alone, learning or hearing or reading isn’t going to help you grow. 

Only when you put things out – in your own words – that’s when it becomes a part of you. That’s why journaling is such a great form of self reflection. By putting things out of your head onto paper we often get more and deeper insights. And that’s what podcasting did for me. All the research and all the learning was great, but making sense of it all in my own words and speaking them out loud really helped me to live and feel it. 

There is a different energy to it, moving from consumer to creator. Whether you create in your personal journal or you create for a wider audience, the output from what’s in your head is an amazing guidance and has taught me a lot. 

Self-love is key. 

I wished I had recognised this one sooner. Taking time for me, listening to my inner voice when I feel exhausted, exit toxic situations sooner, feel less guilt about me-time, setting boundaries… the list is long and we probably all have failed ourselves here and there. But we are all learning and we are all in this together. This is both my biggest insight and the biggest part on my mission to help working moms like myself to find happiness again. We need to love ourselves through the journey. It’s been a frequent topic on my podcast, blog and Instagram community and I am a learner, still, too. 

Putting ourselves first, learning to accept ourselves, recognising our limits, working with the energy we have that day, being gentle with ourselves. Forgiving ourselves. It takes daily practice and it’s a daily work against society’s standards and expectations. But it’s a battle worth fighting – because we owe it to ourselves and to our kids and the coming generations. 

We need to love ourselves – including our imperfections and bodies and moods – if we want  our children to love themselves, too. 

Self love is more important than meditation and affirmations and journaling if you want to find lasting happiness. And that’s what I’m here to explore with you, to empower you to and cheer you on for. Together we can get there, rise strong as the women who make it their quest to live happy and empowered lives, and who decide that burnout is not the road we want to go down. Active prevention, conscious and mindful living. 

So we can Feed, Slay and Love for years to come.