1 00:00:03,040 --> 00:00:09,400 Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning, 2 00:00:10,560 --> 00:00:15,880 Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's 3 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:20,439 Speaker 1: tip is that something might be more relaxing than nothing. 4 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:25,760 Speaker 1: When people are feeling tired and stressed, aiming to do 5 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:31,440 Speaker 1: something specific and enjoyable might improve matters more than lying 6 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:37,320 Speaker 1: on the couch. So we have all been there. You 7 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:40,760 Speaker 1: are exhausted after a long week, You get to the 8 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:46,000 Speaker 1: weekend and you want to do nothing. But what exactly 9 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:51,920 Speaker 1: does nothing mean. It is impossible to literally do nothing 10 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:54,920 Speaker 1: in the sense that you need to eat and sleep 11 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:58,240 Speaker 1: at least. So what people mean when they say they 12 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:01,200 Speaker 1: want to do nothing is that they don't have a 13 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:04,320 Speaker 1: lot of energy and they don't want to do things 14 00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:08,240 Speaker 1: that they don't want to do. They want to fill 15 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:13,760 Speaker 1: their hours with things they find relaxing and enjoyable, and 16 00:01:13,800 --> 00:01:17,800 Speaker 1: that is great. But if you ask people what they 17 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:22,680 Speaker 1: find relaxing and enjoyable, they rarely say trying to fast 18 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:27,000 Speaker 1: forward through a ton of political commercials or looking at 19 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:30,560 Speaker 1: pictures of influencers on Instagram who are dressing their children 20 00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:35,120 Speaker 1: and matching outfits. People mention curling up with a good 21 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:40,680 Speaker 1: book or baking or gardening or doing other hobbies like puzzles. 22 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:46,440 Speaker 1: Even screen desires tend to be intentional things like watching 23 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:51,160 Speaker 1: a movie, playing a particular video game with friends, watching 24 00:01:51,240 --> 00:01:56,279 Speaker 1: a favorite team play, or something like that. In other words, 25 00:01:56,320 --> 00:02:02,040 Speaker 1: what is relaxing and enjoyable is something specific rather than nothing, 26 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:06,080 Speaker 1: which is impossible in any case. So if you are 27 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:11,160 Speaker 1: feeling overwhelmed and tired, why not choose something specific that 28 00:02:11,240 --> 00:02:15,160 Speaker 1: you would like to do to recharge yourself. If you 29 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:18,840 Speaker 1: have been staring at spreadsheets all week, baking an apple 30 00:02:18,880 --> 00:02:22,040 Speaker 1: pie might get your mind off of it, or going 31 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:24,080 Speaker 1: for a long walk with your dog to see the 32 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:27,760 Speaker 1: fall leaves. Decide that you are going to make a 33 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:32,200 Speaker 1: Saturday night date with your favorite home renovation show and 34 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:37,720 Speaker 1: watch a medley of episodes rather than just seeing what 35 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:42,040 Speaker 1: is on. There are a few reasons to do this. 36 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:47,920 Speaker 1: First chosen fun is almost universally going to be more 37 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:50,680 Speaker 1: enjoyable than whatever just shows up in front of you. 38 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:56,040 Speaker 1: We all like some things better than others. Consciously filling 39 00:02:56,160 --> 00:03:00,760 Speaker 1: our downtime with things we actually like might seem like 40 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:04,639 Speaker 1: a no brainer, and yet when people get exhausted, they 41 00:03:04,639 --> 00:03:07,680 Speaker 1: don't do it. So it might be helpful to make 42 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:10,240 Speaker 1: a list of what you truly enjoy sometime when you've 43 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:13,320 Speaker 1: got a bit more energy. That way, you can pull 44 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:18,799 Speaker 1: from the list during low energy times. But more importantly, 45 00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:22,960 Speaker 1: when you do something specific, it stands out in the 46 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:27,000 Speaker 1: mind as you are doing it, and as you are 47 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:32,920 Speaker 1: looking back over your downtime, you remember what happened. You 48 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:37,120 Speaker 1: don't discount this time as smaller than it was or nonexistent. 49 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:40,839 Speaker 1: When we are busy and tired, we can sometimes tell 50 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:44,360 Speaker 1: ourselves a story that we just don't have any time. 51 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:49,720 Speaker 1: You can spend three hours lying on the couch and 52 00:03:49,880 --> 00:03:53,720 Speaker 1: still tell yourself that you didn't do anything since it 53 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:57,520 Speaker 1: was forgettable time. But if you buy fresh apples from 54 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:00,960 Speaker 1: a farmer's market and then go bake a pie, it 55 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:03,160 Speaker 1: is pretty hard to tell yourself the story that this 56 00:04:03,320 --> 00:04:07,760 Speaker 1: time didn't exist. I mean, the pie is sitting right 57 00:04:07,800 --> 00:04:12,440 Speaker 1: there at least until you eat it. Ultimately, having some 58 00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:17,480 Speaker 1: sense of autonomy is just a better story. I am busy, 59 00:04:18,200 --> 00:04:23,200 Speaker 1: but I do have some time for myself. That's a 60 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:26,880 Speaker 1: more useful story than no time, because if you can 61 00:04:26,920 --> 00:04:33,280 Speaker 1: find sometime, maybe you can find a little bit more. So, 62 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:37,440 Speaker 1: rather than thinking you will do nothing, think about what 63 00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:43,000 Speaker 1: something would be relaxing and enjoyable and figure out how 64 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:46,440 Speaker 1: you might do that. You will feel a lot more 65 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:53,000 Speaker 1: charged than if you just let your downtime happen. In 66 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:58,560 Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's 67 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:08,480 Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Thanks for listening 68 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:12,880 Speaker 1: to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, 69 00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:22,520 Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. 70 00:05:22,680 --> 00:05:26,720 Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts 71 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:31,359 Speaker 1: from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 72 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:33,240 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.