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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,

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Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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Speaker 1: tip is to think about how you might spend time

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Speaker 1: when you are too tired to read more. Mindless screen

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Speaker 1: time isn't the only option for filling low energy hours,

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Speaker 1: and a little preparation means you can spend those hours

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Speaker 1: in happier ways. We often start the day with good intentions.

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Speaker 1: Few of us would consciously declare that, given that I

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Speaker 1: only have a few hours of discretionary time each day,

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Speaker 1: I would like to spend the bulk of those hours

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Speaker 1: looking at sponsored posts on Instagram. But as the day

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Speaker 1: winds on, we run out of energy. Even if in

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Speaker 1: the abstract we would like to read in our spare time,

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Speaker 1: that can feel hard in the moment, amid exhaustion or

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Speaker 1: irritation and all those end of day emotions. Before you

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Speaker 1: spend that hour before bed scrolling through tweets, though, think

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Speaker 1: about some other options. For instance, you might lower the

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Speaker 1: difficulty level of what you are reading. I like using

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Speaker 1: the Libby app to check out digital copies of magazines.

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Speaker 1: I can look at a few from my library without

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Speaker 1: adding clutter or expense. To my life. Some folks tell

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Speaker 1: me that switching to audio books later in the day

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Speaker 1: has been a game changer. Often our eyes can feel

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Speaker 1: more tired than our ears, so you might be able

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Speaker 1: to listen to that book you've been reading, even if

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Speaker 1: you keep jumping away while trying to train your eyes

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Speaker 1: on the words. If you can listen to audio books,

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Speaker 1: you can listen to podcasts. Of course, try something funny

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Speaker 1: or soothing to help you wind down. I will even

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Speaker 1: put in a plug here for conscious TV watching. Just

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Speaker 1: turning on the TV to see what is there isn't

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Speaker 1: a great use of time. But if you have one

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Speaker 1: particularly relaxing or enjoyable show, and you know exactly how

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Speaker 1: long it will take and budget that time in before bed,

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Speaker 1: that can be better than the random surfing or scrolling

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Speaker 1: that gets people agitated or makes time feel wasted. I

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Speaker 1: like relaxing over a puzzle, but here's the thing, when

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Speaker 1: I am tired at night, it has to be the

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Speaker 1: right kind of puzzle. I recently decided not to finish

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Speaker 1: a puzzle version of Starry Night because Van Goh's masterpiece

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Speaker 1: has too much blue and yellow in the sky in

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Speaker 1: somewhat indistinguishable combinations I switched over to a much more

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Speaker 1: kitchy picture of a wintry ski village, where you know

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Speaker 1: immediately when you look at a piece where it goes. Likewise,

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Speaker 1: if you have a hobby, see if you can find

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Speaker 1: the most brainless version of it. Maybe you like art,

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Speaker 1: but later at night you go for coloring one of

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Speaker 1: those whimsical coloring books. You have a complicated cross stitch

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Speaker 1: pattern you work on when you have lots of energy,

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Speaker 1: but at night you knit a scarf that is all

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Speaker 1: one color. That sort of thing. In any case, one

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Speaker 1: reason we pull out our phones, apart from anything addicting

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Speaker 1: about them, it's just that they are always there and

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Speaker 1: always available. When we have no energy, we don't need

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Speaker 1: to go looking for something to do. Whatever low energy

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Speaker 1: activity of choice you would like to engage in. See

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Speaker 1: if you can make it just as easy. Keep your

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Speaker 1: coloring books and colored pencils somewhere you can see them.

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Speaker 1: Put that knitting project right by your bed or wherever

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Speaker 1: you relax at night. Don't worry about it being clutter.

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Speaker 1: Clutter is things you don't use. You really want to

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Speaker 1: use these things, So make it easy, and even if

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Speaker 1: you have very little energy, you will be more inclined

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Speaker 1: to make good things happen? What do you do when

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Speaker 1: you are too tired to read? You can let me

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Speaker 1: know at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. In the meantime,

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Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making

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Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to

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Speaker 1: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,

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Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook

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Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the

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Speaker 1: number four then breakfast pod. You can also shoot me

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Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast.

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Speaker 2: Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled

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Speaker 2: out with all the letters. Thanks so much. Should I

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Speaker 2: look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a

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Speaker 2: production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the

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Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your

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Speaker 2: favorite shows.

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Speaker 1: H