Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to always have an athletic and a creative
Speaker 1: interest in your life.
Speaker 2: Doing so will.
Speaker 1: Give you more energy and make life feel more rich.
Speaker 1: So today's tip was inspired by a rule I have
Speaker 1: for my own five kids past mid elementary school or so.
Speaker 1: The children need to do something physical and something musical.
Speaker 1: You can do more, and they often do, but as
Speaker 1: they create their activity portfolio, they need to do some
Speaker 1: sport or physical activity at all times, and they need
Speaker 1: to play a musical instrument or sing in some sort
Speaker 1: of ensemble. I figure that this rule will help them
Speaker 1: be well rounded and build their skills and stay healthy.
Speaker 1: This rule also just helps me as a management matter.
Speaker 1: With five kids, that can be easy to lose sight
Speaker 1: of whether any individual child is appropriately active and social.
Speaker 1: But as long as every kid is doing something physical
Speaker 1: and something musical, then we should be good. Anyway, as
Speaker 1: I was describing this household rule to someone, I had
Speaker 1: an epiphany. This is a pretty good rule for adults too.
Speaker 1: We should all do something physical just for general health
Speaker 1: and energy reasons. I understand not everyone is into music.
Speaker 1: But if we broaden that part of the rule to
Speaker 1: doing something artistic or otherwise creative, that seems like a
Speaker 1: reasonable goal too. We can all look at our lives
Speaker 1: in the portfolio of our leisure hours to make sure
Speaker 1: we are doing something active and something creative. The active
Speaker 1: could be anything walking or running with a friend, swimming laps,
Speaker 1: taking an exercise class, lifting weights under the guidance of
Speaker 1: a trainer, playing on a softball team. The creative part
Speaker 1: might require a little more thought, as fewer adults build
Speaker 1: such things into their lives on a regular basis. But
Speaker 1: if you set this rule for yourself, it might nudge
Speaker 1: you to think through a creative hobby. You could journal,
Speaker 1: You could write stories, you could write poems. You could
Speaker 1: do needlework or woodworking. You could design a garden. You
Speaker 1: could paint or sketch. If you don't know how to
Speaker 1: do something creative but have always been interested, you are
Speaker 1: in luck, as there are hosts of YouTube video demonstrating
Speaker 1: every skill and technique you can think of, plus ones
Speaker 1: you probably haven't thought of. Either. You could find a
Speaker 1: local studio or school and start taking classes. If you
Speaker 1: used to play an instrument, you might be able to
Speaker 1: rent that instrument, just like kids in school bands do,
Speaker 1: and start playing it again. Electronic keyboards are reasonably affordable
Speaker 1: if you played the piano at one time but don't
Speaker 1: have room for a grand in your apartment. Most reasonably
Speaker 1: sized cities have community choruses, or if you attend a
Speaker 1: house of worship, you might look into the offerings there.
Speaker 1: In any case, setting the goal of something active and
Speaker 1: something creative will help you think about nurturing these parts
Speaker 1: of you. Adults tend to spend most of our time
Speaker 1: working or caring for family members, with some passive leisure
Speaker 1: like watching TV thrown into the mix. Setting a goal
Speaker 1: of doing something active and something creative encourages healthy choices
Speaker 1: we all need to move, and it will also make
Speaker 1: life more interesting. If a colleague asks on Monday morning
Speaker 1: what you did over the weekend, you might think that
Speaker 1: the answer is often nothing. But if you went on
Speaker 1: a group bike ride on Saturday morning and played in
Speaker 1: your string quartet on Sunday, well that is a different
Speaker 1: matter entirely. You just have a lot more to think
Speaker 1: about and talk about. If you have something active and
Speaker 1: something creative in your life at all times. I'd love
Speaker 1: to hear about it. You can tell me about it
Speaker 1: at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time.
Speaker 2: Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you. You can
Speaker 2: send me your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just
Speaker 2: connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before
Speaker 2: Breakfast Pod. That's b E the number four then breakfast pod.
Speaker 2: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 2: Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled
Speaker 2: out with all the letters. Thanks so much. Should I
Speaker 2: look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 2: production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
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Speaker 2: favorite shows.
Speaker 1: Hey, mhm.