WEBVTT - On this day

0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:09.480
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.

0:00:10.640 --> 0:00:16.040
<v Speaker 1>This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

0:00:16.040 --> 0:00:19.080
<v Speaker 1>tip is to figure out what happened in your life

0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:24.599
<v Speaker 1>on this day in the past. Revisiting this specific past

0:00:25.400 --> 0:00:29.080
<v Speaker 1>is a great opportunity to recall memories and reflect on

0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:34.199
<v Speaker 1>your life. Longtime listeners know that I have been tracking

0:00:34.240 --> 0:00:37.440
<v Speaker 1>my time for a great many years. Now. I will

0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:43.360
<v Speaker 1>be celebrating nine years of continuous time tracking this April. Yes,

0:00:43.800 --> 0:00:46.080
<v Speaker 1>that means that if you want to know what I

0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:50.639
<v Speaker 1>was doing at ten thirty am on February sixteenth, twenty seventeen,

0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:55.280
<v Speaker 1>I could in fact tell you now. I don't normally

0:00:55.320 --> 0:00:59.320
<v Speaker 1>go hunting back for random memories from random times, but

0:00:59.400 --> 0:01:01.840
<v Speaker 1>for the past two years I have been doing something

0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:06.199
<v Speaker 1>else to reflect on specific days. I finish my weekly

0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:09.399
<v Speaker 1>time log on Monday mornings, and since I name my

0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:14.360
<v Speaker 1>logs after the Monday, like February five, February twelve, February nineteen,

0:01:14.560 --> 0:01:17.160
<v Speaker 1>this means that the time log from six years ago

0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:20.959
<v Speaker 1>has the same name. February fifth was a Monday in

0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:23.880
<v Speaker 1>twenty twenty four and twenty eighteen, though the leap year

0:01:24.120 --> 0:01:28.240
<v Speaker 1>will change that match anyway, On Mondays, I have been

0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:31.319
<v Speaker 1>opening the log with the same name from several years prior.

0:01:32.200 --> 0:01:34.160
<v Speaker 1>I look at exactly what I was doing on those

0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:38.959
<v Speaker 1>dates six years before. Usually, given all the detail I

0:01:39.040 --> 0:01:42.440
<v Speaker 1>see from tracking my time in half hour blocks, I

0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:45.960
<v Speaker 1>can remember that week. I reflect on what life was

0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:51.480
<v Speaker 1>like then, and these memories from daily existence. Oh, yes,

0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:54.200
<v Speaker 1>that was the week when the Eagles won the Super

0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:58.080
<v Speaker 1>Bowl and several of my kids got the stomach flu.

0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:03.800
<v Speaker 1>Life has both good and bad, often wrapped up in

0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:08.240
<v Speaker 1>the exact same block of time. Now. I know that

0:02:08.280 --> 0:02:12.280
<v Speaker 1>my time tracking obsession is perhaps rare, but lots of

0:02:12.360 --> 0:02:14.640
<v Speaker 1>us have some way of checking life in the past.

0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:19.440
<v Speaker 1>Think about what you could do regularly to remember what

0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:24.320
<v Speaker 1>life was like on this day in prior years. One

0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:28.480
<v Speaker 1>obvious way is to look at old photos. If most

0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:30.720
<v Speaker 1>of your photos are on your phone, and I am

0:02:30.760 --> 0:02:33.240
<v Speaker 1>guessing that is the case for many of us these days,

0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:37.799
<v Speaker 1>then they are probably tagged with the date. Likely your

0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:41.200
<v Speaker 1>phone offers you up and on this date option, sometimes

0:02:41.919 --> 0:02:45.359
<v Speaker 1>open it see what you were doing. If something was

0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:47.280
<v Speaker 1>worth taking a picture of in the past, it might

0:02:47.320 --> 0:02:50.600
<v Speaker 1>be interesting to see. And even if your phone isn't

0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:52.800
<v Speaker 1>creating such a slide show for you. You can do

0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:55.760
<v Speaker 1>this on your own. Just go back to months or

0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:58.640
<v Speaker 1>years and scroll back and choose this month from a

0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:02.600
<v Speaker 1>prior year in to see this time. What were you

0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:06.400
<v Speaker 1>doing two years ago this week? If nothing else, it

0:03:06.440 --> 0:03:08.720
<v Speaker 1>is fun to see pictures of kids when they were littler,

0:03:08.840 --> 0:03:12.440
<v Speaker 1>or you and your spouse when you were younger. You

0:03:12.520 --> 0:03:15.519
<v Speaker 1>might have other options. If you have kept any sort

0:03:15.520 --> 0:03:18.080
<v Speaker 1>of journal, you can go back and look around at

0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:21.280
<v Speaker 1>today's date. You might build this into some sort of

0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:24.919
<v Speaker 1>weekly ritual. What were you writing about three years ago

0:03:25.040 --> 0:03:28.399
<v Speaker 1>or five years ago? Maybe something that was a big

0:03:28.440 --> 0:03:33.400
<v Speaker 1>problem then isn't now. That's good to know and celebrate.

0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:38.280
<v Speaker 1>You can even look at old calendars. Go back through

0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:41.200
<v Speaker 1>your electronic calendar if you can, and see who you

0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:44.560
<v Speaker 1>were meeting with on various dates, or go through your

0:03:44.560 --> 0:03:48.200
<v Speaker 1>paper calendars and see what was scheduled. I have wound

0:03:48.280 --> 0:03:52.119
<v Speaker 1>up remembering events and conversations that I might have forgotten.

0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:57.360
<v Speaker 1>And if none of this is readily available, well commit

0:03:57.440 --> 0:04:01.840
<v Speaker 1>to leaving some breadcrumbs for future you to. Lots of

0:04:01.880 --> 0:04:04.440
<v Speaker 1>places sell five year journals that allow you to just

0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:07.280
<v Speaker 1>write a sentence or two about a date when that

0:04:07.400 --> 0:04:10.080
<v Speaker 1>date comes around again next year. If you are still

0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:12.920
<v Speaker 1>using the journal, you will see what you wrote about

0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:16.160
<v Speaker 1>the previous year, and when the date comes around again,

0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:19.000
<v Speaker 1>you will see what you are doing the previous two years.

0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:22.560
<v Speaker 1>Keeping this really doesn't need to take much time. I'm

0:04:22.560 --> 0:04:27.039
<v Speaker 1>sure it's less than sending that marginal extra email, but

0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:31.000
<v Speaker 1>it can be a big boost for your happiness. I

0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:34.400
<v Speaker 1>find that acknowledging the past and taking more active control

0:04:34.520 --> 0:04:38.480
<v Speaker 1>of our memories can be helpful in life. What I

0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:41.480
<v Speaker 1>like about my time log is that it shows everything

0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:45.400
<v Speaker 1>I might have remembered a week in February where multiple

0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:47.880
<v Speaker 1>kids had the stomach flu as being well. Not much fun,

0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:52.719
<v Speaker 1>and parts certainly weren't. But I also did cool stuff

0:04:52.760 --> 0:04:55.280
<v Speaker 1>like spend a few hours in the library working on

0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:58.720
<v Speaker 1>a book, and of course watching the Eagles win the

0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:02.719
<v Speaker 1>Super Bowl. I know my stories cannot be all good

0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:07.960
<v Speaker 1>or all bad, and that richness makes memory a lot

0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:14.400
<v Speaker 1>more rewarding. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening,

0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:25.279
<v Speaker 1>and here's to making the most of our time. Thanks

0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:29.440
<v Speaker 1>for listening to before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,

0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:32.960
<v Speaker 1>or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura

0:05:33.080 --> 0:05:42.360
<v Speaker 1>vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.

0:05:43.040 --> 0:05:47.000
<v Speaker 1>For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app,

0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:50.520
<v Speaker 1>Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:00.120
<v Speaker 1>M