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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is to ask for the gift of time.

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Speaker 1: If you have been feeling overwhelmed or burned out, a

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Speaker 1: little bit of time away from your responsibilities can feel

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Speaker 1: nothing short of miraculous. If you know that you won't

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Speaker 1: just take that time, then specifically requesting it as a

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Speaker 1: holiday present from your family can take away the guilt.

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Speaker 1: I recently took a short editing retreat to Cape May,

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Speaker 1: New Jersey, which is a little less than two hours

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Speaker 1: away from my house. The goal was to work through

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Speaker 1: the manuscript of Tranquility by Tuesday, my next book. It

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Speaker 1: was good to be productive and get that done, but

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Speaker 1: I also wanted to have the mental space to edit,

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Speaker 1: which meant getting away from the bedtime battles and morning

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Speaker 1: rush at my house. I worked twelve hours a day,

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Speaker 1: but those days still felt like a vacation. I returned

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Speaker 1: in a much healthier state of mind. Maybe you too

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Speaker 1: have been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately. Many of us

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Speaker 1: have spent a lot more time being on call for

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Speaker 1: our families. Over the last twenty months or so, as

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Speaker 1: work and school and such have happened from home. Work

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Speaker 1: for many people might be stressful right now with places

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Speaker 1: being understaffed and with supply chain disruptions. That said, there

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Speaker 1: is a process for asking for days off from work,

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Speaker 1: which you should definitely avail yourself of. Home is another

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Speaker 1: thing altogether. It is hard to get away from family responsibilities,

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Speaker 1: and even though we dearly love those around us, it's

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Speaker 1: nice not to be constantly needed, at least for a

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Speaker 1: little while. Getting away is hard, but probably not impossible

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Speaker 1: for many of us. I made arrangements and my husband

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Speaker 1: covered the non school hours so I could get away.

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Speaker 1: If you would like to do something similar, but you

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Speaker 1: don't have the excuse of needing to edit a book,

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Speaker 1: then why not ask for a few days away as

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Speaker 1: a holiday present. You probably don't really want another sweater

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Speaker 1: or scarf, and you would really like the time away.

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Speaker 1: The trip itself can be cheap. Stay in an offseason

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Speaker 1: hotel nearby or cheap airbnb, or even borrow a friend's

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Speaker 1: house while she's traveling. It's not so much the expense,

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Speaker 1: it's the logistics. You are asking for the support of

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Speaker 1: others in your life to take over your responsibilities. For

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Speaker 1: just a little while. For most people, this would be

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Speaker 1: your spouse or your partner that you are asking, though

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Speaker 1: there are two obvious caveats here. First, if you don't

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Speaker 1: have such a person, perhaps you can ask an extended

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Speaker 1: family member for the gift of space, or maybe you

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Speaker 1: want to take your spouse with you on your getaway.

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Speaker 1: If that is the case, you would have to ask

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Speaker 1: for space from grandparents or someone like that. But you

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Speaker 1: could even in theory swap with friends. Maybe not necessarily

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Speaker 1: for an overnight, though you could, but a full day

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Speaker 1: away somewhere could still be lovely. You'd have your friends

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Speaker 1: kids over for the day and then you do the

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Speaker 1: same for them as a coordinated gift exchange. Much better

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Speaker 1: than exchanging mugs. Right, So why not asked for the

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Speaker 1: gift of time off? And hey, if you are listening

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Speaker 1: to this and you are not in an overwhelmed stage

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Speaker 1: of life, consider giving the gift of time off to

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Speaker 1: someone in your life who does need it. While two

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Speaker 1: nights away might be perfect, they'd probably take a weekend

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Speaker 1: afternoon off too, and that might be more manageable. It

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Speaker 1: feels good to give a gift that is truly appreciated.

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Speaker 1: This is one that would be in the meantime. This

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

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Speaker 1: moves of our time. Hey everybody, I'd love to hear

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Speaker 1: 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 the number four,

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Speaker 1: then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me

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Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeartMedia dot com

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Speaker 1: that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.

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Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio. For

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Speaker 1: more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart

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Speaker 1: favorite shows.