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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 about how to stop thinking about work

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Speaker 1: when you're not at work. Long time listeners know that

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Speaker 1: I don't believe there should automatically be strict lines between

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Speaker 1: work and the rest of life. Lots of people work flexibly,

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Speaker 1: and lots of people enjoy the substance of their jobs.

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Speaker 1: They're happy to do work at nine p m. Sometimes

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Speaker 1: so they can visit a child's class at nine am.

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Speaker 1: They like to spend what could be leisure time brainstorming

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Speaker 1: ideas or reading about subjects related to work. Watching TV

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Speaker 1: isn't automatically a better way to relax than thinking about

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Speaker 1: your chosen calling. That said, there's a difference between chosen

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Speaker 1: happy work thoughts verse ruminating about work stressors, and if

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Speaker 1: worries about work are crowding out time for every thing else,

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Speaker 1: that's a problem. That was the case for a listener

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Speaker 1: who wrote that she listened to Before Breakfast every day

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Speaker 1: on the way into work. It generally helps start me

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Speaker 1: in a positive mindset, even though a lot of the

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Speaker 1: time I have to get creative about how to apply

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Speaker 1: the tips to my work, she noted, since as a

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Speaker 1: daycare worker, she spent her day wrangling two year olds

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Speaker 1: rather than processing emails. I love my job, she wrote.

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Speaker 1: I make a lot of memories, and that's how I

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Speaker 1: know it's a career where I'm spending my time wisely

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Speaker 1: helping grow little humans who make the world a better place. However,

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Speaker 1: caring for children is an emotionally laborious job. Our listener

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Speaker 1: didn't have kids of her own, so when I come home,

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Speaker 1: it's just me, she said. But I just cannot turn

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Speaker 1: work off my brain. I spend every night and every

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Speaker 1: weekend thinking about the kids, and not exactly productively. It's

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Speaker 1: not productive downtime and recharge time either. Even my dreams

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Speaker 1: are child care centered. So what I'm asking, she said,

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Speaker 1: is do you have any tips on how to actually

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Speaker 1: turn work off. She noted that I find myself even

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Speaker 1: struggling to read or write in my downtime. Writing is

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Speaker 1: my passion, but it's like I'm zapped of everything whenever

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Speaker 1: I'm home. I thought this was a great question, and

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Speaker 1: as a parent myself, I hope the parents in our

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Speaker 1: listeners daycare know how lucky they are to have a

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Speaker 1: caregiver who spends all her time thinking about the kids,

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Speaker 1: but she certainly deserved to be able to relax when

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Speaker 1: she was off the clock. I had a few suggestions

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Speaker 1: for me when I'm really ruminating about issues. I know

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Speaker 1: that any sort of exercise is helpful. Our listeners no

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Speaker 1: doubt exhausted when she gets home from work, but a

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Speaker 1: fifteen to twenty minute walk can help with calming down

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Speaker 1: and rejuvenation. If there's no good place to walk. There

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Speaker 1: are a ton of online exercise videos out there, yoga, aerobics,

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Speaker 1: strength work, many of which are cheap or free, so

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Speaker 1: that's an option for getting a little mental break too.

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Speaker 1: I love to read, and lately I've been borrowing e

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Speaker 1: books for free through Libby, a service that links your

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Speaker 1: local library card to your ebook catalog. There. When you're

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Speaker 1: mentally exhausted, you probably won't pick up ulysses or anything

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Speaker 1: that's difficult. So the key to reading for relaxation is

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Speaker 1: making sure it doesn't feel like more work. Choose something

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Speaker 1: like humor graphic novels, or easy fiction like romance novels.

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Speaker 1: It goes without saying that our listener probably wants to

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Speaker 1: stay away from books on child development, professional reading is awesome,

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Speaker 1: but not when you're trying to take your mind off work.

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Speaker 1: Another idea. When I get really into a project, I

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Speaker 1: tend to find that rejuvenating. So I asked our listener

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Speaker 1: if there were any crafty or artsy things she could

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Speaker 1: make space for in the evening. Needlework, scrap booking, art, music,

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Speaker 1: even building a ship in a bottle are always to

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Speaker 1: become absorbed in something that will fill your brain. The

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Speaker 1: key to getting started when you're exhausted is to challenge

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Speaker 1: yourself to just do twenty minutes or so, and then

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Speaker 1: you can vege out in front of the TV all

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Speaker 1: night if you want. Usually, by twenty minutes in, you

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Speaker 1: be so absorbed in your project that you'll forget what

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Speaker 1: you were going to watch. Hobbies can then be a

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Speaker 1: great link to online communities devoted to these spheres. Our

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Speaker 1: listener mentioned living in a rural area, which somewhat limited

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Speaker 1: evening social opportunities, but that's why phones were invented. A

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Speaker 1: few fifteen minute phone calls each week to friends and

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Speaker 1: family who live elsewhere can definitely focus the brain on

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Speaker 1: other things. Finally, I know meditation can be a bit

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Speaker 1: of a cliche, but a lot of people swear by

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Speaker 1: it because it works for them. If you feel stuck

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Speaker 1: ruminating about work, it might be worth trying a guided

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Speaker 1: meditation app just to see if it helps listeners. I'm

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Speaker 1: sure you have ideas too, So how do you keep

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Speaker 1: from thinking about work when you're not at work? What

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Speaker 1: advice would you give our listener? You can email us

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Speaker 1: at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeart media dot com. In

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Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's

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Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. M Hey, everybody,

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Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod.

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Speaker 1: That's b E the number four, then Breakfast p o D.

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Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: podcast at I heeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,

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Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is

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Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from

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Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.