Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to Work in Progress. Happy holidays, friends,
Speaker 1: It's the most wonderful time of the year, as they say,
Speaker 1: and we are feeling so grateful for all of you,
Speaker 1: for our listeners, for our community, for all these whip
Speaker 1: smart humans who care and show up for each other.
Speaker 1: Really the global community of folks who are here with
Speaker 1: me and with our whole team at Work in Progress.
Speaker 1: We just were impressed by you. We cherish you, and
Speaker 1: thanks for being here to say thank you and maybe
Speaker 1: close out the year or kick off the new year. However,
Speaker 1: we want to look at it together. We thought it
Speaker 1: might be nice to dive into some of your wonderful
Speaker 1: questions and then close out twenty twenty four together. So
Speaker 1: let's dig in. Our first question is from Grace. Hello, Hi,
Speaker 1: I hope you're having a great day. She asked, what
Speaker 1: has brought you the most joy this year? I think
Speaker 1: this year for so many people has been filled with
Speaker 1: ups and downs, right, And I know because I look
Speaker 1: at the inbox and I see the things you all
Speaker 1: are thinking about, contemplating, excited about, scared by. I know
Speaker 1: there's a lot of trepidation about what's to come in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five. So what I want to say is
Speaker 1: I get it. I feel you. It's scary to think
Speaker 1: that our democracy might change, that our rights might change.
Speaker 1: But here's what I'm going to promise you. What I'm
Speaker 1: going to share is that win or lose, I love
Speaker 1: fighting for democracy. I loved every single second on the
Speaker 1: campaign trail, being out across the country, meeting with so
Speaker 1: many of you, knocking on doors, organizing around what it
Speaker 1: means to build a country that gets closer and closer
Speaker 1: to achieving the promise of its ideals. Campaigning and volunteering is,
Speaker 1: without a doubt, a highlight of my life, and it was,
Speaker 1: without a doubt a highlight of this entire year for me.
Speaker 1: And I also really loved the merch clearly, So there
Speaker 1: you go. On the lighthearted side of it. I am
Speaker 1: still rocking my custom embroidered camo, and I am still
Speaker 1: Coach's biggest fan. Truly, being reminded that so many of
Speaker 1: us care about each other and are willing to show
Speaker 1: up for each other and yes, we'll vote for each
Speaker 1: other really brings me a lot of joy. And even
Speaker 1: if we might you know, disagree or want a debate
Speaker 1: policy or how best to solve a problem. One of
Speaker 1: the things I cherish about this country is that we
Speaker 1: are able to do so. We can debate, we can share,
Speaker 1: we can talk, we can argue, and we're lucky enough
Speaker 1: to live in a place where it's possible to do that.
Speaker 1: So no matter how you're feeling about it, just know
Speaker 1: that we're in this together and community is key. Here
Speaker 1: we go twenty twenty five, Hayley asks what advice do
Speaker 1: you have for Oh, this is related to the last question, certainly,
Speaker 1: what advice do you have for dealing with anxiety about
Speaker 1: what the new year holds, especially with the new administration.
Speaker 1: I've been talking a lot about this with my friends
Speaker 1: and my colleagues and fellow advocates, volunteers, friends, even my therapist.
Speaker 1: And my therapist told me something that can be hard
Speaker 1: to stick to, but I really do believe makes all
Speaker 1: the difference, and it certainly has been for me. He said,
Speaker 1: start keeping track of when it goes right. We do
Speaker 1: so much worrying about what could go wrong, and we
Speaker 1: are more connected than ever, which means we also see
Speaker 1: what is going wrong in ways that a generation ago
Speaker 1: we didn't. But if we can start keeping a list,
Speaker 1: keeping track of what goes right, you know, with everything, life, love, politics,
Speaker 1: local things happening in your community, good news that you read.
Speaker 1: There are actual accounts on Instagram that only post good news.
Speaker 1: I suggest following them. They are important for my mental health,
Speaker 1: all of it. It feels really important to not just
Speaker 1: keep that worry list that we all can't help but keep,
Speaker 1: and whether it's in our brains or on payp but
Speaker 1: to actually keep a list of when things go well,
Speaker 1: when there are winds big and small. Some people call
Speaker 1: it a gratitude practice. I actually started a new little
Speaker 1: tradition this year that I'll tell you about in a
Speaker 1: minute to work on this. But I'm telling you it
Speaker 1: does shift something inside of you. It changes how you
Speaker 1: how you feel when you wake up in the morning,
Speaker 1: how you move throughout your day, how you show up
Speaker 1: for your people. I think it really is a way
Speaker 1: to practice hope and to be reminded of joy. So
Speaker 1: I would recommend that Hayley Sophie asks, what are your
Speaker 1: Christmas traditions? I mean, first and foremost, how many years
Speaker 1: in a row do you think is too many years
Speaker 1: in a row to watch the holiday? Answer? For me, never,
Speaker 1: It is one of my favorite things to do the
Speaker 1: minute we get past Thanksgiving here in the US. And
Speaker 1: then a tradition that I read about that I actually
Speaker 1: have now altered a bit for myself is to start
Speaker 1: I don't know what you want to call it, actually,
Speaker 1: I can't remember what the video said. For me, it's
Speaker 1: a good things jar kind of relates to Hayley's last question.
Speaker 1: And the idea is that once a week, you minimum
Speaker 1: once a week, by the way, you write on a
Speaker 1: little piece of paper something great that happened, and you
Speaker 1: put in a jar. And when I read about this,
Speaker 1: the person who suggested it said, you know, and then
Speaker 1: we open them up on New Year's and that's how
Speaker 1: we mark the new year. And I thought, well, I
Speaker 1: think I want to open them up like a week
Speaker 1: before New Year's. I want to open my jar at
Speaker 1: the start of the last week of the year, in
Speaker 1: the midst of the holidays, and really reflect on everything
Speaker 1: that went right in the last year and everything that
Speaker 1: brought me enough joy that I stopped I was doing
Speaker 1: and wrote it down. And then I can spend that
Speaker 1: last week of the year saying thank you, feeling grateful,
Speaker 1: relishing in every positive thing, and then that can be
Speaker 1: the energy that I take into New Year City of
Speaker 1: in New Year's Day. So the holiday is one of
Speaker 1: my oldest traditions and the jar is my newest. Jessica,
Speaker 1: why didn't you post your Spotify wrapped? I mean, no
Speaker 1: one is surprised. Tovlo is my top artist. I think
Speaker 1: she might be forever. I love her both as a person,
Speaker 1: which is really wild. You know, it's wild when you're
Speaker 1: a fan of someone and then you get to become
Speaker 1: their friend. I love her as a person, I love
Speaker 1: her as an artist. I love her as a creative.
Speaker 1: I just think she is like a one Sinner generation talent.
Speaker 1: So yeah, she's She's my top. We'll be back in
Speaker 1: just a minute. But here's a word from our sponsors.
Speaker 1: Claire asks, ooh, oh goodness. I like that you said
Speaker 1: she gave me options. She said, what are your goals
Speaker 1: or resolutions for next year? I love that. I think
Speaker 1: resolutions kind of set us up to fail, but I
Speaker 1: do believe that thinking about goals is great. So since
Speaker 1: I think it's the season to start getting realistic, Like
Speaker 1: I've learned the hard way that saying oh this is
Speaker 1: going to be my new practice, and I'm going to
Speaker 1: do this workout five days a week, and I'm going
Speaker 1: to start meditating, and I'm going to take these forty
Speaker 1: vitamins and I'm going to sleep eight hours. Like, come on,
Speaker 1: I'm not a robot. And I'm also old habits die
Speaker 1: hard kids, So let's get realistic. What I do want
Speaker 1: to do is try to commit not to you know,
Speaker 1: some crazy schedule or whatever, but I would like to
Speaker 1: commit to moving my body just for twenty minutes a day.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm kind of an all or nothing person. I
Speaker 1: hear that that's very common for folks with ADHD. You're
Speaker 1: very black or white. You're all in or you're all out.
Speaker 1: And it's really hard to be that, especially when health
Speaker 1: comes into play, because I will always put my health
Speaker 1: on the back burner because I'll say, well, there's all
Speaker 1: these important things happening in the world, and that class
Speaker 1: or that hike that's just for me, and I don't
Speaker 1: really have time. I don't have time to drive an
Speaker 1: hour across town and then do this thing for an
Speaker 1: hour and then you know, shower there and then drive
Speaker 1: home or race home and try to shower while I'm
Speaker 1: you know, on a you know, muted on a conference call.
Speaker 1: Pretending the showers not running like it's it's crazy. Nobody
Speaker 1: has enough time. So one of the things I really
Speaker 1: want to try to do this year, instead of making
Speaker 1: the goals too rigid and specific, is just to say,
Speaker 1: for twenty minutes a day could be a walk around
Speaker 1: the neighborhood. I could do a call on a walk.
Speaker 1: It could be you know, meeting a friend for something.
Speaker 1: It could be whatever. You know. If I'm traveling, like
Speaker 1: get on the treadmill at the hotel, just for twenty minutes,
Speaker 1: just to move, because it can get really easy for
Speaker 1: me to realize I've been hunched in front of a computer,
Speaker 1: you know, working and zooming and recording and plotting and
Speaker 1: meeting and all the things for five days. I'll realize
Speaker 1: I haven't even gone outside. You know. That's not great.
Speaker 1: So I like the idea of a more gentle commitment
Speaker 1: that will be good for my physical and mental health.
Speaker 1: So that's definitely one I guess in general, less of
Speaker 1: the black and white all in all out, let's aim
Speaker 1: for a gray, and I mean that in a happy way.
Speaker 1: A gray twenty twenty five. My next one, oh my goodness,
Speaker 1: is to really embody melt Robbins I love and her
Speaker 1: let them philosophy, And basically what Mel says is, look,
Speaker 1: if you've got people in your life that insist on
Speaker 1: acting a certain way, insist you act in a certain way,
Speaker 1: you know, demand that you be something that makes you miserable,
Speaker 1: act like they're owed every detail of your life, who
Speaker 1: show you who they are, and frankly, it's just not
Speaker 1: in line with where you want to be, who you
Speaker 1: want to be. Okay, let them who cares? I think
Speaker 1: we have to stop letting other people's opinions consume us.
Speaker 1: I think we have to stop doing the thing where
Speaker 1: we we let other people make us feel smaller. So
Speaker 1: next year, I really want to embrace the let them theory.
Speaker 1: I want to let go of expectations that I had
Speaker 1: or that i've I might even still have for people.
Speaker 1: And I just know that not everyone's for me, And
Speaker 1: by the way, I'm not for everyone. I don't need
Speaker 1: to worry so much if not everybody likes me. I
Speaker 1: like me and the rest of the noise out there,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm really going to try not to let consume me.
Speaker 1: I know it's human for us to be affected. How
Speaker 1: could we not, but at least for me. Like, let's say,
Speaker 1: if I go on Instagram, there's one of me and
Speaker 1: there's you know, that number of people following is four
Speaker 1: point six million people. That's not an equation I'm ever
Speaker 1: going to win. You know, there's only one of me,
Speaker 1: there's millions and millions of folks out there looking this way.
Speaker 1: I don't know how some of my you know, favorite
Speaker 1: superstars who are in the like hundreds of millions of
Speaker 1: people look in their way do it. Truly, I think
Speaker 1: I would have a nervous breakdown. But I'm just going
Speaker 1: to remind myself that who cares let them. If it's kind, wonderful,
Speaker 1: thank you. I can't let that boost me too much.
Speaker 1: And if it's cruel, you don't know me, have a
Speaker 1: nice life, don't let it affect me. So that's that's
Speaker 1: certainly something that I want to work on, which probably
Speaker 1: brings me to my next goal resolution thing. I sort
Speaker 1: of hate to say it, but I do think that
Speaker 1: a little less time on social media feels important. I
Speaker 1: think for me as an individual. I think for me
Speaker 1: as a person who was also so active politically this year,
Speaker 1: I think a lot of us are still kind of
Speaker 1: coming down from the election and really feeling the effects
Speaker 1: of the algorithm. You know, the algorithm really did its thing.
Speaker 1: You know it did when you see a seven hundred
Speaker 1: percent increase in people saying what is a tariff? And
Speaker 1: can I change my vote? The Internet, we spend so
Speaker 1: much time on, is hiding information from us based on
Speaker 1: what information we look at, and I don't think that
Speaker 1: that's healthy. I have to remind myself a lot that
Speaker 1: I get shown things strategically, and sometimes that's good, but
Speaker 1: sometimes it's bad. And so for me, I just think
Speaker 1: it feels like time for a little less not like
Speaker 1: a total break. I'm not leaving, but I think I
Speaker 1: want to spend a little more time in the paper
Speaker 1: pages of things and a little less time on the
Speaker 1: digital scroll, you know. And then my biggest resolution probably
Speaker 1: is to write more in every single form. I find
Speaker 1: it so healing. I find that when I write, I'm
Speaker 1: really able to process feelings in ways that I can't
Speaker 1: verbally as well, you know, when I'm talking through things
Speaker 1: in real time. Sure that can be great, you know,
Speaker 1: with your friends, but I've I've definitely also experienced over
Speaker 1: the last couple of years with these podcasts, which I love,
Speaker 1: but I catch myself having these aha moments, going, oh
Speaker 1: my god, I've just realized in this in this moment,
Speaker 1: this thing or this idea or that memory, and that's okay.
Speaker 1: But I don't know as a as a person who's
Speaker 1: also been in the public eye for two decades, sometimes
Speaker 1: I think it's nice to keep some things for me
Speaker 1: and then maybe speak on them when I've processed them
Speaker 1: a little bit more or a little bit better. And
Speaker 1: I process my best in writing, So that's definitely going
Speaker 1: to be a big part of my practice for the
Speaker 1: next year. Joyce says, what are you looking forward to
Speaker 1: the most in twenty twenty five? Oh, my goodness, other
Speaker 1: than just enjoying this life that I finally really love.
Speaker 1: Oh my brain just sort of dropped an image for me.
Speaker 1: I don't think we've really ever talked about this. My
Speaker 1: friends know this, but I don't think it's come up
Speaker 1: on the podcast. I have had a lifelong dream. Since
Speaker 1: I was a kid and I would road trip with
Speaker 1: my parents. I have always dreamt of having like one
Speaker 1: of those beautiful old airstreams. I think they're the coolest.
Speaker 1: I just they're so nostalgic for me. They're like romantic
Speaker 1: for me. The classic car lover in me is obsessed
Speaker 1: with them. And yeah, my dream is to finally acquire
Speaker 1: and restore an old airstream, Like in my brain, I'm
Speaker 1: going to do a full top to bottom rehno, and
Speaker 1: do like the kitchen and the bathroom and the whole thing.
Speaker 1: Will see how it goes. I'm not bad with a
Speaker 1: circular sauce, so honestly, I might crush it. First. I
Speaker 1: have to find the airstream, clearly, But if I actually
Speaker 1: get to start that project in twenty twenty five, I'm
Speaker 1: really get a feel like I'm winning. We'll be back
Speaker 1: in just a minute, but here's a word from our sponsors.
Speaker 1: Cleo asks, what are your top three Christmas movies? Well,
Speaker 1: obviously The Holiday I'm a huge love actually fan. I
Speaker 1: know that there are things about that movie that feel,
Speaker 1: you know, problematic, now I just still love it. It's
Speaker 1: very nostalgic to me, and yeah, it's one of those
Speaker 1: that I always want to watch. I'm such a fan
Speaker 1: of Bill Nye. I think Emma Thompson is so brilliant.
Speaker 1: I just really enjoy it and it always makes me
Speaker 1: feel like it's the Christmas season. And then I feel
Speaker 1: like there should be a no brainer for me because
Speaker 1: John McLean was the reason I like wanted to play
Speaker 1: a cop in Anything but die Hard. Bruce Willis is
Speaker 1: a hero from Robin. When you were filming Onetreal, did
Speaker 1: the cast have any holiday traditions? Oh, this is a
Speaker 1: good one. You know. It's funny because when you're filming,
Speaker 1: it's usually a few days that you get off for
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving and then you're off normally for two weeks from
Speaker 1: right before Christmas kind of depends on more Hankah falls
Speaker 1: obviously every year, and then to right after New Year's
Speaker 1: So we didn't have holiday traditions in terms of this
Speaker 1: time of year. Our big holiday traditions were our Halloween parties.
Speaker 1: Hillary was the master party planner, like extraordinariy. She's sort
Speaker 1: of like the spooky Martha Stewart of our friend group,
Speaker 1: and so Halloween was our big holiday because we were
Speaker 1: always in town for that. Alexa asks, how have you
Speaker 1: changed and grown as a person in twenty twenty four?
Speaker 1: Ooh wow, I mean one whole year of being fully
Speaker 1: in my body, feeling fully in my body, feeling like
Speaker 1: myself the first time since I don't know, I was
Speaker 1: maybe like eight years old was pretty wild, pretty special.
Speaker 1: Everything has grown and everything has changed, and still I
Speaker 1: in some way feel more myself. I feel more at
Speaker 1: ease with everything. That feels pretty special. I mean, obviously
Speaker 1: more at ease with everything this year, aside from November fifth.
Speaker 1: That day sucked, but I feel like I addressed that earlier.
Speaker 1: Maddie asks, where do you think Brook and Peyton would
Speaker 1: be in twenty twenty five? Oh my god, I think
Speaker 1: about this all the time. You know how Joey and
Speaker 1: Chandler lived right across the hall from Monica and Rachel
Speaker 1: like that, if we were in New York, we would
Speaker 1: live across the hall from each other. And if we're
Speaker 1: in Wilmington, our you know fictional tree hill. I feel like,
Speaker 1: are we neighbors? Like do we live literally next door
Speaker 1: to each other? Do we live right across the street
Speaker 1: from each other? I don't know, but close walking distance,
Speaker 1: quick knock on the door. Absolutely. Jenny asks what is
Speaker 1: a health habit you want to add your routine in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five? Oh? Well, I talked about wanting to move,
Speaker 1: just like, get up, go for a walk, shake it
Speaker 1: out twenty minutes a day. That's a big one, and
Speaker 1: I guess if I was going to add anything else
Speaker 1: to it. I want to spend a little more time
Speaker 1: on mind fullness, you know, really shutting off, focusing on
Speaker 1: breathing sleep. And it's not lost on me that I
Speaker 1: read sleep stories to kids on the call map Yannie
Speaker 1: mcdonnie is my girl. But I never give myself a
Speaker 1: sleep story or like, you know, a ten minute guided
Speaker 1: meditation or something. And I want to do that for me.
Speaker 1: I want to take care of myself the way I
Speaker 1: take care of other people. So, yeah, you just made
Speaker 1: me think about something else. Jenny, thank you. I like
Speaker 1: this question from Lucy. My friends and I have a
Speaker 1: New Year's Eve tradition of making vision boards. What's on
Speaker 1: your vision board for twenty twenty five? Oh, my goodness. Well, health, obviously, movement, clearly,
Speaker 1: some mindfulness. I know. I made a joke earlier about
Speaker 1: how every time I try to become a vitamin person,
Speaker 1: I try to take you know, forty supplements. I think,
Speaker 1: maybe just like three three things that are good for
Speaker 1: me a day. You know what do they say? Like
Speaker 1: zinc so you don't get sick. COQ ten is supposed
Speaker 1: to be really good for women. I don't know something else,
Speaker 1: you guys, tell me what you think is great. I
Speaker 1: just no more filling up my pantry with like bottles
Speaker 1: of supplements that never get used on the vision board
Speaker 1: for twenty twenty five. Okay, these are big goals. I
Speaker 1: want to work on a show that fills me with joy,
Speaker 1: that pushes me creatively, and where I am surrounded by
Speaker 1: amazing women that are in charge on set. I really
Speaker 1: want to travel. I mean, you, guys, I don't know.
Speaker 1: If you follow those belm on trains, it looks like
Speaker 1: like a Wes Anderson movie or something out of I
Speaker 1: don't know, like a vintage chic fever dream. They're like
Speaker 1: these these trains, I don't know. I want to take
Speaker 1: a train somewhere and feel like a fancy lady from
Speaker 1: the nineteen forties with like a little carrying case, you know,
Speaker 1: and go across a continent and see things I've never seen.
Speaker 1: So often when we travel, it's you know, jump on
Speaker 1: the plane and then go straight to the event, or
Speaker 1: go get off the plane and go give a speech
Speaker 1: and then go to this meeting and then get back
Speaker 1: on the plane so you can make it home for
Speaker 1: set the next day. And we don't even pay attention,
Speaker 1: and I really want to travel intentionally and actually put
Speaker 1: my eyeballs on more of the world and more of
Speaker 1: the countryside flying by a window, and then what else
Speaker 1: goes on my vision board? I Oh, so many people
Speaker 1: have actually asked me this since I dyed my hair red.
Speaker 1: Everyone's like, wait, we love this. Would you ever want
Speaker 1: to do a hair campaign? And like, yeah, I'm a
Speaker 1: child of the eighties who grew up in the cultural nineties,
Speaker 1: I would love that, Like, you know, the swishy, shiny
Speaker 1: hair moment. I just feel like that'd be so fun.
Speaker 1: It feels like a real career bucket list, or like
Speaker 1: a you're worth it, a little loreal moment, or maybe
Speaker 1: she's born with it. Maybe it's mabelne. I remember those
Speaker 1: jingles from commercials when I was a teenager and just
Speaker 1: being like WHOA. So I don't know. Maybe that stuff
Speaker 1: only exists on social media now, but it feels a
Speaker 1: little vintage and chic to me. Oh, this is a
Speaker 1: really good question from Sam. You have fifty dollars to
Speaker 1: spend in fifteen minutes to shop for a gift. Where
Speaker 1: are you going? Ooh, fifty dollars to spend fifteen minutes.
Speaker 1: I would probably want to go somewhere with a really
Speaker 1: wide variety of stuff like home goods, because then I
Speaker 1: could run up and down the aisles and see, like, Oh,
Speaker 1: is there a tray I want to give someone for
Speaker 1: holiday hosting? Is it this handle? Is it a pillow?
Speaker 1: Is it a throw blanket? Is it I don't know,
Speaker 1: whatever other amazing random thing I could find. Likewise, this
Speaker 1: is gonna sound crazy to you about Costco Major, because
Speaker 1: at Costco you can get everything from like tech to
Speaker 1: giant utility sized boxes of snacks to jewelry. So I
Speaker 1: actually feel like I could really win my version of
Speaker 1: like a gift giving supermarket sweep at Costco. I think
Speaker 1: I would crush. Oh and we have a Samantha, what
Speaker 1: is your favorite Christmas dessert? Oh? Boy, guys, I feel
Speaker 1: like I've talked about this just recently. Oh I did.
Speaker 1: I was talking to Rob and Joy about this on
Speaker 1: the other podcast. I'm not really a sweet person. I
Speaker 1: am a savory gal. I would rather have a bowl
Speaker 1: of French fries for dessert than a dessert for dessert.
Speaker 1: But if you have some sort of incredible savory baked
Speaker 1: good that you do for Christmas. Send the recipe to
Speaker 1: us here at Work in Progress, and maybe we'll talk
Speaker 1: about it in twenty twenty five. That's the holiday gift
Speaker 1: that I wish to get from you all, is your
Speaker 1: baked good recipes. You never know, I might become a
Speaker 1: baker next year, in addition to becoming a person who
Speaker 1: actually goes on a walk for twenty minutes a day.
Speaker 1: Whatever your traditions are, whatever your goals are. Also, if
Speaker 1: you feel comfortable, please send us those. We can keep
Speaker 1: them anonymous too. I hope you enjoy them. I hope
Speaker 1: you achieve them. I hope you have an amazing end
Speaker 1: to your year. Happy holidays everyone, For me and our
Speaker 1: whole team here at Work in Progress, we love and
Speaker 1: appreciate you, and we hope you ring in twenty twenty
Speaker 1: five feeling wonderful. Have a good one