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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 2: Today's tip is to clean for yourself.

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Speaker 1: Think of cleaning as an act of kindness to your

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Speaker 1: future self, because it makes your home a place where

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Speaker 1: you can lead the life that you want. Today's tip

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Speaker 1: comes from an episode of n PR's Life Kit featuring

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Speaker 1: a conversation between host Mariel Cigara and Casey Davis, a

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Speaker 1: therapist an author of How to Keep House While Drowning.

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Speaker 1: Casey Davis noted that what we want from a space

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Speaker 1: may vary from person to person, but cleaning tends to

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Speaker 1: let us use our space. It is hard to enjoy

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Speaker 1: great meals if you can't find a clean plate, it

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Speaker 1: is hard to relax and wind down for bed if

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Speaker 1: your bed is covered with dirty laundry, and it is

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Speaker 1: hard to stay on top of papers and tasks when

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Speaker 1: bills and mail could be anywhere. With that in mind,

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Speaker 1: cleaning isn't something required to impress an external audience, and

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Speaker 1: cleaning isn't a moral obligation. Having a messy house doesn't

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Speaker 1: make you a bad person any more than having a

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Speaker 1: clean house makes you a saint. I imagine there are

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Speaker 1: some mean people with spotless houses. Instead, having a clean

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Speaker 1: house simply lets you use your house. In other words,

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Speaker 1: you don't exist to serve your space. It exists to

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Speaker 1: serve you. What matters, according to Davis, is whether my

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Speaker 1: house is functioning and whether I'm able to live the

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Speaker 1: kind of life I want to inside of it. I

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Speaker 1: love that if you are able to find what you need,

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Speaker 1: gather with friends and family and the way you want

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Speaker 1: to relax, sleep well, get work done, and do whatever

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Speaker 1: else you ask of your home, then your home is

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Speaker 1: in good shape. Davis offers a helpful shift in language

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Speaker 1: that reinforces the reason for keeping house. Rather than cleaning

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Speaker 1: up after yourself, clean up for yourself. After all. You

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Speaker 1: will appreciate clean clothes that you can wear. You deserve

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Speaker 1: a kitchen with plenty of clean dishes and clear surfaces

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Speaker 1: that make it easy and pleasant to cook. You will

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Speaker 1: feel healthier in a home free from dust and animal

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Speaker 1: hair other allergens. You will be more productive in a

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Speaker 1: workspace where you can do your job. Cleaning sets the

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Speaker 1: scene for your future self well. When you think of

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Speaker 1: cleaning your home as something that makes your life better,

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Speaker 1: you can let go of any sense of guilt for

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Speaker 1: not doing it well enough, for any sense of obligation

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Speaker 1: to clean to standards that don't serve you. If you

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Speaker 1: tried thinking of cleaning up as something you do for

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Speaker 1: yourself instead of an obligation.

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Speaker 2: I'd love to hear how it goes. You can reach

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Speaker 2: me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. In the meantime,

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Speaker 2: this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making

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Speaker 2: the most of our times. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.

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Speaker 2: If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach

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Speaker 2: me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast

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Speaker 2: is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,

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Speaker 2: please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

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Speaker 2: listen to your favorite shows.