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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 take a mental health morning. We

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Speaker 1: can all feel overwhelmed with our responsibilities from time to time,

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Speaker 1: and while taking a vacation is great, that can involve

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Speaker 1: a lot of time and effort and expense. Plus, if

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Speaker 1: you have small children, a vacation probably won't involve a

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Speaker 1: break from those responsibilities. It can be fun and lots

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Speaker 1: of other ways, but it won't exactly be a break.

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Speaker 1: So what can you do? I like this suggestion from

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Speaker 1: Before Breakfast listener Melinda, who wrote in about what's been

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Speaker 1: working for her. She calls her solution a mental health morning.

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Speaker 1: About once per month, I take two hours of paid

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Speaker 1: time off in the morning to go to the gym.

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Speaker 1: She says. After working out, I take a long shower

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Speaker 1: are I have a toddler in an infant so this

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Speaker 1: is especially luxurious, And then I go to my favorite

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Speaker 1: coffee shop and read for thirty minutes. Then I go

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Speaker 1: to work. She says that this two hours of playing

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Speaker 1: hookey from life works better for me than taking a

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Speaker 1: mental health day, because I find when I take the

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Speaker 1: whole day off, I fill it with cleaning or running errands,

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Speaker 1: or doing whatever I would have found other time to

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Speaker 1: do anyway, because it had to be done. The other perk,

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Speaker 1: she says, is that by only using two hours per month,

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Speaker 1: I only end up using three days of vacation per year,

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Speaker 1: and that leaves enough PTO to take real vacations too.

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Speaker 1: She says that I find my productivity and creativity always

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Speaker 1: shoot up on the week I do this. A big

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Speaker 1: bonus is no mom guilt because I'm using time I

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Speaker 1: would have been at work anyway. I think this idea

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Speaker 1: of a mental health morning is great for people with

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Speaker 1: full lives. Sometimes taking a small break can have a

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Speaker 1: big impact. And while people with flexible jobs might be

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Speaker 1: able to just start late some mornings without it being

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Speaker 1: an issue, or take a long lunch after a big

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Speaker 1: project without anyone actually noticing, plenty of people's jobs do

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Speaker 1: involve reporting to a specific place at a specific time.

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Speaker 1: If you're doing that kind of job, then officially designating

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Speaker 1: a break is PTO can make sure that you honor

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Speaker 1: that commitment to yourself. If you have some paid time

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Speaker 1: off banked up, but no longer vacations on the horizon.

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Speaker 1: This might be a good way to use some of

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Speaker 1: that time off that you're entitled to. I also like

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Speaker 1: that Melinda took her mental health breaks in the morning.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you could certainly take a mental health afternoon

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Speaker 1: and use PTO to leave early. But sometimes the day

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Speaker 1: will start to seem so busy that you feel you

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Speaker 1: just can't slip out, and then the time is gone.

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Speaker 1: If you can't control what time you leave work, maybe

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Speaker 1: you can control what time you show up. So that's

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Speaker 1: the argument for a mental health morning. And I'm not

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Speaker 1: surprised at all that Melinda finds herself more productive after

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Speaker 1: these breaks. No one's tank runs unempty. Taking time to

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Speaker 1: relax and to do something fun is how we can

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Speaker 1: all fill ourselves up. So today, consider if a small

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Speaker 1: break from normal life might make you feel recharged. And

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Speaker 1: if you've ever used a small amount of PTO to

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Speaker 1: take a break and do something fun, let me know.

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Speaker 1: As always, you can email me at Before Breakfast podcast

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Speaker 1: at I heart media dot com. 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: most 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 E the

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Speaker 1: number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also

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Speaker 1: shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i

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Speaker 1: heart media dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out

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Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward

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Speaker 1: to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of

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Speaker 1: I heart Radio. For more podcasts from i heart Radio,

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Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.