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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 go outside after dinner. Doing so

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Speaker 1: increases the chances of spending your evenings and meaningful ways

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Speaker 1: for my listeners. In the Northern Hemisphere, at least, summer

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Speaker 1: is starting. The days are longer, with light stretching well

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Speaker 1: into the evening. We'll make it to about nine p

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Speaker 1: m here in my part of Pennsylvania, but some places

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Speaker 1: will see light until ten pm or later around the solstice.

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Speaker 1: Coupled with nicer weather, this evening light presents an opportunity.

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Speaker 1: Evenings are tough to use well. We're tired after working

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Speaker 1: or caring for kids, or both, and so the tendency

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Speaker 1: is to fill this time with effortless activity, such as

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Speaker 1: surfing the web or watching TV. And there's nothing wrong

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Speaker 1: with these activities per se, but many people spend more

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Speaker 1: time on them than they would like. While reading a

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Speaker 1: thread of Twitter insults might reasonably occupy a dark, cold,

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Speaker 1: rainy evening, it seems a shame on a lovely summer night,

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Speaker 1: but committing to go outside after dinner changes things. It feels,

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Speaker 1: at least some of this time before bed with something

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Speaker 1: active or something social or something contemplative. While the web

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Speaker 1: surfing and TV watching will still be there as options,

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Speaker 1: this compresses them into slightly less time. I've been trying

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Speaker 1: to do this lately. Sometimes I'll take my five year

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Speaker 1: old out after dinner to run laps around the backyard.

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Speaker 1: He loves to chase me or have me chase him.

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Speaker 1: It's a reasonably good speed work out for me, and

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Speaker 1: this pushes back the time when I kind of give

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Speaker 1: up and let him start watching YouTube videos of other

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Speaker 1: people playing video games. Sometimes all my kids will come

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Speaker 1: sit with me on the back porch to chat. If

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Speaker 1: there are screens involved, it will be to do something

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Speaker 1: like play around of cahoots. If it's been a really

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Speaker 1: long day of childcare, I'll give the baby to my

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Speaker 1: husband and go sit outside alone. I stare at the

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Speaker 1: trees and the changing light. I come inside far more

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Speaker 1: ready to deal with bedtime battles. There's no need to

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Speaker 1: go outside for hours, but just by changing up the

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Speaker 1: evening a bit from the usual march of dinner and

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Speaker 1: then couch time, you can make life and summer feel

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Speaker 1: a little more special. So go for a walk, give

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Speaker 1: the kids sidewalk chalk to create art in the driveway.

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Speaker 1: Even if you're catching up on email, you can take

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Speaker 1: your laptop or phone outside and do it there. You'll

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Speaker 1: end the day on a positive note, aware of the

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Speaker 1: changing seasons and feeling more restored. 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: heeart 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 my Heart Radio,

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Speaker 1: visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

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Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows. We don't again