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

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Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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Speaker 1: tip is to try a day without musts or shulds,

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Speaker 1: no obligations, no to do list, no scheduled commitments, especially

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Speaker 1: if a lot of your time is usually spoken for,

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Speaker 1: Trying this on occasion can provide a fabulous mental health

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Speaker 1: break that keeps you from getting burned out. On my

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Speaker 1: other podcast, Best of Both Worlds, we received a listener

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Speaker 1: question recently about whether there is ever a day when

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Speaker 1: we fantasize about not getting out of bed. Spending the

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Speaker 1: whole day in bed, even with a good book doesn't

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Speaker 1: sound all that appealing to me. I would get bored

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Speaker 1: and nancy pretty quickly. But what I do love occasionally

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Speaker 1: is to have a day with nobody around me that

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Speaker 1: I need to care for and no commitment scheduled for

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Speaker 1: a particular time. On a day like that, I can

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Speaker 1: take the day as it comes and do whatever I

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Speaker 1: am in the mood for, perhaps a trail run, a

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Speaker 1: trip to a garden, a spontaneous stop at a restaurant

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Speaker 1: for lunch, time, for a creative writing project, or just

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Speaker 1: looking through an art book while sitting on my porch.

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Speaker 1: Once in a while, I love the opportunity to do

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Speaker 1: anything I want at the pace that feels right in

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Speaker 1: the moment. Now, long time listeners know that I am

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Speaker 1: a major proponent of planning, so you may wonder how

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Speaker 1: this all fits together. For most big adventures, planning them

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Speaker 1: in is the way for them to happen. But there

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Speaker 1: can also be a sense of possibility in just doing

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Speaker 1: whatever you feel like in the moment, and if you

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Speaker 1: have a busy life, that openness needs to be very

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Speaker 1: carefully planned. Yep, we are planning either way, but that's fine.

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Speaker 1: If you want to try a day without musts or shuds,

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Speaker 1: block off a day on your calendar. Maybe that's easiest

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Speaker 1: for you on a weekend, or maybe it's easier during

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Speaker 1: the week if you take a day off work. Depending

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Speaker 1: on who has access to your calendar, you may want

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Speaker 1: to label the calendar event in a way that indicates

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Speaker 1: the time is spoken for, but maybe without revealing your

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Speaker 1: plan or rather your lack of plans. Once you've claimed

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Speaker 1: the day, think through any tasks that you would normally

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Speaker 1: need to do, and you might want to do those

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Speaker 1: ahead of time. You will also need to make arrangements

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Speaker 1: for any kid or pet care tasks that someone else

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Speaker 1: is going to need to cover. If you have a

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Speaker 1: busy household and do a lot of caregiving, the odds

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Speaker 1: are good that you will need to go away to

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Speaker 1: get rid of all obligations, So we are talking checking

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Speaker 1: into a hotel for two nights so you get a

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Speaker 1: full day off in the middle with no shoulds. The

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Speaker 1: other option is that everyone else will need to go away,

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Speaker 1: and that can be tricky, but maybe the stars will align.

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Speaker 1: If let's say one kid is at an all weekend

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Speaker 1: competition somewhere and your spouse takes another kid to visit relatives.

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Speaker 1: With some work and some planning, you can probably find

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Speaker 1: a time to make it happen in the next few months. Anyway,

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Speaker 1: you will also probably get invitations or task requests for

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Speaker 1: your day without musts or shoulds. If you possibly can,

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Speaker 1: you should turn them down. You have a commitment now.

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Speaker 1: Of course, if you get some really fabulous invitation that

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Speaker 1: you want to accept, you can reschedule your shouldless day.

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Speaker 1: Same for if there is an emergency. But for your

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Speaker 1: run of the mill invitations and requests, just say no

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Speaker 1: as you would if you had something specific scheduled leave

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Speaker 1: the time entirely free to enjoy the way you want

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Speaker 1: to when the day rolls around, and when the day comes,

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Speaker 1: enjoy the time and all it brings. You may have

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Speaker 1: fun relaxation adventures. In any case, time will definitely feel

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Speaker 1: a little different. By filling a day exactly as you

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Speaker 1: want to in the moment, you may also get insights

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Speaker 1: into the kinds of experiences you want to have more

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Speaker 1: of in your life. You can look forward to them

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Speaker 1: on your next day without musts or shoulds, and you

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Speaker 1: can also plan time for them in the meantime. If

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Speaker 1: you try a day without musts or shoulds, I'd love

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Speaker 1: to hear about it. You can reach me at Laura

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Speaker 1: at Laura vandercam dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of

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Speaker 1: our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've

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Speaker 1: got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at

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Speaker 1: Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a

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Speaker 1: production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit

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Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

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Speaker 1: your favorite shows,