Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to do some mental time traveling. Picture
Speaker 1: yourself a year ago. It can be hard to see
Speaker 1: movement on many things day to day, but when you
Speaker 1: remember life a year ago, progress can become a parent
Speaker 1: and that makes life feel more full of possibility. This
Speaker 1: episode is first airing in late August. Many children go
Speaker 1: back to school around this time of year, and so
Speaker 1: the changing seasons and slanting light carry with them a
Speaker 1: sense of time passing. Children move up a grade and
Speaker 1: so you see progress in their lives as they learn
Speaker 1: new schedules or even go to new schools. Adult life
Speaker 1: features less obvious change, and in many ways that is good.
Speaker 1: It would be exhausting to change jobs or towns or
Speaker 1: worse relationships all the time, but day to day all
Speaker 1: this sameness can make us feel like we are just
Speaker 1: treading water. We wake up, get ready, get the kids
Speaker 1: out the door, dial into meetings, and try to empty
Speaker 1: our inboxes. Collect everyone. At the end of the day, eat,
Speaker 1: go through the homework and showers routine, and maybe scroll
Speaker 1: for a while before getting into bed. If that is
Speaker 1: the case, and it all seems the same. A little
Speaker 1: mental time travel might help zoom out on a larger
Speaker 1: time frame and see if you can't see some more motion.
Speaker 1: I like thinking back a year. For the most part,
Speaker 1: a year is within the realm of where we can
Speaker 1: have detailed memories, But eight thousand, seven sixty hours is
Speaker 1: a large enough chunk of time where lots can happen.
Speaker 1: Picture yourself at this time of year, a year ago,
Speaker 1: what were you doing, what was consuming your time? What
Speaker 1: were you hoping and planning for? In my case, on
Speaker 1: some days, I still feel like I am trying to
Speaker 1: get my family situated in our new house. We are
Speaker 1: still trying to get out of the boxes and do
Speaker 1: various renovation projects. But then I remember that a year
Speaker 1: ago we were living in our old house. We hadn't
Speaker 1: even listed it for sale yet, and big sections of
Speaker 1: this new house we're not even close to livable. From
Speaker 1: that perspective, I can see a lot more progress. Perhaps
Speaker 1: you can see progress too. Maybe you are at the
Speaker 1: same company, but you've whitched projects or teams to find
Speaker 1: something that is a better fit. You can think back
Speaker 1: about the stress that the old situation might have been
Speaker 1: causing and feel relief at a year's worth of distance.
Speaker 1: Or maybe you have made progress on a health matter.
Speaker 1: You have been making a conscious effort to get in
Speaker 1: bed on time, and as you consider the last year,
Speaker 1: you do indeed feel more rested. Or perhaps a year
Speaker 1: ago you weren't eating many vegetables and now you eat
Speaker 1: salads twice a week for lunch. Good for you now,
Speaker 1: To be sure, it is possible that things moved in
Speaker 1: the other direction as well. We can always backtrack on goals,
Speaker 1: but probably not all of them. No doubt, you have
Speaker 1: learned something or achieved something in the past year. So
Speaker 1: take a moment to picture yourself a year ago, and
Speaker 1: then think about the ways in which you are different,
Speaker 1: and about any problems that are no longer so vexing
Speaker 1: or stresses that have relented a bit. I am sure
Speaker 1: there is something thinking of this progress can make the
Speaker 1: next year feel hopeful too. In a year, you can
Speaker 1: be looking back thinking of how far you've come from now.
Speaker 1: If it's happened before, it can happen again. Mental time
Speaker 1: travel makes that clear. In the meantime, this is Laura,
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast pod that's b the number four than Breakfast
Speaker 1: p o D. You can also shoot me an email
Speaker 1: at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeartMedia dot com that Before
Speaker 1: Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is
Speaker 1: a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from
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