Your remembering self will thank you

Make memories by going a little outside your comfort zone

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is that your remembering self will thank you for
the good memories you create, Even if creating memories can

(00:24):
be a hassle. Once you are on the other side,
there is a good chance you will be glad that
you did. I am writing this episode about a week
after my family returned from an epic trip to Ecuador
and the Galapagos Islands. Making this trip had been on
my list of one hundred dreams, and I was excited

(00:47):
to see this amazing landscape and the animals that inspired
Charles Darwin and changed people's understanding of the natural world.
It was also not a low stress trip. Traveling with
seven people internationally is never easy, nor is getting to
remote islands in the Pacific, or living out of a

(01:10):
small suitcase for nine days, or even dealing with logistics
of needing to brush your teeth with bottled water and
the like. On the other hand, we saw some amazing wildlife.
I was able to be quite close to giant Galapagos tortoises.
I kayaked right over white tipped reef sharks. I saw Iguanas,

(01:31):
sea lions, blue footed boobies, amazingly colorful crabs, and of
course those finches with their famously changing beaks. Now that
I am home and on the other side and sleeping
in my own bed, I'm happy I did it. Even
if there was a fair amount of anxiety before and
during the trip, My remembering self is happy we did

(01:53):
the Galapagos adventure. Waking up at three am in Kito
to catch a flight back to Miami is just a
blip in the memory. And I love seeing my photos
of those tortoises. So it goes with many things. While
big chosen adventures are often challenging in the moment and
can inspire some anxiety beforehand, once you are on the

(02:17):
other side, you will probably be happy to have done them.
So as you are considering things that are slightly outside
your comfort zone, you might try thinking about your remembering self.
Picture yourself on the other side of this adventure. You
have given that speech to a giant audience. You have

(02:38):
done a live interview on national TV. You have taken
five children on an international trip. Picture yourself looking back
on the memories. You are looking through your photos. You
are telling people about the adventure. You are back in
your comfort zone now, having stepped outside it earlier, because

(02:59):
guess what what eventually you will be to that place.
Time keeps passing no matter what we do. I knew
during my Ecuador and Galopagos trip that in a certain
number of days I would most likely be back home.
I would be sleeping in my own bed and brushing
my teeth with tap water. It was just up to

(03:20):
me to make memories in the meantime that my future
self could look back on. So I did, and now
I can recount them in life. It is easier to
give a lot of consideration to our experiencing selves whatever
it is we are doing in the moment. A trip
like my Galapagos one is a lot more stressful for

(03:41):
an experiencing self than say, going to stay at a
hotel in Florida for a few days, and that trip
would be more stressful than staying at home and relaxing.
But while relaxing is nice, it doesn't tend to generate
as many memories. The days since I came home for
my trip have gone so much far faster than my
time on the trip. As I write this, I'm like, Wow,

(04:05):
it's already been a week. Making memories expands time and
doing things outside our comfort zones is one way to
create memories. So think about your remembering self, not just
your experiencing self. If your experiencing self can get your
head around doing cool things, your remembering self well. Thank

(04:28):
you looking back on the memories you created in the meantime.
This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
the most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.

(04:51):
If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach
me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast
is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,
please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

(05:12):
listen to your favorite shows.