December 19, 2025 • 8 mins
Taking some time to relax and reflect before the new year this weekend, and sharing a helpful exercise I do twice a year. Plus: Answering a listener question on how to maintain routines during a hectic holiday season.
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@emilyabbate
@hurdlepodcast
@iheartwomenssports
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
What's up?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
What's happening? Emily Abadi? Here you are listening to five
minute Friday on Hurdle. I am so excited because if
you're listening to this in real time, I am very
likely either on the beach near a beach. I'm off
to Miami this weekend and oh my gosh, I just
(00:39):
want to be warm.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
The cold is kicking in.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I've run outside three days this week and I am frigid.
I decided to book this trip to take some time
for myself at the end of a long year, and
I try to set a side time twice a year
to do what I call up personal inventory summit. And
(01:02):
I'm going to tell you what that is. So I
typically do one in June around my birthday, and then
one at the end of the year. And although I
journal every day, and I've been journaling with many of
you as a part of this month long challenge in
the Daily Hurdle channel over on Instagram, so come join us,
but I digress. I journal daily, but this specific exercise
(01:24):
that I do is much more of a holistic audit
of what's going on in my life. I take stock
of myself, my strengths, my shortcomings, my goals and my
values and candidly my failures too. And so for this audit,
I've mapped it out into three distinct focus areas. I
(01:46):
look at relationships, health, and work. Again, I look at relationships, health,
and work. And so when I'm writing on each of
these areas, I ask myself the following four questions.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Firstly, what's going well? What's not going well?
Speaker 2 (02:02):
What am I most proud of myself for accomplishing in
this area? How much time am I dedicating to this
area of my life every week? And on a scale
of one to ten, how satisfied am I in this
part of my life? The fact is, and the reason
that I do this is because we only get one home,
this body. What I'm dealing with in my head like,
(02:26):
this is my home, and so I know that how
you feel about yourself when you're by yourself is everything.
And it's not always easy to confront the stuff that's
pretty and raw. But the older that I get, the
more I realize that self awareness is truly my greatest tool.
So this little audit helps me dive head first into
(02:47):
what's really going on. I am ready to dive headfirst
into what's really going on. And I find that by
setting aside this specific time to get really honest with myself,
I'm more open to getting really honest with myself. I've
said this before and I'll say it again. You don't
get to get things unless you're willing to put them
(03:08):
out into the universe. And so in order for me
to get some of the things that I am after
in twenty twenty six and beyond, I need to confront
what already is and then step forward and into my
purpose on what it is that I'm excited about.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
And so that's the stick with the self audit. I'm
going to be doing mind this weekend.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
If it sounds like something that you are interested in,
I would love to hear about your process. If you
feel like this exercise is helpful, feel free to tag
me over on social It's over at Hurdle Podcast and
I'm over at Emily a Body. My thought prompt for
you this week is what's going well and what's not
(03:49):
going well? And again I am identifying these in three areas, relationships, health,
and work. Maybe to start you begin by just picking one.
So again, what's going well and what's not going well?
And now a listener question, Hey, Emily, my name is Tara.
With the holidays and a busy work season approaching, I
(04:11):
feel like my self care is the first thing to
go out the window.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Amen, you always seem to move with so much intention.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
How do you protect your non negotiables like your morning
routine or your sleep when the rest of the world
is asking for one hundred and ten percent of your time?
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Wow, this is a good one, Okay.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
I definitely will be the first to admit that I
do flex a bit on my regular routines during the
holiday season because there's so much opportunity to do things
that also align with my values aka spending time with friends,
quality time, getting together with my family. I really care
deeply about those things, and I know that there are
(04:52):
certain aspects of my day to day that, within the
realm of whatever is possible, I do like to stick.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
So I'll give you a really good example.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
I went out to dinner with a good friend last
night and then met another friend a little later than
I normally would have, at like eight thirty.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
I'm laughing.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Some of you were like, Emily, eight thirty is not late,
but for me, it is late. And so I met
this person at eight thirty and probably didn't get home
until closer to maybe ten thirty or eleven, woke up
a bit later than I normally would today, and then
accommodated my schedule for that ahead of time. So I
already anticipated I wasn't getting up at six thirty this
(05:33):
morning to do the strength run combo that I wanted
to do, and so I had the ability to block
my calendar to do that a little bit later than normal.
Is that something that I have the bandwidth to do
all the time, of course not. But I thought ahead
and planned ahead so that I could make all of
these things that I care about work for me now.
(05:56):
I actually think, as I mentioned earlier, that journaling Challenge
were doing over on Instagram and the Daily Hurdle channel.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
If you aren't doing it with.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Us just yet, if you literally go over to at
Hurdle podcast on ig you'll see the channel at the
top of the profile. I think that that has been
so helpful for me to come back to myself when
otherwise I can be super sporadic and running around, and
even on the mornings where I have somewhere to go
(06:24):
or something to do, I'm like, it's just a few minutes.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
It's just a few minutes, and that foundation.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
That makes such a major difference, to have that time
with yourself, to give yourself the gift of presence so
that you can then show up and be a better
version of yourself for yes, you and also the people
that you love and care about around you. The last
thing I'll say on this is do the best you
(06:52):
can to have some grace the holidays. They only happen
once a year at least these ones, right, and so
you need to roll with the punches a little bit.
Enjoy it because you deserve it. It is such a special
time and often a time that involves things that we
don't get to do all that often. Maybe your best
(07:15):
case scenario is knowing that come December twenty seventh, you
have the bandwidth to get into some routines that fell
by the wayside a little bit in the weeks prior.
And like I said, sometimes the best routines are the
ones that you can commit small chunks of time too.
It could be different than your normal, but it doesn't
(07:36):
mean that it's not beneficial. Do the best you can
with what you have, have fun and of course happy holidays.
Make sure you're following along over on social it's at
Hurdle Podcast. I'm over at Emily Avadi another hurdle conquered.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Catch you guys next time.
What's up?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
What's happening? Emily Abadi? Here you are listening to five
minute Friday on Hurdle. I am so excited because if
you're listening to this in real time, I am very
likely either on the beach near a beach. I'm off
to Miami this weekend and oh my gosh, I just
(00:39):
want to be warm.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
The cold is kicking in.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I've run outside three days this week and I am frigid.
I decided to book this trip to take some time
for myself at the end of a long year, and
I try to set a side time twice a year
to do what I call up personal inventory summit. And
(01:02):
I'm going to tell you what that is. So I
typically do one in June around my birthday, and then
one at the end of the year. And although I
journal every day, and I've been journaling with many of
you as a part of this month long challenge in
the Daily Hurdle channel over on Instagram, so come join us,
but I digress. I journal daily, but this specific exercise
(01:24):
that I do is much more of a holistic audit
of what's going on in my life. I take stock
of myself, my strengths, my shortcomings, my goals and my
values and candidly my failures too. And so for this audit,
I've mapped it out into three distinct focus areas. I
(01:46):
look at relationships, health, and work. Again, I look at relationships, health,
and work. And so when I'm writing on each of
these areas, I ask myself the following four questions.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Firstly, what's going well? What's not going well?
Speaker 2 (02:02):
What am I most proud of myself for accomplishing in
this area? How much time am I dedicating to this
area of my life every week? And on a scale
of one to ten, how satisfied am I in this
part of my life? The fact is, and the reason
that I do this is because we only get one home,
this body. What I'm dealing with in my head like,
(02:26):
this is my home, and so I know that how
you feel about yourself when you're by yourself is everything.
And it's not always easy to confront the stuff that's
pretty and raw. But the older that I get, the
more I realize that self awareness is truly my greatest tool.
So this little audit helps me dive head first into
(02:47):
what's really going on. I am ready to dive headfirst
into what's really going on. And I find that by
setting aside this specific time to get really honest with myself,
I'm more open to getting really honest with myself. I've
said this before and I'll say it again. You don't
get to get things unless you're willing to put them
(03:08):
out into the universe. And so in order for me
to get some of the things that I am after
in twenty twenty six and beyond, I need to confront
what already is and then step forward and into my
purpose on what it is that I'm excited about.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
And so that's the stick with the self audit. I'm
going to be doing mind this weekend.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
If it sounds like something that you are interested in,
I would love to hear about your process. If you
feel like this exercise is helpful, feel free to tag
me over on social It's over at Hurdle Podcast and
I'm over at Emily a Body. My thought prompt for
you this week is what's going well and what's not
(03:49):
going well? And again I am identifying these in three areas, relationships, health,
and work. Maybe to start you begin by just picking one.
So again, what's going well and what's not going well?
And now a listener question, Hey, Emily, my name is Tara.
With the holidays and a busy work season approaching, I
(04:11):
feel like my self care is the first thing to
go out the window.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Amen, you always seem to move with so much intention.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
How do you protect your non negotiables like your morning
routine or your sleep when the rest of the world
is asking for one hundred and ten percent of your time?
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Wow, this is a good one, Okay.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
I definitely will be the first to admit that I
do flex a bit on my regular routines during the
holiday season because there's so much opportunity to do things
that also align with my values aka spending time with friends,
quality time, getting together with my family. I really care
deeply about those things, and I know that there are
(04:52):
certain aspects of my day to day that, within the
realm of whatever is possible, I do like to stick.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
So I'll give you a really good example.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
I went out to dinner with a good friend last
night and then met another friend a little later than
I normally would have, at like eight thirty.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
I'm laughing.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Some of you were like, Emily, eight thirty is not late,
but for me, it is late. And so I met
this person at eight thirty and probably didn't get home
until closer to maybe ten thirty or eleven, woke up
a bit later than I normally would today, and then
accommodated my schedule for that ahead of time. So I
already anticipated I wasn't getting up at six thirty this
(05:33):
morning to do the strength run combo that I wanted
to do, and so I had the ability to block
my calendar to do that a little bit later than normal.
Is that something that I have the bandwidth to do
all the time, of course not. But I thought ahead
and planned ahead so that I could make all of
these things that I care about work for me now.
(05:56):
I actually think, as I mentioned earlier, that journaling Challenge
were doing over on Instagram and the Daily Hurdle channel.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
If you aren't doing it with.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Us just yet, if you literally go over to at
Hurdle podcast on ig you'll see the channel at the
top of the profile. I think that that has been
so helpful for me to come back to myself when
otherwise I can be super sporadic and running around, and
even on the mornings where I have somewhere to go
(06:24):
or something to do, I'm like, it's just a few minutes.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
It's just a few minutes, and that foundation.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
That makes such a major difference, to have that time
with yourself, to give yourself the gift of presence so
that you can then show up and be a better
version of yourself for yes, you and also the people
that you love and care about around you. The last
thing I'll say on this is do the best you
(06:52):
can to have some grace the holidays. They only happen
once a year at least these ones, right, and so
you need to roll with the punches a little bit.
Enjoy it because you deserve it. It is such a special
time and often a time that involves things that we
don't get to do all that often. Maybe your best
(07:15):
case scenario is knowing that come December twenty seventh, you
have the bandwidth to get into some routines that fell
by the wayside a little bit in the weeks prior.
And like I said, sometimes the best routines are the
ones that you can commit small chunks of time too.
It could be different than your normal, but it doesn't
(07:36):
mean that it's not beneficial. Do the best you can
with what you have, have fun and of course happy holidays.
Make sure you're following along over on social it's at
Hurdle Podcast. I'm over at Emily Avadi another hurdle conquered.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Catch you guys next time.
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