May 14, 2024 • 50 mins
Text with your questions & comments for future episodes!
Struggling with self-care isn't just a personal challenge; it's a universal conundrum that can leave us feeling like we're neglecting our own needs. As I peel back the layers of mental barriers that keep us from indulging in self-care, you'll find new perspectives that may just be the breakthrough you've been looking for.
Nutrition isn't just about what we eat; it's about the entire ecosystem of our well-being, especially in turbulent economic times.
Routine might sound mundane, but it's the cornerstone of a sustainable, healthy lifestyle, and I'm here to show how it doesn't have to be a chore. From my morning matcha ritual to gym time vigor post-work, I map out the balance we all seek amidst daily chaos and how caring for ourselves can actually CREATE time and energy for us.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey guys, welcome back to an Amber a Day.
We've got an interesting topictoday.
I'm kind of excited to get intoit.
So it's kind of going to beabout prioritizing yourself,
self-care, how we do that, howwe actually make it work.
But a lot of what I want totalk about is the concept behind
prioritizing ourselves and whyso many of us sort of struggle
(00:21):
with following through on that,even though we consciously know
that we should.
That's so difficult for us, andthen some different ways maybe
of thinking about things so thathopefully it helps you maybe
get past some of those blocks.
So that's kind of the idea, andI have some notes here that I
want to go over.
And this topic is based looselyon the newsletter that I sent
(00:44):
out last week, which I was justkind of inspired to write that
morning.
I've been doing this thingwhere every Friday I've been
trying to send out a newsletterto my email list, which I guess
I'll put the link to subscribeto my newsletter, if you're not
subscribed, in the descriptionbox.
But I've been doing thatbecause I want to get back into
writing.
I love to write and so Ihaven't done a whole lot of
(01:06):
writing in the last few years,as I've been doing a lot of
video type stuff.
So I wanted to kind of get backinto that and back into my flow
and my inspiration by justseeing what comes to me related
to PCOS and healthy living andall that every Friday.
So that's what I was inspiredto write about this past Friday
(01:26):
and I think it turned outactually really insightful.
So sometimes I'm just writingand stuff comes out and I'm like
, oh yeah, that's actuallyreally cool, that makes a lot of
sense.
It's almost like I'm channelingsomebody else.
But anyway, I was inspired bywhat I came up with and I wanted
to share it with you guys andtalk a little bit more about
(01:48):
some of the nuances here.
So that's what we're going totalk about today.
For those of you who arewatching the video, I'm trying
out a bright spring palette.
So do you guys know about coloranalysis?
Okay, so I've been down therabbit hole of color analysis
for two years and I'mdesperately trying to figure out
(02:08):
what my coloring is withoutactually paying for an analysis.
By the way, if any of you arecolor analysts in the Antonio
area, let me know, because I'mat the point where I'm really
ready to pay somebody to tell mewhat my colors are.
I just want to know so much.
But let me know if you are intothat stuff.
Do you think that I lean warm orcool?
(02:29):
I'm very, very neutral.
So makeup I always have to buylike neutral shade and,
depending on what I, Idefinitely know I'm a bright
season, I'm pretty sure.
So I thought for a long time Iwas a bright winter, but the
more I'm looking at myself andmaybe I'm overthinking it, but I
actually think that I lean alittle bit more warm than cool.
(02:50):
So I'm kind of trying out someof the bright spring palette
which I stayed away from becauseI had heard over the internet
that you can't have like darkhair as a bright spring.
But actually I found out thatthat's not true and that a lot
of people who are bright springactually have dark hair and
lighter eyes and they just leanwarmer.
So anyway, these are brightspring colors, bright spring
(03:13):
lips, bright spring shirt.
Let me know what you think.
Does it work?
Does it not work?
Do you think I should veer moreinto coolness?
I mean, let me know, because atthis point I've seen so many
hours of footage of myself thatI couldn't tell you.
I'm just, you know I'm veryused to seeing my own face, as
you can imagine.
I'm trying to think if there'sanything else I need to update
(03:34):
you guys on, but I don't thinkso.
Oh yeah, one more thing, so youguys know.
Well, two more things actually.
Okay, so you guys know Hannahconscious nutritionist, right,
her and I run a lot of groupprograms together.
Well, she just had a babyearlier this year and so we kind
of were tentative on like goingto run any more group programs
together, like at all, or thisyear or what have you.
(03:56):
I was sort of waiting to figureout, like how she was going to
feel, because you know you havea baby and sometimes things
change, your priorities changeor you just don't have the same
time that you thought you would,and anyway, I know how it goes.
So I was kind of waiting on herto get her feet under her in
motherhood and all that, and youknow that takes time.
But we were talking, we've beentalking and we are going to.
(04:19):
We're planning to run another.
It's PCOS Essentials Academy.
We're planning to run anotherone and likely it will begin
mid-May of this year.
So if you are interested inthat, definitely sign up at that
link to be on my newsletterlist and I will be sending out
more details.
It's a very for a group programwhere you actually you will be
(04:41):
interacting with us weekly.
You will be there teaching thelessons.
There will be question andanswer time afterwards.
It's a pretty small group, Iwant to say.
On average we usually have 10people or less on the calls and
so you get a lot of opportunityto ask your own questions.
There's always a group chatthat we keep up with and anyway,
(05:06):
for a group program, it's apretty affordable option.
I know times are a little tightright now, so I think it would
be a good option for anybodywho's wanting that deeper advice
and guidance but maybe can'tswing you know the fall liking
one-on-one with somebodysituation.
So if you're interested in that, we are doing another one which
I'm so excited about.
I love, love, love runninggroups.
(05:27):
I just like I like working oneon one too, and I've done that
for a long time.
But there's something aboutrunning a group that's just
really.
There's a lot of energy that Iget from from the group and it's
just a lot of fun likedifferent people and hearing
their stories and experiences,and for the people who
participate.
They always come away from itsaying that they really value
(05:47):
and appreciate the connectionsthat they make in the group,
because it's so nice just tofeel like you're not alone.
You know, you hear all theseother women and they've gone
through what you've gone throughand it's like, oh you know, I
thought that was just me.
Pcos can be so isolating, as wediscussed in the mental health
podcast from a few weeks ago,anyway.
So that's that.
The second update is just topiggyback on something that I
(06:09):
said last week, which is that Iwas trying to see if there's
this PCOS fitness kind ofinfluencer person on the
internet who I really like hercontent.
She has agreed to come on thepodcast, so we are going to have
her and I believe her and I arerecording later this month.
I have a lot of really greatguests this year Already.
Some I've met with and recordedand just haven't edited and
(06:31):
posted yet, and some are stillscheduled out, but it's going to
be a good year for interestingguests.
On a guest or type of guestthat you'd like to see on the
podcast, let me know.
Yeah, okay, so let's get intotoday's topic.
(06:54):
So the reason I was inspired totalk about this is.
I was talking with a fellownutritionist friend who
specializes in fertilitynutrition and I was kind of
telling her you know, any of myfriends?
I have a lot of friends who arealso nutrition content creators
.
Right, they have their privatepractice businesses and then
they also do content creationand so we kind of give each
(07:15):
other moral support because itcan be a little draining and a
little difficult sometimes tokind of know what to do and
where you're going wrong or whatyou're doing right or any of
that stuff.
So her and I were talking aboutjust running our nutrition
practices and I was being honestwith her that for the last
little while I'd probably saylike year, six months, probably
(07:35):
about six months or so thingshave really slowed down a lot.
For me.
There was a period of time fromprobably 2020 to 2023 where I
was busy and I had a lot, I hada waiting list, I had like a lot
of people who really wereinterested in working with me
and the trickle of those likeone clients has slowed down a
(07:57):
lot in the last year and I justnoticed that like it seems like
you know, it's a little bit moreof a grind than it used to be
to try to get people to workwith.
And I was telling her that Ithink what's going on is that
because the economy is just insuch a state right now that a
(08:17):
lot of people don't have themoney to think about working
with a nutritionist, becauseit's like the concept of if
groceries are so expensive, whywould I pay somebody to tell me
what groceries I should buy whenI already know I can't afford
them, like number one.
I can't afford the person totell me, number two, I couldn't
afford what they would want meto buy.
(08:38):
You know can't afford organic,can't afford people, you know,
to even buy fresh fruits andvegetables, all that kind of
stuff.
Right, and I get that becauseI'm living that too.
I also exist in this economy andthings have been tighter and
I've had to make cuts with mypersonal spending and groceries
and kind of try to figure outways to feed my family in a less
(09:04):
, a more budget conscious way,let's say so.
I was kind of complaining toher about this, like getting me
down right, and she was sayingthat her business is actually
doing fairly well, like prettynormal, and I got to thinking
about it and I realized thatlikely what's going on there.
Is that her business, becauseit focuses primarily on
(09:25):
fertility.
It's less of what's seen aslike luxury service, and my
reasoning behind that is Iremember when I was going
through my fertility journey,and even though there were times
when there wasn't a lot ofmoney to go around or things
were tight or whatever, I waswilling to make sacrifices and
try to figure out workarounds tomake getting the things that I
(09:49):
needed for fertility possible.
So, whether it was like thetreatment money or whether it
was like is there something thatwe're going to help with egg
quality?
Or even, you know, do my dietand really really prioritizing
the food that I ate, it made alot of financial sense to me to
do that, because I was takingcare of not just my own health,
but really I was taking care ofmy health for a purpose, and the
(10:12):
purpose was to be able to havea child, and that was something
that having a child is notsomething that we tend to kind
of be able to put on hold forvery long.
Right, if we know we want tohave a kid, then there's a
window of time where that'spossible, and so we may be able
to delay things or move thingsaround a bit, but there does
(10:34):
come a point in time where it'slike I really want this and I've
wanted this for a long time andI'm ready to do it.
You know whether conditions areperfect or not and they're
almost never perfect anyway butit's like a goal and it's to
fulfill this dream or this thingthat has been really important
to you, or this mutual dreamthat you have with a partner,
(10:58):
and so there's so much to it,right.
There's so much connection tolike our greater destiny as
people and our purpose in lifeand all of that kind of stuff,
and that's very attractive andworth in our eyes.
Spending a lot of time, a lot ofmoney.
(11:19):
On particular, it's cheaper inthe long run to get pregnant
naturally than even if you haveto.
You know you get some supportlike a nutritionist and
supplements and eating, you know, a certain quality of food.
It's cheaper to do that than itis to pay for IVF.
Trust me, I know my baby's anIVF baby and that was expansive.
(11:42):
You know what I mean.
It's like financial sense, Iguess.
So where I run into trouble inmy business is that over the
last few years I've heavily sortof niched down into PCOS
specific content, and I havemade it a point to not
over-focus on fertility in mywork because I know how
(12:05):
frustrating that can be forpeople to feel like the only
reason that PCOS matters isbecause of the ability to
reproduce or not.
I just don't like the conceptto begin with.
Health has so much more to dowith so many more things than
just our ability to becomemothers.
I just think it's very I don'tknow, it's the patriarchy
(12:30):
talking right Like have morepurpose in life than just
reproducing.
And so I try even though I do alot of fertility work,
obviously I try to stay awayfrom talking too too much about
it, because it alienates a lotof people who maybe never want
to have kids or who are alreadydone having kids or are not
interested in that topic.
It's not their area of focus.
And so I've more chosen in mypractice to focus on the health
(12:54):
of a woman with PCOS as asingular person, like here's why
PCOS matters for you right now,here's how it matters for the
rest of your life, for the agingprocess, for this, and that
it's about you first andforemost, right, not about
someone else or your ability tocreate someone else or anything
(13:18):
like that.
So, because of that, I thinkthat this work is seen by a lot
of people to be maybe not asimportant.
And the thing I want to, I guess, get across in this podcast is
that there's two differentthings going on.
There's a conscious thoughtsand what we'll say, and then
(13:40):
there's our behavior and whatthat says.
And so our conscious thoughtsare what we're saying is I care
about myself, I want to takecare of myself.
I know that in order to have tobe healthy as I age or have a
good quality of life, I need totake care of myself now, et
cetera, et cetera.
We say these things, right, butour lived experience, our
(14:01):
actual actions, do they line upwith that?
For a lot of us, what happens iswe can do that for a little
while, but the littlest thingswill kind of throw us off track.
It's like the conditions haveto be just right in order for us
to prioritize ourselves and totake care of ourselves.
(14:21):
And if work gets too crazy, orwe've got a parent, we've got to
take care of ourselves.
And if work gets too crazy, orwe've got a parent we've got to
take care of, or we have a childwe have to take care of or this
or that is going on.
What we do for us, for ourhealth, and ours alone, gets put
on the back burner, and that'sjust.
I think you know I have a lotof empathy for that.
So I don't want you guys totake from this podcast oh,
(14:45):
amber's saying we self-sabotageand it's our fault because we
need to take care of ourselves.
No, I recognize, because I livethis myself, that it's very
difficult.
It's one thing to say, oh yeah,you know, put your oxygen mask
on first before you help otherpeople.
You guys know how everybody'salways saying that people.
(15:07):
You guys know how everybody'salways saying that, yeah, it
makes sense.
But the reality of life day today is your kid's got to eat
right, he eats breakfast, lunch,dinner and snacks and I've got
to be the one that makes them.
The house has to get cleaned bysomebody.
The aging parent needs to bedriven to their doctor's
appointments.
Work has its requirements and Idon't know.
(15:28):
I'm an accountant and it's taxseason.
What am I supposed to do?
I have to do these people'staxes.
So there's this sort of likevision that we have of this
perfect life that we mightcreate if we had the time, if we
had the energy, if we had thespace, et cetera, et cetera.
And the reality of actual lifeis that the conditions are not
(15:51):
necessarily set up around us tofacilitate that.
There's a lot of roadblocks inour way, and so what ends up
happening is we can followthings and take care of ourself,
and all of that for a while,when we are excited about it or
(16:11):
when we are noticing real quickresults or when we have space in
our calendar.
A good example is that a lot Iwork with a lot of teachers, but
I typically work with teachersover the summer or Christmas
break, because they put offdoing things for themselves or
starting a nutrition journey oranything until they know they're
(16:34):
going to have the summer off,because then they can focus on
it.
And I think that is where theproblems start is when we start
looking at time and taking careof ourselves as if it's
something that we have, that weneed to have space to focus on.
So let's get into that a littlebit.
What do I mean and how do wework around that and what's the
(16:54):
actual solution here?
Because there aren't anyperfect solutions, but I'm going
to talk to you about how Ithink we can reframe that.
So it helps make it easier forus to stick with these kinds of
things.
So maybe we are kind of askingthe wrong questions in the first
(17:15):
place.
When we think about taking careof ourselves, we tend to think
of it in terms of the energyexchange that has to happen.
Like I have to give energy tocooking, for example, and that's
energy that then I no longerhave.
It goes away because I used it.
Same as when you make breakfastfor your four-year-old.
(17:38):
You make him breakfast, you usesome energy to do that and you
don't get that energy backbecause it's gone.
Right, what if?
Hear me out, what if we cancreate energy?
So and okay, I know you're likethis is getting woo-woo, amber,
but I don't mean that in awoo-woo-y way, although I mean
(18:00):
nothing wrong with a littlewoo-woo in your life but what if
we can't create time?
But we can create energy?
I'm going to talk about what Imean by that.
Let me give you two examples.
Okay, so I'm actually going toread these from the newsletter
because I was proud of them andI think they're good, but let me
give you an example of what'stypically going on, how life
(18:21):
typically goes, and this you maydo better than this.
You may have a worse experiencethan this.
I certainly have been all overthe place since I became a mom
and I've had good times and badtimes, and so I get it.
But okay, let's say you'reexhausted, right?
You basically just make itthrough the day.
You doom scroll for half an hourwhile you get ready for work
(18:44):
and you pack your child's lunch.
You forget to eat.
But you stop for Starbucks andyou get a caramel macchiato and
maybe a muffin.
At work, you answer emails andyou have a draining meeting with
your team and more is placed onyour shoulders, even though you
were already overwhelmed withwhat you have Real right.
(19:05):
By 11 am you're starting to getshaky.
You're starting to get hangry.
11am you're starting to getshaky, you're starting to get
hangry.
So you grab a snack from theoffice common room or your desk
drawer and you start thinkingabout what are you going to go
eat for lunch?
You forgot to pack one, ofcourse, because you were in a
hurry.
So you head out to grab somefast food and you eat in
blissful peace while scrollingTikTok in your car.
(19:27):
Again, relatable who doesn'tlove a moment of blissful peace
in the car, eating some Frenchfries and watching TikToks.
Back at work, you're very sleepy.
Around 2 pm your eyes start tostruggle to focus and so you
grab another coffee to pushthrough.
On your way home, you'refeeling drained again.
(19:47):
You plan to cook a meal, butwhen you get home your living
room's a mess.
Your kids all need somethingfrom you and your husband is
asking about dinner.
You're starving and exhaustedand you're longing for your bed.
So you let yourself.
So you tell yourself you'regoing to cook tomorrow, you send
your husband out to pick uptakeout and you go lay in front
(20:07):
of the TV.
Forget about exercising.
That wasn't even on the docketfor today.
After your kids go to bed, youend up staying up till 1am on
your phone because it's youronly real me time.
Very relatable.
So that is a typical day for alot of us, right?
Right?
Is it just me?
(20:27):
I think a lot of us have beenstuck in that pattern before,
and it's the kind of tirednessthat makes you more tired.
You know what I mean, and partof that comes just purely from
staying up super late to haveyour me time.
And I want to be clear thatdoing all of those things are
(20:53):
appropriate reactions to theconstraints placed upon you,
because the reality is that theworld that we live in right now
is not set up to accommodate allof us getting to do everything
that we need to do in 24 hours.
It's just not Like there's toomuch required of us from work.
There's too much commuting Ifyou live in the United States it
(21:14):
cuts hours out of your day.
There's too manyresponsibilities and
requirements with maintaining ahome, while also many of us have
both people work and even ifthe other doesn't, they're
usually taking care of kids.
So there's just too much to dofor any one person, even any two
(21:34):
people, even if you havesupport.
So it's a lot and it makestotal sense that you would.
What do they call it?
There's a phrase for it.
When you end up, it's likerevenge.
Is it like revenge?
Sleep deprivation If you guysknow what I'm talking about, let
me know.
But it's like revenge time thatyou end up feeling really
entitled to that time.
(21:56):
After all, the tasks thatneeded to get done are done and
you want to make the most of it.
You end up staying up too latebecause you feel you deserve
that time and you end up kind ofstealing energy and time from
yourself the next day.
So that's a typical day, right?
Well, let's talk about analternative example, and this is
where we get into creatingenergy and ways that that can
(22:18):
happen.
So here's an alternativeexample.
Let's say you're exhausted.
You stayed up until 1 am onyour phone last night, oops, and
because it was your only metime.
So we're starting out imaginingthat that other day was
yesterday and now this is today.
So we're feeding.
It's not like we've been doingthings so perfect, perfect, and
(22:40):
here we're having an energeticday.
No, we're coming, we'repiggybacking off of a day, like
we just talked about.
So you stayed up until 1am.
It was your only me time.
But today you decided to getright out of bed.
Force it Force yourself to getout of bed.
You open your curtains and youlet in some natural light and
you head to the kitchen and makea matcha latte with collagen.
(23:03):
It's a little relaxing.
While your water's boiling, youstart packing lunches, which you
forgot to do last night.
Right, there's nothing leftover for you, so you're going to
have to grab something.
But you jot down a few thingsyou need from the store to prep
and you throw a protein shakeand an RX bar in your bag, and
(23:23):
I'm talking about those littlepre-made protein shakes like
Evolve or I think Organe hassome.
You know the ones that arealready made.
If you keep a supply of thosein your fridge then you'll
always have an emergency sourceof nutrition.
Same thing with different bars.
Rx bars are some of my favorite.
(23:45):
But you know, whatever you'vegot Kind bars, it's a better
option than a lot of thingsright.
You've got kind bars.
It's a better option than a lotof things right.
After you get to work you'retired from lack of sleep, but
you're still fairly energizedfrom the matcha, because matcha
has a slow caffeine release soit lasts you longer.
So you get your most importantwork done first.
To capitalize on that energy,you set a timer on your phone
(24:07):
and you get up to stretch, walkaround and drink a little water.
Once per hour.
I'm talking two minutes walkingaround, stretching, grabbing
some water.
At lunchtime you head to thegrocery store, you pick up one
of their pre-made salads forlunch and while you're there,
you also grab a few of theirpre-made meals.
So if you live in South Texas,heb has some really good
(24:27):
pre-made meals.
A lot of grocery stores will dothat.
They have like these littlemeals where either the ones that
I like from H-E-B are they'renot cooked yet, but you put them
in the oven for a little bitand then they cook and they're
really good.
And they're already.
You know they already did allthe hard work for you.
But there are also some thatwork in the microwave.
There are some that are alreadylike pre-cooked and you could
(24:50):
eat cold.
You know they usually have alot of options if you go to the
deli counter area of your localgrocery store.
Those are really, really niceto have on hand for emergencies
and stuff like that.
Okay, so you get a pre-madesalad.
You could also theoretically,let's say, go to Chick-fil-A and
(25:10):
get one of their salads or getsome grilled nuggets and a fruit
cup side and like a small fryor something.
You know there are otheroptions besides having to eat a
salad.
It doesn't always have to be asalad, but anyway you get the
point.
Okay, so you stock up on someof your favorite snacks, like
(25:31):
some chomps sticks those aregood to have.
Evolve protein shakes, rx bars,kind bars.
You grab some ingredients for aquick dinner.
You eat your salad in the carwhile you listen to an
interesting podcast.
Maybe it's resolved mysteriescelebrity memoir book club.
What's one of myilty Pleasurepodcast is fluently forward.
(25:53):
It's not for everyone.
Maybe it's an Amber a Day?
Huh, Maybe that's what you'redoing At work again.
You stock a little section ofthe fridge and freezer with a
few protein shakes and some ofthose pre-made meals and you
throw your dinner ingredients inand those pre-made meals.
I usually, back in the day whenI used to work in an office,
I'd stick them in the freezerbecause even though they're not
(26:15):
already frozen, most stuff canfreeze and you can then cook it
from frozen or microwave it orwhatever.
Okay, so you stick that in thefreezer with a few protein
shakes and some of thosepre-made meals and you throw
your dinner ingredients in thefridge because obviously you've
got meat.
You can't leave it in the car,so you throw it in the work
fridge, right?
You stock your desk drawer withsome of the extra snacks you
(26:37):
bought so that you'll haveoptions for another time.
At 4 pm you eat the bar youpacked earlier.
After work, you head straight tothe gym or the park and you
work out or walk for 45 minutes.
This is key.
Stop being on the way homerather than going home changing
and going out again.
It ain't going to happen.
(26:57):
On a day like this, when you'rethis tired, because I can tell
you I've lived a day like thisand when you get to this point
in the day you are sleepy.
Even though you were eatinggood and you had your matcha and
all that, you're still tiredfrom all that sleep deprivation
from yesterday, from weeksbefore, whatever.
You're still sleepy.
So you're not going to feellike doing this.
(27:20):
But if you force yourself tostop before you go home, then
you can get a little bit ofactivity in, get it over with,
go home and relax.
So you head straight to the gymor the park.
You work out for 45 minuteseven less is fine.
I just 45 minutes is a goodamount of time.
Maybe you walk and lift weights, maybe you just walk.
(27:40):
Either way, you leave the gymfeeling energized and refreshed,
and this is true Whenever youwork out.
You release endorphins.
Those first 15 minutes arepretty miserable, but after that
you start to get more energizedand then, when you're done,
suddenly you have more energyagain because it upregulates
adrenaline, it upregulatescortisol, it kind of gives you a
(28:04):
lot of these like bursts ofenergy hormones.
Then you drink your proteinshake because recovery is
important.
And you head home, everyone washungry and texting you asking
about dinner.
Of course, because theannoyances will not stop when
you start taking care ofyourself.
They will continue.
In fact, they might get alittle bit worse.
People are going to be annoying.
(28:24):
Why don't we have you fordinner?
Okay, so you told them to eat asnack while you were gone,
because you know they're notgoing to be hungry for dinner.
But you can't win every battle,and ain't that the truth?
You know, if you stock decentsnacks at your house, you know,
(28:45):
and they are a little bit toofull for dinner every once in a
while, well, okay, it's not theend of the world, but for you,
it very well could be the end ofthe world if you don't take
care of yourself enough.
So let's say they're beingannoying about it, but you just
told them to eat a snack.
(29:05):
So they did that, and at leastwhen you get home, they're not
like bugging you about dinnertoo much.
So the living room is still amess, of course, but you're
still feeling good from yourworkouts.
You ignore it for now.
You put some barbecue sauce onsome chicken thighs that you
bought and you put them in theoven.
You roast some broccoli withthem and cook some brown rice.
(29:26):
That's a favorite meal of mine.
Get some of those boneless,skinless chicken thighs and
throw them on a sheet pan.
Put some sauce on top Againwith HEB, okay, but they carry
this brand called Fisher andWeiser.
I think they have all thesegourmet, different types of
(29:47):
sauces.
I've had a blackberry chipotleand a, you know, teriyaki,
whatever, and really fancybarbecue sauces, bourbon sauces,
whatever.
Get one of those, get regularbarbecue sauce.
I don't care, barbecue sauce isgreat.
Who doesn't love barbecue sauce?
Sweet baby rays, you know whatI'm saying.
But put some barbecue sauce onit.
(30:07):
Put some barbecue sauce on it.
Throw those in the oven at like375 for 20, 25 minutes.
Just Google how long to cookchicken thighs at 375 and it'll
tell you.
I do that all the time.
I'm just like, okay, I havechicken breasts or I have
(30:28):
chicken thighs.
How long does it take to cookthose?
And if you have yourself alittle meat thermometer,
especially a digital one, thoseare really helpful.
So then about 20 minutes in, ifyou're scared of chicken, you
can just like poke it into thechicken, make sure it's the
right temperature.
But boneless, skinless stuffcooks really fast and it cooks
pretty evenly because there's nobone in there.
(30:51):
Anyway, that's off topic.
But throw some barbecue sauceon there and then in another
sheet pan I'll throw some frozenbroccoli, fresh broccoli,
whatever you have, and I'lldrizzle some olive oil on the
top.
I use like a nature seasoning,like a seasoning blend all over
everything.
Throw that in the oven with thechicken thighs and by the time
(31:12):
the chicken thighs are donethey're relatively roasted.
You know, you could like if you, if they're not quite as crispy
as you like, you can take thechicken out and then turn the
broiler on and throw those underthe broiler and give it like
another five minutes and they'llget crispier.
But anyway, I usually just eatthem as they are and that's a
decent meal, like that's good,anyway.
(31:32):
Oh yeah, and brown rice, youcan get some.
Cook that on the stovetop.
Anyway, you make sure to makeenough for lunch and for dinner
tomorrow as well.
So back when you were at thestore you bought the big pack of
chicken thighs.
You didn't get a four pack, yougot the, you know the one
that's like this big, uh, liketwo feet long, it's like 16
chicken thighs or whatever.
You make extra Always, always,always, make extra anytime you
(31:55):
cook, because it doesn't takeyou any longer to cook, double
or triple the amount.
It does save you time later ifyou cook extra, okay, so you
make sure to have enough forlunch and dinner tomorrow as
well.
You drink a protein shake afteryour workout, so you're not
super hungry right now, but youmake sure that you eat your
veggies and your protein andsome of your rice.
(32:15):
You know, send it back andeverybody eats.
You pack up your lunch fortomorrow because you are giving
tomorrow you a break.
So you pack up your lunch fortomorrow.
Since you have to put thedinner away anyway, you might as
well throw some of it in aTupperware container for
(32:36):
tomorrow and you leave the restfor dinner tomorrow night.
That way you have meals to lastyou until you can make a bigger
grocery trip this weekend.
So this is also assuming thatyou don't have a lot of
groceries, because you've beeneating out a lot, right?
So you'll do that.
You'll get to that.
It doesn't have to be perfect.
You've got one meal done andyou've got some leftovers, so
this weekend you can go grab thestuff that you need for another
(32:58):
one.
Because you woke up to naturallight.
You ate a balanced blood sugardiet and you had movement.
Today.
You are a lot sleepier at 9 pmthan normal.
You know you could push through, you could get a second wind
and stay up and have a littlemore me time, but instead you
put your phone away and you pickup a book, an art project.
(33:18):
Maybe you've started to crochet.
By the way, do any of you guyscrochet or knit?
Because I'm a big knitter andcrocheter.
I mostly knit, but I originallylearned how to crochet and I
have been doing that for like 15years and I love it.
So if anybody does share yourprojects with me, send me DMs on
Instagram because I love to seeyour crochet and knit projects.
(33:40):
You enjoy an hour of that andthen you do your skincare
routine before falling asleep.
Don't forget your skin guys.
That one you can probably skip,okay, but I'm just putting it
in there because you know.
You know you already set theprecedent right the day you made
the hard choices.
Most of the choices were justbuilt in, but a lot of them were
hard, like choosing when youwent to the grocery store.
(34:03):
You know that was kind ofannoying that you had to go to
the grocery store and buy thestuff to prep for dinner and you
had to get lunch there too,because you were already going
to be there.
But the temptation wouldprobably be to grab I don't know
one of their other things thatthey have pre-made there.
That maybe isn't the best, butyou made the hard choice to eat
the better thing and you madethe hard choice to stop after
(34:26):
work and workout.
You made the hard choice topack your lunch for tomorrow and
all that kind of stuff.
So one more hard choice to takecare of your skin, but it will
make you feel really good thenext day.
So what?
I kind of finished up thenewsletter by saying that's a
realistic depiction of a personputting themselves first.
I think we have this tendencyto think about putting ourselves
(34:49):
first as like looking like someof these hack your life
podcasters you know who I'mtalking about whether they wake
up at sunrise and they gooutside and they soak in 15
minutes of direct sunlight ontheir whole body naked, and then
they ground down with theirfeet in the earth and they take
(35:12):
a cold plunge.
And then you know what I'msaying.
It's like okay, I've heardsomebody say to that a lot of
that stuff is really well.
It's typically written by a manand that you know we're not
going to be like we're not goingto get too much into feminism
on this podcast, but it'swritten for a man because
(35:33):
sometimes, especially single men, they don't think about the
fact that there is a certainamount of labor that has to be
done by someone, and men havealways kind of historically, for
the most part, gotten a pass onthe labor, like if they help
out, it's like they're doing usa favor, right, and if they
don't, then that was just thelabor.
Like if they help out, it'slike they're doing us a favor,
right, and if they don't, thenthat was just the default.
(35:54):
And so they can imagine thesemorning routines and these daily
routines that are sounrealistic.
Because I saw a video of awoman going through one of those
routines that was recommendedin some book I forget what book,
I haven't read it, but you knowit was one of those bro-y books
and she's like so who's wakingup the kid and getting them
(36:16):
dressed and who's packing thelunch for the child and who's
dropping them off at daycare orwhatever, and she's naming all
these different things that thisguy is doing, while likely his
wife is taking care of all theother stuff so that he can do
his cold plunge for 20 minutesin the morning.
You know what I mean.
So I am intending with this tokind of give you a realistic
(36:40):
picture of what it looks like totake care of yourself in the
world we live in today.
Is it perfect?
No, there are a lot of thingsabout it that could be improved,
but it will help you feel moreenergetic.
And the whole purpose of thisis, if you do these things, even
for just a few days in a row,you are suddenly going to have
(37:03):
so much more energy to getthrough your day that it
actually will feel like you havemore time.
And I know that probablydoesn't feel like that at the
beginning, but as you're goingthrough it and you're living it,
you realize that when you feelmore energetic, you can
accomplish tasks faster, worktasks, you can get through them
(37:23):
quicker, have a less chaoticsort of experience of life, and
that then feeds into you, asI've been saying, kind of
creating time.
So much of our time is taken upby doomscrolling or so much of
our time is taken up bydaydreaming because we're half
(37:46):
asleep, because we're soexhausted, and if we get enough
sleep and we enough exercise andwe do all these things.
We may not actually have morehours in the day, but it'll feel
like we do because we will havethe energy to get through each
one of them.
So what I can tell you is thata routine like that, it gets
(38:08):
easier.
Over time, it starts to becomesecond nature and there's less
thinking involved with it andyou start to set up systems to
help make it even simpler thanthat.
So what I'm kind of showing youwith that example is the next
day when you kind of make thatdecision okay, starting tomorrow
, I'm going to really start totake care of myself.
I'm going to do all thesethings right.
(38:29):
That's a habit stacked daywhere we've got things leading
into other things, which isalways key.
Like, don't you know?
When they say like sit downbetween tasks, the concept of
that is because the energy tosit down, like your energy is
like oh, I'm tired, like I'mgoing to sit down here and it's
hard to get up.
I tell people with ADHD this alot Like sit down between your
(38:54):
tasks done.
Anyway, that's an example ofwhat that first day looks like.
The second day would havealready prepped your lunch, so
you don't have to worry aboutthat.
In the morning there's a littleextra time you have the next
morning.
You can choose to use it howyou want.
You can get extra time and ifyou have a flexible job, you can
go leave for work a little bitearlier and leave for the day a
(39:17):
little bit earlier, so that youcan get your exercise in early
and you can have more space inyour evening, right?
Or if that's not the case, ifyou can't do that, you can take
that extra 20 minutes, and youcan I don't know.
You can like scroll on TikTokif you want to, or have some me
time in the morning, or you canstart working out in the morning
(39:37):
instead Doing half of yourworkout in the morning.
Maybe you do your weights athome in the morning and then you
do your cardio after, or viceversa.
So there's these little thingsthat can build on other things
as you free up spaces of timeand become more efficient.
Maybe that's what I should callthis podcast like to use time
more efficiently for yourroutines.
(39:59):
But yeah, so you would havealready prepped lunch.
You could also spend that timeprepping yourself a more
nutritious breakfast if you'rethe type of person that really
likes breakfast and you want tohave a more interesting
breakfast than just a proteinshake in an RX bar.
I mean, personally I'm not abig breakfast really.
During the week I just have amatcha for my breakfast and if
(40:22):
I'm still hungry I'll have somefruit or I'll have a bar or
whatever, and then I make up forthat nutrition later in the day
, because I'm a big lunch anddinner fan.
But people love breakfast,right, and they would love to be
able to have something likelittle egg cups or things like
that.
And so if you end up havingthat extra time where you can
make something like that, youcan make extras there and then
(40:45):
you have that for breakfasttomorrow and then you still have
that 20 minutes back for you to, you know, do something else.
And so, yeah, this stuff kindof builds on itself and your
life starts to become a lot moreefficient and to make a lot
more sense and to you feel a lotless like a chicken with your
(41:06):
head cut off, you know.
And then, of course, things comeup right Like not always going
to get the chance to go out bythe gym right after work because
, you know, I don't know, maybeyour kid has like a soccer game
you have to go to, or you needto go pick up your mom from Dr
Point, I don't know.
Whatever there might be thingsgoing on.
And that's fine too, because ifyou've built the routine, or at
(41:29):
least you know that that iswhat, you have that routine
memorized, you can either fallright back into it the next day
or you can start adjusting yourlife to where you exercise at a
different time.
Speaking of exercise, probablythe best times to do that would
be right before work, not at thecrack of dawn, if you can help
(41:53):
it like sleep, sleep guys.
Sleep is so important, butbefore work is a good time and
then right after work isprobably the best time for
people who work full time.
If you don't, or if you workfrom home and you have the
chance to working out at yourlunch break is probably like
been more ideal.
If you don't work at all or youhave a completely flexible
schedule, about 10 AM isprobably the ideal time.
(42:15):
In case you were wondering, now, personally I don't work out at
10 AM cause I dance and that'smy workout right now.
Well, I guess I do see mytrainer at like 10 on Thursdays,
but their workouts all happenin the evenings, and so I've had
to adjust my routine and myschedule to accommodate the
consequences of that, becausethere are consequences to it.
(42:36):
If you guys are curious, I cantalk about another time, but
make sure that we close up onthe right note here, okay, so
this is really key.
Why are we doing all this?
Why is it even important in thefirst place?
Been important in the firstplace?
(42:58):
We have to think about takingcare of ourselves from the
perspective of the investmentthat it makes in not just
ourselves, but in the entirerest of our life and all of our
relationships.
So people might hear talkingabout this and say, like well,
you know, that's a nice idea, itsounds great, but in actuality,
like still probably not goingto be able to do it because this
(43:19):
, this and that, and you know,I'm just probably not going to
do it because too hard, it's toomuch and takes away.
I think a lot of us are nervousabout doing something like
stopping after work and workingout and bumping dinner back an
hour, because it takes away fromtime, precious time with our
(43:41):
family and our loved ones andall of that, and so it's easy to
kind of be like no, I don'twant to do that today because
you know, or my kids need, theyneed dinner at six and I have to
be home in order to feed themat six and that.
So I want to remind you ofaside from the old cliche about
putting your mask on and all ofthat is remember that when you
(44:03):
invest in yourself, you areinvesting in other people.
Think about the difference inenergy level between the first
example and the second example.
The first woman is justdragging, trying to get to her
bed at night, right, and a lotof her feelings and emotions are
(44:25):
very interior.
She's in her head, she's likethinking she's either
daydreaming or she's zoned outon her phone, or she's tired and
she's like, or you know, she'sjust not fully present because
she's so exhausted she doesn'tfeel good.
Her blood sugar is probably allover the place too.
(44:47):
So is that woman really givingmore of herself to her family?
She might be giving them moretime.
There's quantity time andquality time, right, and at the
end of the day, people are goingto remember the quality time
spent together, not so much thequantity of time.
So let's say that woman doesstart taking care of herself and
(45:12):
do, like this day.
Think about how much moreenergetic she's going to be and
what a better mood she's goingto be.
People who are not taking careof themselves tend to be more
negative.
They tend to be more boggeddown.
They tend to be more.
You know that tiredness makesit hard for you to see the
positives and have gratitude andall of those things the
(45:32):
positives and have gratitude andall of those things.
But a person who is taking careof themselves can see the
bigger picture easier, lessirritable and angry, is overall
just more positive and happy.
And that's going to bleed intothe relationships.
That's going to bleed intorelationships with your partner
husband, wife, whatevergirlfriend, whoever it is.
That's your partner.
It's going to bleed into yourrelationship there.
(45:53):
It's going to bleed into yourrelationships with your kids, if
you have kids.
So they are going to get adifferent type of mom or they're
going to get a different typeof partner, and I can guarantee
you that most partners are goingto prefer happier version of
their partner, even if they getslightly less time with them,
(46:15):
because then you can reallyenjoy that you have together Can
lead into another conversationabout partners who sabotage you.
If you've experienced that, letme know I've been thinking about
doing a podcast about that, butfor that, taking care of
yourself is really not justabout you at the end of the day.
Self is really not just aboutyou at the end of the day Should
have you at the forefront.
Positive side effect of it isthat it ends up being care for
(46:43):
everyone around you at the sametime.
So today we talked aboutprioritizing our self-care.
We discussed the differencebetween a day where we're not
taking care of ourselves and aday where we get into those hard
choices that end uprealistically serving us, and we
discussed the importance ofthat and how that bleeds into
(47:06):
the rest of our life andimproves our mood and our
relationships and all of thosethings and our relationships and
all of those things.
Hopefully it was enlighteningto you or it at least inspired
you to wake up tomorrow and dosomething hard, and it's a
worthwhile cause.
Really, you are a worthwhilecause.
I'm thinking about the way thata lot of us up and are
(47:30):
conditioned to where we reallyjust don't think that it's right
or while, to put ourselves infirst place, there can be like
there's usually a lot ofconditioning around.
That and, trust me, I know forme actually ends up being the
best thing for everybody, notjust you, when you take care of
(47:53):
you.
So if you guys have ideas thatI didn't cover or things you'd
love to add, I'd love to hearfrom you.
Let me know and get to go tothe description box below.
Sign up for those newslettersso that you can hear, first of
all so you can get my Fridaynewsletter, but also so you can
hear about the group programs,if you're interested in that,
(48:13):
and just stay up to date withthings that I've got going on,
and I will see you next week foranother episode.
Have a good day.
Hey guys, welcome back to an Amber a Day.
We've got an interesting topictoday.
I'm kind of excited to get intoit.
So it's kind of going to beabout prioritizing yourself,
self-care, how we do that, howwe actually make it work.
But a lot of what I want totalk about is the concept behind
prioritizing ourselves and whyso many of us sort of struggle
(00:21):
with following through on that,even though we consciously know
that we should.
That's so difficult for us, andthen some different ways maybe
of thinking about things so thathopefully it helps you maybe
get past some of those blocks.
So that's kind of the idea, andI have some notes here that I
want to go over.
And this topic is based looselyon the newsletter that I sent
(00:44):
out last week, which I was justkind of inspired to write that
morning.
I've been doing this thingwhere every Friday I've been
trying to send out a newsletterto my email list, which I guess
I'll put the link to subscribeto my newsletter, if you're not
subscribed, in the descriptionbox.
But I've been doing thatbecause I want to get back into
writing.
I love to write and so Ihaven't done a whole lot of
(01:06):
writing in the last few years,as I've been doing a lot of
video type stuff.
So I wanted to kind of get backinto that and back into my flow
and my inspiration by justseeing what comes to me related
to PCOS and healthy living andall that every Friday.
So that's what I was inspiredto write about this past Friday
(01:26):
and I think it turned outactually really insightful.
So sometimes I'm just writingand stuff comes out and I'm like
, oh yeah, that's actuallyreally cool, that makes a lot of
sense.
It's almost like I'm channelingsomebody else.
But anyway, I was inspired bywhat I came up with and I wanted
to share it with you guys andtalk a little bit more about
(01:48):
some of the nuances here.
So that's what we're going totalk about today.
For those of you who arewatching the video, I'm trying
out a bright spring palette.
So do you guys know about coloranalysis?
Okay, so I've been down therabbit hole of color analysis
for two years and I'mdesperately trying to figure out
(02:08):
what my coloring is withoutactually paying for an analysis.
By the way, if any of you arecolor analysts in the Antonio
area, let me know, because I'mat the point where I'm really
ready to pay somebody to tell mewhat my colors are.
I just want to know so much.
But let me know if you are intothat stuff.
Do you think that I lean warm orcool?
(02:29):
I'm very, very neutral.
So makeup I always have to buylike neutral shade and,
depending on what I, Idefinitely know I'm a bright
season, I'm pretty sure.
So I thought for a long time Iwas a bright winter, but the
more I'm looking at myself andmaybe I'm overthinking it, but I
actually think that I lean alittle bit more warm than cool.
(02:50):
So I'm kind of trying out someof the bright spring palette
which I stayed away from becauseI had heard over the internet
that you can't have like darkhair as a bright spring.
But actually I found out thatthat's not true and that a lot
of people who are bright springactually have dark hair and
lighter eyes and they just leanwarmer.
So anyway, these are brightspring colors, bright spring
(03:13):
lips, bright spring shirt.
Let me know what you think.
Does it work?
Does it not work?
Do you think I should veer moreinto coolness?
I mean, let me know, because atthis point I've seen so many
hours of footage of myself thatI couldn't tell you.
I'm just, you know I'm veryused to seeing my own face, as
you can imagine.
I'm trying to think if there'sanything else I need to update
(03:34):
you guys on, but I don't thinkso.
Oh yeah, one more thing, so youguys know.
Well, two more things actually.
Okay, so you guys know Hannahconscious nutritionist, right,
her and I run a lot of groupprograms together.
Well, she just had a babyearlier this year and so we kind
of were tentative on like goingto run any more group programs
together, like at all, or thisyear or what have you.
(03:56):
I was sort of waiting to figureout, like how she was going to
feel, because you know you havea baby and sometimes things
change, your priorities changeor you just don't have the same
time that you thought you would,and anyway, I know how it goes.
So I was kind of waiting on herto get her feet under her in
motherhood and all that, and youknow that takes time.
But we were talking, we've beentalking and we are going to.
(04:19):
We're planning to run another.
It's PCOS Essentials Academy.
We're planning to run anotherone and likely it will begin
mid-May of this year.
So if you are interested inthat, definitely sign up at that
link to be on my newsletterlist and I will be sending out
more details.
It's a very for a group programwhere you actually you will be
(04:41):
interacting with us weekly.
You will be there teaching thelessons.
There will be question andanswer time afterwards.
It's a pretty small group, Iwant to say.
On average we usually have 10people or less on the calls and
so you get a lot of opportunityto ask your own questions.
There's always a group chatthat we keep up with and anyway,
(05:06):
for a group program, it's apretty affordable option.
I know times are a little tightright now, so I think it would
be a good option for anybodywho's wanting that deeper advice
and guidance but maybe can'tswing you know the fall liking
one-on-one with somebodysituation.
So if you're interested in that, we are doing another one which
I'm so excited about.
I love, love, love runninggroups.
(05:27):
I just like I like working oneon one too, and I've done that
for a long time.
But there's something aboutrunning a group that's just
really.
There's a lot of energy that Iget from from the group and it's
just a lot of fun likedifferent people and hearing
their stories and experiences,and for the people who
participate.
They always come away from itsaying that they really value
(05:47):
and appreciate the connectionsthat they make in the group,
because it's so nice just tofeel like you're not alone.
You know, you hear all theseother women and they've gone
through what you've gone throughand it's like, oh you know, I
thought that was just me.
Pcos can be so isolating, as wediscussed in the mental health
podcast from a few weeks ago,anyway.
So that's that.
The second update is just topiggyback on something that I
(06:09):
said last week, which is that Iwas trying to see if there's
this PCOS fitness kind ofinfluencer person on the
internet who I really like hercontent.
She has agreed to come on thepodcast, so we are going to have
her and I believe her and I arerecording later this month.
I have a lot of really greatguests this year Already.
Some I've met with and recordedand just haven't edited and
(06:31):
posted yet, and some are stillscheduled out, but it's going to
be a good year for interestingguests.
On a guest or type of guestthat you'd like to see on the
podcast, let me know.
Yeah, okay, so let's get intotoday's topic.
(06:54):
So the reason I was inspired totalk about this is.
I was talking with a fellownutritionist friend who
specializes in fertilitynutrition and I was kind of
telling her you know, any of myfriends?
I have a lot of friends who arealso nutrition content creators
.
Right, they have their privatepractice businesses and then
they also do content creationand so we kind of give each
(07:15):
other moral support because itcan be a little draining and a
little difficult sometimes tokind of know what to do and
where you're going wrong or whatyou're doing right or any of
that stuff.
So her and I were talking aboutjust running our nutrition
practices and I was being honestwith her that for the last
little while I'd probably saylike year, six months, probably
(07:35):
about six months or so thingshave really slowed down a lot.
For me.
There was a period of time fromprobably 2020 to 2023 where I
was busy and I had a lot, I hada waiting list, I had like a lot
of people who really wereinterested in working with me
and the trickle of those likeone clients has slowed down a
(07:57):
lot in the last year and I justnoticed that like it seems like
you know, it's a little bit moreof a grind than it used to be
to try to get people to workwith.
And I was telling her that Ithink what's going on is that
because the economy is just insuch a state right now that a
(08:17):
lot of people don't have themoney to think about working
with a nutritionist, becauseit's like the concept of if
groceries are so expensive, whywould I pay somebody to tell me
what groceries I should buy whenI already know I can't afford
them, like number one.
I can't afford the person totell me, number two, I couldn't
afford what they would want meto buy.
(08:38):
You know can't afford organic,can't afford people, you know,
to even buy fresh fruits andvegetables, all that kind of
stuff.
Right, and I get that becauseI'm living that too.
I also exist in this economy andthings have been tighter and
I've had to make cuts with mypersonal spending and groceries
and kind of try to figure outways to feed my family in a less
(09:04):
, a more budget conscious way,let's say so.
I was kind of complaining toher about this, like getting me
down right, and she was sayingthat her business is actually
doing fairly well, like prettynormal, and I got to thinking
about it and I realized thatlikely what's going on there.
Is that her business, becauseit focuses primarily on
(09:25):
fertility.
It's less of what's seen aslike luxury service, and my
reasoning behind that is Iremember when I was going
through my fertility journey,and even though there were times
when there wasn't a lot ofmoney to go around or things
were tight or whatever, I waswilling to make sacrifices and
try to figure out workarounds tomake getting the things that I
(09:49):
needed for fertility possible.
So, whether it was like thetreatment money or whether it
was like is there something thatwe're going to help with egg
quality?
Or even, you know, do my dietand really really prioritizing
the food that I ate, it made alot of financial sense to me to
do that, because I was takingcare of not just my own health,
but really I was taking care ofmy health for a purpose, and the
(10:12):
purpose was to be able to havea child, and that was something
that having a child is notsomething that we tend to kind
of be able to put on hold forvery long.
Right, if we know we want tohave a kid, then there's a
window of time where that'spossible, and so we may be able
to delay things or move thingsaround a bit, but there does
(10:34):
come a point in time where it'slike I really want this and I've
wanted this for a long time andI'm ready to do it.
You know whether conditions areperfect or not and they're
almost never perfect anyway butit's like a goal and it's to
fulfill this dream or this thingthat has been really important
to you, or this mutual dreamthat you have with a partner,
(10:58):
and so there's so much to it,right.
There's so much connection tolike our greater destiny as
people and our purpose in lifeand all of that kind of stuff,
and that's very attractive andworth in our eyes.
Spending a lot of time, a lot ofmoney.
(11:19):
On particular, it's cheaper inthe long run to get pregnant
naturally than even if you haveto.
You know you get some supportlike a nutritionist and
supplements and eating, you know, a certain quality of food.
It's cheaper to do that than itis to pay for IVF.
Trust me, I know my baby's anIVF baby and that was expansive.
(11:42):
You know what I mean.
It's like financial sense, Iguess.
So where I run into trouble inmy business is that over the
last few years I've heavily sortof niched down into PCOS
specific content, and I havemade it a point to not
over-focus on fertility in mywork because I know how
(12:05):
frustrating that can be forpeople to feel like the only
reason that PCOS matters isbecause of the ability to
reproduce or not.
I just don't like the conceptto begin with.
Health has so much more to dowith so many more things than
just our ability to becomemothers.
I just think it's very I don'tknow, it's the patriarchy
(12:30):
talking right Like have morepurpose in life than just
reproducing.
And so I try even though I do alot of fertility work,
obviously I try to stay awayfrom talking too too much about
it, because it alienates a lotof people who maybe never want
to have kids or who are alreadydone having kids or are not
interested in that topic.
It's not their area of focus.
And so I've more chosen in mypractice to focus on the health
(12:54):
of a woman with PCOS as asingular person, like here's why
PCOS matters for you right now,here's how it matters for the
rest of your life, for the agingprocess, for this, and that
it's about you first andforemost, right, not about
someone else or your ability tocreate someone else or anything
(13:18):
like that.
So, because of that, I thinkthat this work is seen by a lot
of people to be maybe not asimportant.
And the thing I want to, I guess, get across in this podcast is
that there's two differentthings going on.
There's a conscious thoughtsand what we'll say, and then
(13:40):
there's our behavior and whatthat says.
And so our conscious thoughtsare what we're saying is I care
about myself, I want to takecare of myself.
I know that in order to have tobe healthy as I age or have a
good quality of life, I need totake care of myself now, et
cetera, et cetera.
We say these things, right, butour lived experience, our
(14:01):
actual actions, do they line upwith that?
For a lot of us, what happens iswe can do that for a little
while, but the littlest thingswill kind of throw us off track.
It's like the conditions haveto be just right in order for us
to prioritize ourselves and totake care of ourselves.
(14:21):
And if work gets too crazy, orwe've got a parent, we've got to
take care of ourselves.
And if work gets too crazy, orwe've got a parent we've got to
take care of, or we have a childwe have to take care of or this
or that is going on.
What we do for us, for ourhealth, and ours alone, gets put
on the back burner, and that'sjust.
I think you know I have a lotof empathy for that.
So I don't want you guys totake from this podcast oh,
(14:45):
amber's saying we self-sabotageand it's our fault because we
need to take care of ourselves.
No, I recognize, because I livethis myself, that it's very
difficult.
It's one thing to say, oh yeah,you know, put your oxygen mask
on first before you help otherpeople.
You guys know how everybody'salways saying that people.
(15:07):
You guys know how everybody'salways saying that, yeah, it
makes sense.
But the reality of life day today is your kid's got to eat
right, he eats breakfast, lunch,dinner and snacks and I've got
to be the one that makes them.
The house has to get cleaned bysomebody.
The aging parent needs to bedriven to their doctor's
appointments.
Work has its requirements and Idon't know.
(15:28):
I'm an accountant and it's taxseason.
What am I supposed to do?
I have to do these people'staxes.
So there's this sort of likevision that we have of this
perfect life that we mightcreate if we had the time, if we
had the energy, if we had thespace, et cetera, et cetera.
And the reality of actual lifeis that the conditions are not
(15:51):
necessarily set up around us tofacilitate that.
There's a lot of roadblocks inour way, and so what ends up
happening is we can followthings and take care of ourself,
and all of that for a while,when we are excited about it or
(16:11):
when we are noticing real quickresults or when we have space in
our calendar.
A good example is that a lot Iwork with a lot of teachers, but
I typically work with teachersover the summer or Christmas
break, because they put offdoing things for themselves or
starting a nutrition journey oranything until they know they're
(16:34):
going to have the summer off,because then they can focus on
it.
And I think that is where theproblems start is when we start
looking at time and taking careof ourselves as if it's
something that we have, that weneed to have space to focus on.
So let's get into that a littlebit.
What do I mean and how do wework around that and what's the
(16:54):
actual solution here?
Because there aren't anyperfect solutions, but I'm going
to talk to you about how Ithink we can reframe that.
So it helps make it easier forus to stick with these kinds of
things.
So maybe we are kind of askingthe wrong questions in the first
(17:15):
place.
When we think about taking careof ourselves, we tend to think
of it in terms of the energyexchange that has to happen.
Like I have to give energy tocooking, for example, and that's
energy that then I no longerhave.
It goes away because I used it.
Same as when you make breakfastfor your four-year-old.
(17:38):
You make him breakfast, you usesome energy to do that and you
don't get that energy backbecause it's gone.
Right, what if?
Hear me out, what if we cancreate energy?
So and okay, I know you're likethis is getting woo-woo, amber,
but I don't mean that in awoo-woo-y way, although I mean
(18:00):
nothing wrong with a littlewoo-woo in your life but what if
we can't create time?
But we can create energy?
I'm going to talk about what Imean by that.
Let me give you two examples.
Okay, so I'm actually going toread these from the newsletter
because I was proud of them andI think they're good, but let me
give you an example of what'stypically going on, how life
(18:21):
typically goes, and this you maydo better than this.
You may have a worse experiencethan this.
I certainly have been all overthe place since I became a mom
and I've had good times and badtimes, and so I get it.
But okay, let's say you'reexhausted, right?
You basically just make itthrough the day.
You doom scroll for half an hourwhile you get ready for work
(18:44):
and you pack your child's lunch.
You forget to eat.
But you stop for Starbucks andyou get a caramel macchiato and
maybe a muffin.
At work, you answer emails andyou have a draining meeting with
your team and more is placed onyour shoulders, even though you
were already overwhelmed withwhat you have Real right.
(19:05):
By 11 am you're starting to getshaky.
You're starting to get hangry.
11am you're starting to getshaky, you're starting to get
hangry.
So you grab a snack from theoffice common room or your desk
drawer and you start thinkingabout what are you going to go
eat for lunch?
You forgot to pack one, ofcourse, because you were in a
hurry.
So you head out to grab somefast food and you eat in
blissful peace while scrollingTikTok in your car.
(19:27):
Again, relatable who doesn'tlove a moment of blissful peace
in the car, eating some Frenchfries and watching TikToks.
Back at work, you're very sleepy.
Around 2 pm your eyes start tostruggle to focus and so you
grab another coffee to pushthrough.
On your way home, you'refeeling drained again.
(19:47):
You plan to cook a meal, butwhen you get home your living
room's a mess.
Your kids all need somethingfrom you and your husband is
asking about dinner.
You're starving and exhaustedand you're longing for your bed.
So you let yourself.
So you tell yourself you'regoing to cook tomorrow, you send
your husband out to pick uptakeout and you go lay in front
(20:07):
of the TV.
Forget about exercising.
That wasn't even on the docketfor today.
After your kids go to bed, youend up staying up till 1am on
your phone because it's youronly real me time.
Very relatable.
So that is a typical day for alot of us, right?
Right?
Is it just me?
(20:27):
I think a lot of us have beenstuck in that pattern before,
and it's the kind of tirednessthat makes you more tired.
You know what I mean, and partof that comes just purely from
staying up super late to haveyour me time.
And I want to be clear thatdoing all of those things are
(20:53):
appropriate reactions to theconstraints placed upon you,
because the reality is that theworld that we live in right now
is not set up to accommodate allof us getting to do everything
that we need to do in 24 hours.
It's just not Like there's toomuch required of us from work.
There's too much commuting Ifyou live in the United States it
(21:14):
cuts hours out of your day.
There's too manyresponsibilities and
requirements with maintaining ahome, while also many of us have
both people work and even ifthe other doesn't, they're
usually taking care of kids.
So there's just too much to dofor any one person, even any two
(21:34):
people, even if you havesupport.
So it's a lot and it makestotal sense that you would.
What do they call it?
There's a phrase for it.
When you end up, it's likerevenge.
Is it like revenge?
Sleep deprivation If you guysknow what I'm talking about, let
me know.
But it's like revenge time thatyou end up feeling really
entitled to that time.
(21:56):
After all, the tasks thatneeded to get done are done and
you want to make the most of it.
You end up staying up too latebecause you feel you deserve
that time and you end up kind ofstealing energy and time from
yourself the next day.
So that's a typical day, right?
Well, let's talk about analternative example, and this is
where we get into creatingenergy and ways that that can
(22:18):
happen.
So here's an alternativeexample.
Let's say you're exhausted.
You stayed up until 1 am onyour phone last night, oops, and
because it was your only metime.
So we're starting out imaginingthat that other day was
yesterday and now this is today.
So we're feeding.
It's not like we've been doingthings so perfect, perfect, and
(22:40):
here we're having an energeticday.
No, we're coming, we'repiggybacking off of a day, like
we just talked about.
So you stayed up until 1am.
It was your only me time.
But today you decided to getright out of bed.
Force it Force yourself to getout of bed.
You open your curtains and youlet in some natural light and
you head to the kitchen and makea matcha latte with collagen.
(23:03):
It's a little relaxing.
While your water's boiling, youstart packing lunches, which you
forgot to do last night.
Right, there's nothing leftover for you, so you're going to
have to grab something.
But you jot down a few thingsyou need from the store to prep
and you throw a protein shakeand an RX bar in your bag, and
(23:23):
I'm talking about those littlepre-made protein shakes like
Evolve or I think Organe hassome.
You know the ones that arealready made.
If you keep a supply of thosein your fridge then you'll
always have an emergency sourceof nutrition.
Same thing with different bars.
Rx bars are some of my favorite.
(23:45):
But you know, whatever you'vegot Kind bars, it's a better
option than a lot of thingsright.
You've got kind bars.
It's a better option than a lotof things right.
After you get to work you'retired from lack of sleep, but
you're still fairly energizedfrom the matcha, because matcha
has a slow caffeine release soit lasts you longer.
So you get your most importantwork done first.
To capitalize on that energy,you set a timer on your phone
(24:07):
and you get up to stretch, walkaround and drink a little water.
Once per hour.
I'm talking two minutes walkingaround, stretching, grabbing
some water.
At lunchtime you head to thegrocery store, you pick up one
of their pre-made salads forlunch and while you're there,
you also grab a few of theirpre-made meals.
So if you live in South Texas,heb has some really good
(24:27):
pre-made meals.
A lot of grocery stores will dothat.
They have like these littlemeals where either the ones that
I like from H-E-B are they'renot cooked yet, but you put them
in the oven for a little bitand then they cook and they're
really good.
And they're already.
You know they already did allthe hard work for you.
But there are also some thatwork in the microwave.
There are some that are alreadylike pre-cooked and you could
(24:50):
eat cold.
You know they usually have alot of options if you go to the
deli counter area of your localgrocery store.
Those are really, really niceto have on hand for emergencies
and stuff like that.
Okay, so you get a pre-madesalad.
You could also theoretically,let's say, go to Chick-fil-A and
(25:10):
get one of their salads or getsome grilled nuggets and a fruit
cup side and like a small fryor something.
You know there are otheroptions besides having to eat a
salad.
It doesn't always have to be asalad, but anyway you get the
point.
Okay, so you stock up on someof your favorite snacks, like
(25:31):
some chomps sticks those aregood to have.
Evolve protein shakes, rx bars,kind bars.
You grab some ingredients for aquick dinner.
You eat your salad in the carwhile you listen to an
interesting podcast.
Maybe it's resolved mysteriescelebrity memoir book club.
What's one of myilty Pleasurepodcast is fluently forward.
(25:53):
It's not for everyone.
Maybe it's an Amber a Day?
Huh, Maybe that's what you'redoing At work again.
You stock a little section ofthe fridge and freezer with a
few protein shakes and some ofthose pre-made meals and you
throw your dinner ingredients inand those pre-made meals.
I usually, back in the day whenI used to work in an office,
I'd stick them in the freezerbecause even though they're not
(26:15):
already frozen, most stuff canfreeze and you can then cook it
from frozen or microwave it orwhatever.
Okay, so you stick that in thefreezer with a few protein
shakes and some of thosepre-made meals and you throw
your dinner ingredients in thefridge because obviously you've
got meat.
You can't leave it in the car,so you throw it in the work
fridge, right?
You stock your desk drawer withsome of the extra snacks you
(26:37):
bought so that you'll haveoptions for another time.
At 4 pm you eat the bar youpacked earlier.
After work, you head straight tothe gym or the park and you
work out or walk for 45 minutes.
This is key.
Stop being on the way homerather than going home changing
and going out again.
It ain't going to happen.
(26:57):
On a day like this, when you'rethis tired, because I can tell
you I've lived a day like thisand when you get to this point
in the day you are sleepy.
Even though you were eatinggood and you had your matcha and
all that, you're still tiredfrom all that sleep deprivation
from yesterday, from weeksbefore, whatever.
You're still sleepy.
So you're not going to feellike doing this.
(27:20):
But if you force yourself tostop before you go home, then
you can get a little bit ofactivity in, get it over with,
go home and relax.
So you head straight to the gymor the park.
You work out for 45 minuteseven less is fine.
I just 45 minutes is a goodamount of time.
Maybe you walk and lift weights, maybe you just walk.
(27:40):
Either way, you leave the gymfeeling energized and refreshed,
and this is true Whenever youwork out.
You release endorphins.
Those first 15 minutes arepretty miserable, but after that
you start to get more energizedand then, when you're done,
suddenly you have more energyagain because it upregulates
adrenaline, it upregulatescortisol, it kind of gives you a
(28:04):
lot of these like bursts ofenergy hormones.
Then you drink your proteinshake because recovery is
important.
And you head home, everyone washungry and texting you asking
about dinner.
Of course, because theannoyances will not stop when
you start taking care ofyourself.
They will continue.
In fact, they might get alittle bit worse.
People are going to be annoying.
(28:24):
Why don't we have you fordinner?
Okay, so you told them to eat asnack while you were gone,
because you know they're notgoing to be hungry for dinner.
But you can't win every battle,and ain't that the truth?
You know, if you stock decentsnacks at your house, you know,
(28:45):
and they are a little bit toofull for dinner every once in a
while, well, okay, it's not theend of the world, but for you,
it very well could be the end ofthe world if you don't take
care of yourself enough.
So let's say they're beingannoying about it, but you just
told them to eat a snack.
(29:05):
So they did that, and at leastwhen you get home, they're not
like bugging you about dinnertoo much.
So the living room is still amess, of course, but you're
still feeling good from yourworkouts.
You ignore it for now.
You put some barbecue sauce onsome chicken thighs that you
bought and you put them in theoven.
You roast some broccoli withthem and cook some brown rice.
(29:26):
That's a favorite meal of mine.
Get some of those boneless,skinless chicken thighs and
throw them on a sheet pan.
Put some sauce on top Againwith HEB, okay, but they carry
this brand called Fisher andWeiser.
I think they have all thesegourmet, different types of
(29:47):
sauces.
I've had a blackberry chipotleand a, you know, teriyaki,
whatever, and really fancybarbecue sauces, bourbon sauces,
whatever.
Get one of those, get regularbarbecue sauce.
I don't care, barbecue sauce isgreat.
Who doesn't love barbecue sauce?
Sweet baby rays, you know whatI'm saying.
But put some barbecue sauce onit.
(30:07):
Put some barbecue sauce on it.
Throw those in the oven at like375 for 20, 25 minutes.
Just Google how long to cookchicken thighs at 375 and it'll
tell you.
I do that all the time.
I'm just like, okay, I havechicken breasts or I have
(30:28):
chicken thighs.
How long does it take to cookthose?
And if you have yourself alittle meat thermometer,
especially a digital one, thoseare really helpful.
So then about 20 minutes in, ifyou're scared of chicken, you
can just like poke it into thechicken, make sure it's the
right temperature.
But boneless, skinless stuffcooks really fast and it cooks
pretty evenly because there's nobone in there.
(30:51):
Anyway, that's off topic.
But throw some barbecue sauceon there and then in another
sheet pan I'll throw some frozenbroccoli, fresh broccoli,
whatever you have, and I'lldrizzle some olive oil on the
top.
I use like a nature seasoning,like a seasoning blend all over
everything.
Throw that in the oven with thechicken thighs and by the time
(31:12):
the chicken thighs are donethey're relatively roasted.
You know, you could like if you, if they're not quite as crispy
as you like, you can take thechicken out and then turn the
broiler on and throw those underthe broiler and give it like
another five minutes and they'llget crispier.
But anyway, I usually just eatthem as they are and that's a
decent meal, like that's good,anyway.
(31:32):
Oh yeah, and brown rice, youcan get some.
Cook that on the stovetop.
Anyway, you make sure to makeenough for lunch and for dinner
tomorrow as well.
So back when you were at thestore you bought the big pack of
chicken thighs.
You didn't get a four pack, yougot the, you know the one
that's like this big, uh, liketwo feet long, it's like 16
chicken thighs or whatever.
You make extra Always, always,always, make extra anytime you
(31:55):
cook, because it doesn't takeyou any longer to cook, double
or triple the amount.
It does save you time later ifyou cook extra, okay, so you
make sure to have enough forlunch and dinner tomorrow as
well.
You drink a protein shake afteryour workout, so you're not
super hungry right now, but youmake sure that you eat your
veggies and your protein andsome of your rice.
(32:15):
You know, send it back andeverybody eats.
You pack up your lunch fortomorrow because you are giving
tomorrow you a break.
So you pack up your lunch fortomorrow.
Since you have to put thedinner away anyway, you might as
well throw some of it in aTupperware container for
(32:36):
tomorrow and you leave the restfor dinner tomorrow night.
That way you have meals to lastyou until you can make a bigger
grocery trip this weekend.
So this is also assuming thatyou don't have a lot of
groceries, because you've beeneating out a lot, right?
So you'll do that.
You'll get to that.
It doesn't have to be perfect.
You've got one meal done andyou've got some leftovers, so
this weekend you can go grab thestuff that you need for another
(32:58):
one.
Because you woke up to naturallight.
You ate a balanced blood sugardiet and you had movement.
Today.
You are a lot sleepier at 9 pmthan normal.
You know you could push through, you could get a second wind
and stay up and have a littlemore me time, but instead you
put your phone away and you pickup a book, an art project.
(33:18):
Maybe you've started to crochet.
By the way, do any of you guyscrochet or knit?
Because I'm a big knitter andcrocheter.
I mostly knit, but I originallylearned how to crochet and I
have been doing that for like 15years and I love it.
So if anybody does share yourprojects with me, send me DMs on
Instagram because I love to seeyour crochet and knit projects.
(33:40):
You enjoy an hour of that andthen you do your skincare
routine before falling asleep.
Don't forget your skin guys.
That one you can probably skip,okay, but I'm just putting it
in there because you know.
You know you already set theprecedent right the day you made
the hard choices.
Most of the choices were justbuilt in, but a lot of them were
hard, like choosing when youwent to the grocery store.
(34:03):
You know that was kind ofannoying that you had to go to
the grocery store and buy thestuff to prep for dinner and you
had to get lunch there too,because you were already going
to be there.
But the temptation wouldprobably be to grab I don't know
one of their other things thatthey have pre-made there.
That maybe isn't the best, butyou made the hard choice to eat
the better thing and you madethe hard choice to stop after
(34:26):
work and workout.
You made the hard choice topack your lunch for tomorrow and
all that kind of stuff.
So one more hard choice to takecare of your skin, but it will
make you feel really good thenext day.
So what?
I kind of finished up thenewsletter by saying that's a
realistic depiction of a personputting themselves first.
I think we have this tendencyto think about putting ourselves
(34:49):
first as like looking like someof these hack your life
podcasters you know who I'mtalking about whether they wake
up at sunrise and they gooutside and they soak in 15
minutes of direct sunlight ontheir whole body naked, and then
they ground down with theirfeet in the earth and they take
(35:12):
a cold plunge.
And then you know what I'msaying.
It's like okay, I've heardsomebody say to that a lot of
that stuff is really well.
It's typically written by a manand that you know we're not
going to be like we're not goingto get too much into feminism
on this podcast, but it'swritten for a man because
(35:33):
sometimes, especially single men, they don't think about the
fact that there is a certainamount of labor that has to be
done by someone, and men havealways kind of historically, for
the most part, gotten a pass onthe labor, like if they help
out, it's like they're doing usa favor, right, and if they
don't, then that was just thelabor.
Like if they help out, it'slike they're doing us a favor,
right, and if they don't, thenthat was just the default.
(35:54):
And so they can imagine thesemorning routines and these daily
routines that are sounrealistic.
Because I saw a video of awoman going through one of those
routines that was recommendedin some book I forget what book,
I haven't read it, but you knowit was one of those bro-y books
and she's like so who's wakingup the kid and getting them
(36:16):
dressed and who's packing thelunch for the child and who's
dropping them off at daycare orwhatever, and she's naming all
these different things that thisguy is doing, while likely his
wife is taking care of all theother stuff so that he can do
his cold plunge for 20 minutesin the morning.
You know what I mean.
So I am intending with this tokind of give you a realistic
(36:40):
picture of what it looks like totake care of yourself in the
world we live in today.
Is it perfect?
No, there are a lot of thingsabout it that could be improved,
but it will help you feel moreenergetic.
And the whole purpose of thisis, if you do these things, even
for just a few days in a row,you are suddenly going to have
(37:03):
so much more energy to getthrough your day that it
actually will feel like you havemore time.
And I know that probablydoesn't feel like that at the
beginning, but as you're goingthrough it and you're living it,
you realize that when you feelmore energetic, you can
accomplish tasks faster, worktasks, you can get through them
(37:23):
quicker, have a less chaoticsort of experience of life, and
that then feeds into you, asI've been saying, kind of
creating time.
So much of our time is taken upby doomscrolling or so much of
our time is taken up bydaydreaming because we're half
(37:46):
asleep, because we're soexhausted, and if we get enough
sleep and we enough exercise andwe do all these things.
We may not actually have morehours in the day, but it'll feel
like we do because we will havethe energy to get through each
one of them.
So what I can tell you is thata routine like that, it gets
(38:08):
easier.
Over time, it starts to becomesecond nature and there's less
thinking involved with it andyou start to set up systems to
help make it even simpler thanthat.
So what I'm kind of showing youwith that example is the next
day when you kind of make thatdecision okay, starting tomorrow
, I'm going to really start totake care of myself.
I'm going to do all thesethings right.
(38:29):
That's a habit stacked daywhere we've got things leading
into other things, which isalways key.
Like, don't you know?
When they say like sit downbetween tasks, the concept of
that is because the energy tosit down, like your energy is
like oh, I'm tired, like I'mgoing to sit down here and it's
hard to get up.
I tell people with ADHD this alot Like sit down between your
(38:54):
tasks done.
Anyway, that's an example ofwhat that first day looks like.
The second day would havealready prepped your lunch, so
you don't have to worry aboutthat.
In the morning there's a littleextra time you have the next
morning.
You can choose to use it howyou want.
You can get extra time and ifyou have a flexible job, you can
go leave for work a little bitearlier and leave for the day a
(39:17):
little bit earlier, so that youcan get your exercise in early
and you can have more space inyour evening, right?
Or if that's not the case, ifyou can't do that, you can take
that extra 20 minutes, and youcan I don't know.
You can like scroll on TikTokif you want to, or have some me
time in the morning, or you canstart working out in the morning
(39:37):
instead Doing half of yourworkout in the morning.
Maybe you do your weights athome in the morning and then you
do your cardio after, or viceversa.
So there's these little thingsthat can build on other things
as you free up spaces of timeand become more efficient.
Maybe that's what I should callthis podcast like to use time
more efficiently for yourroutines.
(39:59):
But yeah, so you would havealready prepped lunch.
You could also spend that timeprepping yourself a more
nutritious breakfast if you'rethe type of person that really
likes breakfast and you want tohave a more interesting
breakfast than just a proteinshake in an RX bar.
I mean, personally I'm not abig breakfast really.
During the week I just have amatcha for my breakfast and if
(40:22):
I'm still hungry I'll have somefruit or I'll have a bar or
whatever, and then I make up forthat nutrition later in the day
, because I'm a big lunch anddinner fan.
But people love breakfast,right, and they would love to be
able to have something likelittle egg cups or things like
that.
And so if you end up havingthat extra time where you can
make something like that, youcan make extras there and then
(40:45):
you have that for breakfasttomorrow and then you still have
that 20 minutes back for you to, you know, do something else.
And so, yeah, this stuff kindof builds on itself and your
life starts to become a lot moreefficient and to make a lot
more sense and to you feel a lotless like a chicken with your
(41:06):
head cut off, you know.
And then, of course, things comeup right Like not always going
to get the chance to go out bythe gym right after work because
, you know, I don't know, maybeyour kid has like a soccer game
you have to go to, or you needto go pick up your mom from Dr
Point, I don't know.
Whatever there might be thingsgoing on.
And that's fine too, because ifyou've built the routine, or at
(41:29):
least you know that that iswhat, you have that routine
memorized, you can either fallright back into it the next day
or you can start adjusting yourlife to where you exercise at a
different time.
Speaking of exercise, probablythe best times to do that would
be right before work, not at thecrack of dawn, if you can help
(41:53):
it like sleep, sleep guys.
Sleep is so important, butbefore work is a good time and
then right after work isprobably the best time for
people who work full time.
If you don't, or if you workfrom home and you have the
chance to working out at yourlunch break is probably like
been more ideal.
If you don't work at all or youhave a completely flexible
schedule, about 10 AM isprobably the ideal time.
(42:15):
In case you were wondering, now, personally I don't work out at
10 AM cause I dance and that'smy workout right now.
Well, I guess I do see mytrainer at like 10 on Thursdays,
but their workouts all happenin the evenings, and so I've had
to adjust my routine and myschedule to accommodate the
consequences of that, becausethere are consequences to it.
(42:36):
If you guys are curious, I cantalk about another time, but
make sure that we close up onthe right note here, okay, so
this is really key.
Why are we doing all this?
Why is it even important in thefirst place?
Been important in the firstplace?
(42:58):
We have to think about takingcare of ourselves from the
perspective of the investmentthat it makes in not just
ourselves, but in the entirerest of our life and all of our
relationships.
So people might hear talkingabout this and say, like well,
you know, that's a nice idea, itsounds great, but in actuality,
like still probably not goingto be able to do it because this
(43:19):
, this and that, and you know,I'm just probably not going to
do it because too hard, it's toomuch and takes away.
I think a lot of us are nervousabout doing something like
stopping after work and workingout and bumping dinner back an
hour, because it takes away fromtime, precious time with our
(43:41):
family and our loved ones andall of that, and so it's easy to
kind of be like no, I don'twant to do that today because
you know, or my kids need, theyneed dinner at six and I have to
be home in order to feed themat six and that.
So I want to remind you ofaside from the old cliche about
putting your mask on and all ofthat is remember that when you
(44:03):
invest in yourself, you areinvesting in other people.
Think about the difference inenergy level between the first
example and the second example.
The first woman is justdragging, trying to get to her
bed at night, right, and a lotof her feelings and emotions are
(44:25):
very interior.
She's in her head, she's likethinking she's either
daydreaming or she's zoned outon her phone, or she's tired and
she's like, or you know, she'sjust not fully present because
she's so exhausted she doesn'tfeel good.
Her blood sugar is probably allover the place too.
(44:47):
So is that woman really givingmore of herself to her family?
She might be giving them moretime.
There's quantity time andquality time, right, and at the
end of the day, people are goingto remember the quality time
spent together, not so much thequantity of time.
So let's say that woman doesstart taking care of herself and
(45:12):
do, like this day.
Think about how much moreenergetic she's going to be and
what a better mood she's goingto be.
People who are not taking careof themselves tend to be more
negative.
They tend to be more boggeddown.
They tend to be more.
You know that tiredness makesit hard for you to see the
positives and have gratitude andall of those things the
(45:32):
positives and have gratitude andall of those things.
But a person who is taking careof themselves can see the
bigger picture easier, lessirritable and angry, is overall
just more positive and happy.
And that's going to bleed intothe relationships.
That's going to bleed intorelationships with your partner
husband, wife, whatevergirlfriend, whoever it is.
That's your partner.
It's going to bleed into yourrelationship there.
(45:53):
It's going to bleed into yourrelationships with your kids, if
you have kids.
So they are going to get adifferent type of mom or they're
going to get a different typeof partner, and I can guarantee
you that most partners are goingto prefer happier version of
their partner, even if they getslightly less time with them,
(46:15):
because then you can reallyenjoy that you have together Can
lead into another conversationabout partners who sabotage you.
If you've experienced that, letme know I've been thinking about
doing a podcast about that, butfor that, taking care of
yourself is really not justabout you at the end of the day.
Self is really not just aboutyou at the end of the day Should
have you at the forefront.
Positive side effect of it isthat it ends up being care for
(46:43):
everyone around you at the sametime.
So today we talked aboutprioritizing our self-care.
We discussed the differencebetween a day where we're not
taking care of ourselves and aday where we get into those hard
choices that end uprealistically serving us, and we
discussed the importance ofthat and how that bleeds into
(47:06):
the rest of our life andimproves our mood and our
relationships and all of thosethings and our relationships and
all of those things.
Hopefully it was enlighteningto you or it at least inspired
you to wake up tomorrow and dosomething hard, and it's a
worthwhile cause.
Really, you are a worthwhilecause.
I'm thinking about the way thata lot of us up and are
(47:30):
conditioned to where we reallyjust don't think that it's right
or while, to put ourselves infirst place, there can be like
there's usually a lot ofconditioning around.
That and, trust me, I know forme actually ends up being the
best thing for everybody, notjust you, when you take care of
(47:53):
you.
So if you guys have ideas thatI didn't cover or things you'd
love to add, I'd love to hearfrom you.
Let me know and get to go tothe description box below.
Sign up for those newslettersso that you can hear, first of
all so you can get my Fridaynewsletter, but also so you can
hear about the group programs,if you're interested in that,
(48:13):
and just stay up to date withthings that I've got going on,
and I will see you next week foranother episode.
Have a good day.
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