November 22, 2024 • 22 mins
Originally aired December 2022.
I hope this fun 5ish episode leaves you feeling nourished, encouraged and connected to yourself and our community this holiday/4th quarter season. You (still) deserve to feel good behind the drape.
Additional Resources:
- Try out Lindywell at home Pilates for Free
- Meal subscription services I have used before include Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, Green Chef, Sunfresh, Home Chef
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Awakened Anesthetist podcast,
the first podcast to highlightthe CAA experience.
I'm your host, mary Jean, andI've been a certified
anesthesiologist assistant forclose to two decades.
Throughout my journey andstruggles I've searched for
guidance that includes my uniqueperspective as a CAA.
(00:23):
At one of my lowest points, Idecided to turn my passion for
storytelling and my belief thatthe CAA profession is uniquely
able to create a life by designinto a podcast.
If you are a practicing CAA,current AA student or someone
who hopes to be one, I encourageyou to stick around and
(00:44):
experience the power of being ina community filled with voices
who sound like yours, sharingexperiences you never believed
possible.
I know you will find yourselfhere at the Awakened Anesthetist
Podcast.
Welcome in.
Hello Awakened Anesthetistcommunity.
(01:04):
Here in the United States we arepreparing for Thanksgiving,
which means different things todifferent people.
Here in the Roberts householdwe've kind of gotten away from
the more traditionalThanksgiving and now we just
look at it as a time to gettogether with our extended
family.
My sister has a very largefamily that comes up from Ohio
family.
(01:24):
My sister has a very largefamily that comes up from Ohio,
where I'm from, to Missouri,where I live now to celebrate
Thanksgiving, so I'm preppingfor that, and because I'm
prepping for that and because Ihost Thanksgiving every year, I
decided to air this replayepisode, which was from December
2022.
I'm not sure how many of youall were listening to Awaken
Anestis podcast back in theearly days.
(01:46):
I believe I posted my firstepisode in 2021, but I
definitely was recording thingsand sort of hoarding them, sort
of scared to release them for awhile.
So I had a whole bunch ofepisodes right when I launched
and since then this podcast hastaken me oh so many places and
it's just been such a source ofjoy.
But it absolutely takes my timeand energy and commitment, and
(02:11):
so I am using this chance toplay one of my older episodes,
which still really rings true.
I actually just listened back tothis right before I'm recording
this introduction here and itwas interesting how much had
stayed the same and how therewere a few things different.
I give you five holiday hacksthat have really guided me as I
(02:33):
become an adult and have to dothings like host Thanksgiving
and clean my house and raise mychildren and sort of do all of
these spinning plates at thesame time, while, of course,
working as a CAA and I want torecognize that a holiday does
not mean you're necessarily athome entertaining your family,
because it very well could meanthat you are working at the
(02:55):
hospital and you're the oneperson there overnight, and it
can be extremely lonely andisolating, and I sort of touch
on this in the episode as well.
One of the hacks specificallyhas to do with the on-call
person for each holiday here, aswe're approaching a big holiday
season, but I think that all ofthe hacks are still really
(03:16):
relevant.
I went and updated some of thelinks and, yeah, I just think
it's an interesting episode.
It was interesting for me tolisten back to.
You can hear sort of early days, mary.
Even my voice sounded a littledifferent.
I think I maybe was possiblysick in this episode or
something, but it was justreally cool to listen back and I
hope it's helpful for you all.
(03:36):
I hope everyone has a wonderfulThanksgiving, a holiday season,
however you celebrate, and Iwill be back next week with a
brand new process episode.
All right, happy holidayseveryone.
Hello, and happy holidays toall my Anestis colleagues.
This is your host and fellowCAA, mary Jean.
(03:57):
Welcome to the Awaken Anestispodcast and the latest episode
of 5-ish Minutes of Mindfulness.
From the title I hope you cantell this will be a fun,
slightly different episode inthis 5ish Minutes format.
The cold weather here inMissouri is approaching and with
it comes all the variousholiday seasons, a whole bucket
(04:20):
of expectations for us and nowin my life, the somewhat dreaded
holiday school breaks where mykiddos will be home more.
And, to be perfectly honest,the weather change alone can get
me feeling pretty doom andgloom about it all, and I for
sure struggle with seasonalaffective disorder, and I was
(04:44):
recently diagnosed with OCD andthat tends to flare up around
the colder, darker months.
With that, my perfectionismseems to come up, my body image,
you know, always seems tofalter a little bit, and just a
lot of the extra familycommitments that I would love to
do and want to do they takeaway from the other things that
(05:05):
I want to do or the quiet timethat I feel like I need with
myself, and so there's just alot pulling at me in these
months.
And so, after having gonethrough this for a number of
years and been more and more intune with what makes me feel not
so good and what tends to helpme feel better, I decided to try
(05:25):
to put a little early and extraeffort in this season like
while the weather is stillsemi-nice to keep my mood up and
more stable before things gettoo dark in every sense of the
word.
So I put together this list offive things that I have done in
years past during this holidayseason this fourth quarter, in
(05:46):
terms of surgery and anesthesia.
If you're in a portion of thecountry that tends to get cooler
or darker during this end ofthe year season, hopefully some
things on this list will helpyou, and I want personally to
implement these things in mylife earlier than I had
previously, and I want to bemore intentional with them, and
(06:06):
so I'm hoping that a few of themresonate with you, or all of
them, and they help you feel alittle bit brighter if you're
struggling right now in work orlife, like I tend to be, and so
my first holiday hack issomething that I would love our
CAA community to take and runwith in all our various
locations that we giveanesthesia.
(06:27):
So what I want you to do thisholiday season is to identify
which colleague, whichanesthetist colleague, is going
to be on call, either day callor night call, however your
institution does it.
If you guys do a call day onthe upcoming major holidays and
ensure that that person receivessome sort of special gift or a
(06:50):
gift basket in the call room,unbeknownst to them when they
walk in that morning or thatevening.
I think it's a really wonderfulidea.
Regardless if the colleague isa CAA or a CRNA or an
anesthesiologist Perhaps noone's on call at your hospital
except for the night team, thenurses you could give them a
(07:10):
gift from the anesthesiadepartment that you know appears
on, let's say, christmas Day orNew Year's Eve in their break
room.
I just think it is a reallywonderful, simple thing to do to
build the culture that we allhope to have, I think, at a
hospital or the place that wework, and so I offer it up to
you and hope that this ideacatches on.
(07:32):
At one of the places that I usedto work, someone did this for
us and it was kind of like asecret thing.
I never actually understood whowas doing that, but it was just
so nice.
One Easter I received a basketwhen I was on call.
You know, just being away fromyour family, and it's just so
nice.
One Easter I received a basketwhen I was on call.
You know just being away fromyour family and it's just so
nice to walk into the call roomand know that someone was
thinking about you.
It was just a really unexpectedjoy and I really was
(07:53):
appreciative of it, and I thinkI got one on a Christmas Eve
when I was on call.
It doesn't have to be anythinghuge, it's just something to let
that person who's in thehospital, away from their family
and their friends, overwhatever holiday, day or night
it is, you know.
Let them know that theircolleagues have thought about
them and that because they'rethere, everyone else gets to be
(08:13):
at home celebrating, and that isan appreciated thing,
especially in the, you know,medical anesthesia world.
So that's holiday hack numberone.
I hope everyone runs out andgoes and does that.
The second holiday hack issomething I have done for
probably the past two or threeyears, but basically, when the
weather gets cold and dark, Ireally start to go inward and I
(08:34):
lose motivation and I just startto feel overall icky, and so I
have realized that taking thingsoff my plate during this season
is crucial to conserve myenergy for the things that I
really want or need to be doing,and so cooking meals is
something that I have realizedthat I can more easily outsource
or can lighten my load, and sowhat I have done for the past
(08:56):
two or three years is I havejust cycled through all of the
meal prep delivery services.
I've cycled through their intropromotions, so if you're
unfamiliar, let's just pick onelike HelloFresh is one that I've
done before.
Basically, when you sign up youget 16 free meals or you get a
(09:16):
certain amount of money off,let's say $200 off your first
four or five boxes, and sousually the first box you
receive, and usually you receivea box a week in most of these
companies.
They all run very similarly youreceive a box a week, and so
those first one or two boxeshave a larger discount attached
to them, and then they spreadout the remainder of those free
(09:39):
meals or those dollars off overthe next four to six boxes.
So you're kind of locked in toreceive this promotion if you
receive the whole thing for anumber of weeks.
Now what I would do is I wouldsign up for HelloFresh, I would
use the majority of their freeweeks or their more heavily
(09:59):
discounted weeks.
I would then cancel thesubscription when the discounts
start to reduce.
And I would start the sameprocess again with Green Chef or
Sun Basket or what are someother ones Blue Apron, I've done
, home Chef I've done, and theyall have a very similar process.
And I know that maybe thisseems like a lot of work, but
(10:20):
truly, for whatever reason, thissystem has been created by
these companies to be easy tostart and also easy to cancel.
Now you do have to remember tocancel the boxes.
You kind of need to bereminding yourself of when you
are going to cancel theHelloFresh subscription and
start the other subscriptions,and so you can weigh in your own
life if that seems like toomuch for you or you know it's
(10:42):
not a big enough benefit.
But I do suggest at least tryingout one of those subscription
boxes, because even if you justtry one and you use the promo
period and then you stick withit for the next two or three
months, I do think it doeslighten your load.
It lightens my load.
It absolutely adds some varietyto what you're eating.
(11:03):
It lightens my load.
It absolutely adds some varietyto what you're eating.
Most of them.
You can order a few ready-madeor pre-made meals that come
frozen and then you can put themjust directly into the oven.
A lot of the companies arestarting to offer at least one
or two meals every week that way, and so it was just a really
nice way to lower my burden.
You know, when I came home fromwork, or when you were home at
4 pm, it was already dark.
(11:23):
I could just not have to go tothe grocery store.
I could just take out theingredients and start cooking it
by this really nicely laid outrecipe card and at the end have
a really yummy meal.
So currently I don't have anycodes to offer you.
I would love to offer you somecodes, but honestly, you should
just do a little bit of duediligence and look online.
It is so easy.
Oftentimes, when you just go tothe website, there is a coupon
(11:47):
code that you can just.
You know it's a pop-up thatcomes and you just put in that
code and they're basicallygiving you free money, free
boxes to kind of entice you inand then hope that you don't
ever leave.
So you can play it however youwant, and I really was not
overwhelmed by it.
Everything's done online.
You can cancel right away.
It's not like there's some30-day notice or anything.
(12:08):
So I offer that up andhopefully it helps someone.
The third holiday hack is inrelation to cleaning.
So I don't know that this ismaybe too general of a statement
, but I would say a lot of CAAsare kind of type A, maybe
perfectionists.
That's definitely two wordsthat I use to identify myself,
(12:29):
for better and for worse, andone of the things that really
stresses me out is the fact thatI love hosting, I love having
people over, but I tend to getstressed, and when I'm stressed
I tend to start freaking outabout cleanliness and getting
the house clean and picking upeverything.
And so my friend gave me thisadvice that her grandmother had
(12:51):
gave her and I, just like mylife was forever changed, and it
was that when you are hosting,it is best to conserve your
energy by just doing spotcleaning around your house,
maybe picking up the big piles.
You know, don't worry about thekids' rooms, shut those doors.
If you have extra rooms in yourhouses that no one's probably
going to go into, just shut thedoor, don't worry about it.
You can spot clean the kitchen.
(13:13):
She did say to do a deeper cleanon the bathrooms, just to make
sure that the guest bathroom istidy for any guests who would
use it.
She's like but don't go crazyabout the floors.
Like, as soon as your firstguests walk in the door, if they
see a crumb or step on a crumbor there's like a paper towel on
the floor, they're just goingto think that it was other party
guests or that it was just partof the party atmosphere.
(13:34):
It wasn't like, because yourhouse is always in the state of
disrepair, and so it really gaveme permission to not try to get
the house perfect before guestsarrive, but just well enough
and then scrub the toilet andwe're good.
And then, after you're donehosting, when your guests leave
a day or two later, you can do adeep clean of your house so
(13:54):
that it's really nice and cleanfor you and you know, you can
kind of have that clean slatefeeling.
And then the other thing that Iwould like to offer is that if
you are someone who does have acleaning service, come to your
home.
We do, we have someone comeonce every month and it is well
worth the investment.
The cleaning companies tend tooffer holiday cleaning discounts
(14:18):
.
So I know our company isoffering $30 off a holiday
cleaning.
Our company is offering $30 offa holiday cleaning.
And so let me see here we pay$297, I believe, once a month to
have our home cleaned, which tome is invaluable and well worth
the price.
And then if we were to havethem come and clean a second
time immediately afterThanksgiving or before
(14:40):
Thanksgiving, which I don'trecommend, but sometime around
the holidays you would get a $30coupon for that clean.
Call your local companies, callyour cleaning company and see
if they can offer you anydiscounts.
Fourth tip has to do withhosting.
I guess I host Thanksgiving.
I should probably have saidthat and so a lot of these pain
points are things that I havecome up as I've hosted
(15:01):
Thanksgiving, since we havemoved here-ish, at least into
this house we live in now, whichwas in 2012.
Helps is just to be extremelyclear about what you want people
to bring.
So what you want your guests tobring to your holiday gathering
(15:22):
.
I tend to, about two weeksbefore, email everyone or text
everyone who's on my guest listand just be like this is exactly
what I'm making.
I could use a dessert, I coulduse someone to bring drinks, I
could use, you know, whateveryour list is, and then people
can pick it, or if you have thetype of relationship where you
think your aunt and uncle andyour cousin would rather just be
(15:44):
assigned something.
I do think people tend to shyaway from that very direct
communication, especially aroundthe holidays when there's big
gatherings, but at least in myexperience it has always been
well-received.
I have learned that I have anaunt who likes to make the sweet
potato casserole and she likesto make a dessert, and so I tend
to ask her to make the thingsthat she's made previously that
(16:07):
have gone over really well.
I think it shows that I'veappreciated what she's done
before.
I think it makes everyone feelgood when like, oh, you have
that delicious potato casserolethat everyone likes, can you
make that again?
Or you have that awesome fruitsalad that people love, can you
make that?
I think it shows some care andconcern for the person and it
also makes my life as the hosteasier and I think it makes the
(16:29):
guest life easier.
Now, that holiday hack may notbe exactly what would fit into
your life or your family dynamicor friends dynamic, but I think
it just is an invitation tojust be more clear in your
communication around theholidays.
It is a high stress period andI think that we all could do
better if we just directlycommunicate our needs to other
(16:52):
people and allow them to givethe help that we need, and we
need to be able to ask for thehelp that we desire.
Last holiday hack is the factthat oftentimes my body, like my
physical body, tends to notwant to move as much.
Perhaps in the winter, I lovedoing a lot of different forms
(17:15):
of exercise and I struggle tostay in the house and exercise.
I love going to classes orcycling or Pilates and to be in
that group community, and thenwhen the weather gets cold, I
tend to not want to leave thehouse.
But because I then don't likeworking out as much at home, I
tend to not move my body as much, and that just sends me in a
tailspin, because moving my bodyis very much linked to my
(17:36):
mental health as well as just myphysical health, and so I have
found this absolutely amazingplatform called Lindy Well, it's
an online platform that doesvery short Pilates exercises.
With Pilates may just beenvisioning yoga right now, and
(17:59):
I would say it has a similarmind-body awareness like yoga
does, but yoga tends to beperhaps a little bit more
spiritual or it tends to be alittle bit more potentially
forceful, I guess.
And Pilates is a much gentlermovement as certainly in the
beginning can start out verygentle and then you can progress
.
But it is all about a lot ofcore work and a lot of like
(18:20):
building a strong body from theinside out.
I've been using Lindy Well forthe past three years and I
cannot say enough good thingsabout it.
It is so approachable.
The, I think, four or fiveteachers that they have on the
platform.
They all are likable.
They are very clear in terms ofexplaining the movements to you
.
If you're new to Pilates and Ijust love that there are a lot
(18:41):
of short format exerciseroutines or Pilates routines you
do not have to change out ofthe clothes you're wearing.
I mean, I've done themsometimes in some stretchy jeans
.
I've done them in my bathrobebefore.
It doesn't require, you know,if you're a female, it doesn't
necessarily require you to puton a sports bra Like it just is
something that fits really wellinto my life in a very easy,
(19:04):
tangible way.
If I'm locked inside or if Idon't want to do anything, I can
just shoot on to this onlineplatform and do something, move
my body, and it always feels sogood, and so I just wanted to
offer that up to this community.
If you are looking forsomething to do when you're
stuck in the house or somethingjust to kind of break you out of
like an icky mood or ickyfeeling, I have gone to this
(19:27):
Lindy Well Pilates platform timeand time again and had that
exact result.
I'm always thankful that I doat least a 15-minute exercise
routine with Lindy Well.
So those are my five holidayhacks.
I would love to hear any holidayhacks that you guys have that
makes you feel good or makesthis fourth quarter season go
(19:48):
smoother.
Anything related to anesthesiaor life.
You should email me atawakenedanesthetist at gmailcom.
If I get a bunch of them, I'llput them in the next Awakened
Anesthetist community newsletterand if you have not signed up
yet for that AwakenedAnesthetist newsletter, you can
do so via the link in the shownotes.
I sent out just one newslettera month and hopefully will
(20:12):
continue to build and to be avaluable resource for you all,
and so I really appreciate yourinput, as always.
If you like this episode andwant to hear more like it, leave
me a rating and review on Appleor Spotify.
I really appreciate you guysputting the effort into giving
me some feedback and hopefullywe can continue this
conversation over in theAwakened Anesthes community.
(20:34):
I hope you guys all have awonderful holiday season and a
last good few weeks to the endof the year.
I will see you next year.
Talk soon.
Welcome to the Awakened Anesthetist podcast,
the first podcast to highlightthe CAA experience.
I'm your host, mary Jean, andI've been a certified
anesthesiologist assistant forclose to two decades.
Throughout my journey andstruggles I've searched for
guidance that includes my uniqueperspective as a CAA.
(00:23):
At one of my lowest points, Idecided to turn my passion for
storytelling and my belief thatthe CAA profession is uniquely
able to create a life by designinto a podcast.
If you are a practicing CAA,current AA student or someone
who hopes to be one, I encourageyou to stick around and
(00:44):
experience the power of being ina community filled with voices
who sound like yours, sharingexperiences you never believed
possible.
I know you will find yourselfhere at the Awakened Anesthetist
Podcast.
Welcome in.
Hello Awakened Anesthetistcommunity.
(01:04):
Here in the United States we arepreparing for Thanksgiving,
which means different things todifferent people.
Here in the Roberts householdwe've kind of gotten away from
the more traditionalThanksgiving and now we just
look at it as a time to gettogether with our extended
family.
My sister has a very largefamily that comes up from Ohio
family.
(01:24):
My sister has a very largefamily that comes up from Ohio,
where I'm from, to Missouri,where I live now to celebrate
Thanksgiving, so I'm preppingfor that, and because I'm
prepping for that and because Ihost Thanksgiving every year, I
decided to air this replayepisode, which was from December
2022.
I'm not sure how many of youall were listening to Awaken
Anestis podcast back in theearly days.
(01:46):
I believe I posted my firstepisode in 2021, but I
definitely was recording thingsand sort of hoarding them, sort
of scared to release them for awhile.
So I had a whole bunch ofepisodes right when I launched
and since then this podcast hastaken me oh so many places and
it's just been such a source ofjoy.
But it absolutely takes my timeand energy and commitment, and
(02:11):
so I am using this chance toplay one of my older episodes,
which still really rings true.
I actually just listened back tothis right before I'm recording
this introduction here and itwas interesting how much had
stayed the same and how therewere a few things different.
I give you five holiday hacksthat have really guided me as I
(02:33):
become an adult and have to dothings like host Thanksgiving
and clean my house and raise mychildren and sort of do all of
these spinning plates at thesame time, while, of course,
working as a CAA and I want torecognize that a holiday does
not mean you're necessarily athome entertaining your family,
because it very well could meanthat you are working at the
(02:55):
hospital and you're the oneperson there overnight, and it
can be extremely lonely andisolating, and I sort of touch
on this in the episode as well.
One of the hacks specificallyhas to do with the on-call
person for each holiday here, aswe're approaching a big holiday
season, but I think that all ofthe hacks are still really
(03:16):
relevant.
I went and updated some of thelinks and, yeah, I just think
it's an interesting episode.
It was interesting for me tolisten back to.
You can hear sort of early days, mary.
Even my voice sounded a littledifferent.
I think I maybe was possiblysick in this episode or
something, but it was justreally cool to listen back and I
hope it's helpful for you all.
(03:36):
I hope everyone has a wonderfulThanksgiving, a holiday season,
however you celebrate, and Iwill be back next week with a
brand new process episode.
All right, happy holidayseveryone.
Hello, and happy holidays toall my Anestis colleagues.
This is your host and fellowCAA, mary Jean.
(03:57):
Welcome to the Awaken Anestispodcast and the latest episode
of 5-ish Minutes of Mindfulness.
From the title I hope you cantell this will be a fun,
slightly different episode inthis 5ish Minutes format.
The cold weather here inMissouri is approaching and with
it comes all the variousholiday seasons, a whole bucket
(04:20):
of expectations for us and nowin my life, the somewhat dreaded
holiday school breaks where mykiddos will be home more.
And, to be perfectly honest,the weather change alone can get
me feeling pretty doom andgloom about it all, and I for
sure struggle with seasonalaffective disorder, and I was
(04:44):
recently diagnosed with OCD andthat tends to flare up around
the colder, darker months.
With that, my perfectionismseems to come up, my body image,
you know, always seems tofalter a little bit, and just a
lot of the extra familycommitments that I would love to
do and want to do they takeaway from the other things that
(05:05):
I want to do or the quiet timethat I feel like I need with
myself, and so there's just alot pulling at me in these
months.
And so, after having gonethrough this for a number of
years and been more and more intune with what makes me feel not
so good and what tends to helpme feel better, I decided to try
(05:25):
to put a little early and extraeffort in this season like
while the weather is stillsemi-nice to keep my mood up and
more stable before things gettoo dark in every sense of the
word.
So I put together this list offive things that I have done in
years past during this holidayseason this fourth quarter, in
(05:46):
terms of surgery and anesthesia.
If you're in a portion of thecountry that tends to get cooler
or darker during this end ofthe year season, hopefully some
things on this list will helpyou, and I want personally to
implement these things in mylife earlier than I had
previously, and I want to bemore intentional with them, and
(06:06):
so I'm hoping that a few of themresonate with you, or all of
them, and they help you feel alittle bit brighter if you're
struggling right now in work orlife, like I tend to be, and so
my first holiday hack issomething that I would love our
CAA community to take and runwith in all our various
locations that we giveanesthesia.
(06:27):
So what I want you to do thisholiday season is to identify
which colleague, whichanesthetist colleague, is going
to be on call, either day callor night call, however your
institution does it.
If you guys do a call day onthe upcoming major holidays and
ensure that that person receivessome sort of special gift or a
(06:50):
gift basket in the call room,unbeknownst to them when they
walk in that morning or thatevening.
I think it's a really wonderfulidea.
Regardless if the colleague isa CAA or a CRNA or an
anesthesiologist Perhaps noone's on call at your hospital
except for the night team, thenurses you could give them a
(07:10):
gift from the anesthesiadepartment that you know appears
on, let's say, christmas Day orNew Year's Eve in their break
room.
I just think it is a reallywonderful, simple thing to do to
build the culture that we allhope to have, I think, at a
hospital or the place that wework, and so I offer it up to
you and hope that this ideacatches on.
(07:32):
At one of the places that I usedto work, someone did this for
us and it was kind of like asecret thing.
I never actually understood whowas doing that, but it was just
so nice.
One Easter I received a basketwhen I was on call.
You know, just being away fromyour family, and it's just so
nice.
One Easter I received a basketwhen I was on call.
You know just being away fromyour family and it's just so
nice to walk into the call roomand know that someone was
thinking about you.
It was just a really unexpectedjoy and I really was
(07:53):
appreciative of it, and I thinkI got one on a Christmas Eve
when I was on call.
It doesn't have to be anythinghuge, it's just something to let
that person who's in thehospital, away from their family
and their friends, overwhatever holiday, day or night
it is, you know.
Let them know that theircolleagues have thought about
them and that because they'rethere, everyone else gets to be
(08:13):
at home celebrating, and that isan appreciated thing,
especially in the, you know,medical anesthesia world.
So that's holiday hack numberone.
I hope everyone runs out andgoes and does that.
The second holiday hack issomething I have done for
probably the past two or threeyears, but basically, when the
weather gets cold and dark, Ireally start to go inward and I
(08:34):
lose motivation and I just startto feel overall icky, and so I
have realized that taking thingsoff my plate during this season
is crucial to conserve myenergy for the things that I
really want or need to be doing,and so cooking meals is
something that I have realizedthat I can more easily outsource
or can lighten my load, and sowhat I have done for the past
(08:56):
two or three years is I havejust cycled through all of the
meal prep delivery services.
I've cycled through their intropromotions, so if you're
unfamiliar, let's just pick onelike HelloFresh is one that I've
done before.
Basically, when you sign up youget 16 free meals or you get a
(09:16):
certain amount of money off,let's say $200 off your first
four or five boxes, and sousually the first box you
receive, and usually you receivea box a week in most of these
companies.
They all run very similarly youreceive a box a week, and so
those first one or two boxeshave a larger discount attached
to them, and then they spreadout the remainder of those free
(09:39):
meals or those dollars off overthe next four to six boxes.
So you're kind of locked in toreceive this promotion if you
receive the whole thing for anumber of weeks.
Now what I would do is I wouldsign up for HelloFresh, I would
use the majority of their freeweeks or their more heavily
(09:59):
discounted weeks.
I would then cancel thesubscription when the discounts
start to reduce.
And I would start the sameprocess again with Green Chef or
Sun Basket or what are someother ones Blue Apron, I've done
, home Chef I've done, and theyall have a very similar process.
And I know that maybe thisseems like a lot of work, but
(10:20):
truly, for whatever reason, thissystem has been created by
these companies to be easy tostart and also easy to cancel.
Now you do have to remember tocancel the boxes.
You kind of need to bereminding yourself of when you
are going to cancel theHelloFresh subscription and
start the other subscriptions,and so you can weigh in your own
life if that seems like toomuch for you or you know it's
(10:42):
not a big enough benefit.
But I do suggest at least tryingout one of those subscription
boxes, because even if you justtry one and you use the promo
period and then you stick withit for the next two or three
months, I do think it doeslighten your load.
It lightens my load.
It absolutely adds some varietyto what you're eating.
(11:03):
It lightens my load.
It absolutely adds some varietyto what you're eating.
Most of them.
You can order a few ready-madeor pre-made meals that come
frozen and then you can put themjust directly into the oven.
A lot of the companies arestarting to offer at least one
or two meals every week that way, and so it was just a really
nice way to lower my burden.
You know, when I came home fromwork, or when you were home at
4 pm, it was already dark.
(11:23):
I could just not have to go tothe grocery store.
I could just take out theingredients and start cooking it
by this really nicely laid outrecipe card and at the end have
a really yummy meal.
So currently I don't have anycodes to offer you.
I would love to offer you somecodes, but honestly, you should
just do a little bit of duediligence and look online.
It is so easy.
Oftentimes, when you just go tothe website, there is a coupon
(11:47):
code that you can just.
You know it's a pop-up thatcomes and you just put in that
code and they're basicallygiving you free money, free
boxes to kind of entice you inand then hope that you don't
ever leave.
So you can play it however youwant, and I really was not
overwhelmed by it.
Everything's done online.
You can cancel right away.
It's not like there's some30-day notice or anything.
(12:08):
So I offer that up andhopefully it helps someone.
The third holiday hack is inrelation to cleaning.
So I don't know that this ismaybe too general of a statement
, but I would say a lot of CAAsare kind of type A, maybe
perfectionists.
That's definitely two wordsthat I use to identify myself,
(12:29):
for better and for worse, andone of the things that really
stresses me out is the fact thatI love hosting, I love having
people over, but I tend to getstressed, and when I'm stressed
I tend to start freaking outabout cleanliness and getting
the house clean and picking upeverything.
And so my friend gave me thisadvice that her grandmother had
(12:51):
gave her and I, just like mylife was forever changed, and it
was that when you are hosting,it is best to conserve your
energy by just doing spotcleaning around your house,
maybe picking up the big piles.
You know, don't worry about thekids' rooms, shut those doors.
If you have extra rooms in yourhouses that no one's probably
going to go into, just shut thedoor, don't worry about it.
You can spot clean the kitchen.
(13:13):
She did say to do a deeper cleanon the bathrooms, just to make
sure that the guest bathroom istidy for any guests who would
use it.
She's like but don't go crazyabout the floors.
Like, as soon as your firstguests walk in the door, if they
see a crumb or step on a crumbor there's like a paper towel on
the floor, they're just goingto think that it was other party
guests or that it was just partof the party atmosphere.
(13:34):
It wasn't like, because yourhouse is always in the state of
disrepair, and so it really gaveme permission to not try to get
the house perfect before guestsarrive, but just well enough
and then scrub the toilet andwe're good.
And then, after you're donehosting, when your guests leave
a day or two later, you can do adeep clean of your house so
(13:54):
that it's really nice and cleanfor you and you know, you can
kind of have that clean slatefeeling.
And then the other thing that Iwould like to offer is that if
you are someone who does have acleaning service, come to your
home.
We do, we have someone comeonce every month and it is well
worth the investment.
The cleaning companies tend tooffer holiday cleaning discounts
(14:18):
.
So I know our company isoffering $30 off a holiday
cleaning.
Our company is offering $30 offa holiday cleaning.
And so let me see here we pay$297, I believe, once a month to
have our home cleaned, which tome is invaluable and well worth
the price.
And then if we were to havethem come and clean a second
time immediately afterThanksgiving or before
(14:40):
Thanksgiving, which I don'trecommend, but sometime around
the holidays you would get a $30coupon for that clean.
Call your local companies, callyour cleaning company and see
if they can offer you anydiscounts.
Fourth tip has to do withhosting.
I guess I host Thanksgiving.
I should probably have saidthat and so a lot of these pain
points are things that I havecome up as I've hosted
(15:01):
Thanksgiving, since we havemoved here-ish, at least into
this house we live in now, whichwas in 2012.
Helps is just to be extremelyclear about what you want people
to bring.
So what you want your guests tobring to your holiday gathering
(15:22):
.
I tend to, about two weeksbefore, email everyone or text
everyone who's on my guest listand just be like this is exactly
what I'm making.
I could use a dessert, I coulduse someone to bring drinks, I
could use, you know, whateveryour list is, and then people
can pick it, or if you have thetype of relationship where you
think your aunt and uncle andyour cousin would rather just be
(15:44):
assigned something.
I do think people tend to shyaway from that very direct
communication, especially aroundthe holidays when there's big
gatherings, but at least in myexperience it has always been
well-received.
I have learned that I have anaunt who likes to make the sweet
potato casserole and she likesto make a dessert, and so I tend
to ask her to make the thingsthat she's made previously that
(16:07):
have gone over really well.
I think it shows that I'veappreciated what she's done
before.
I think it makes everyone feelgood when like, oh, you have
that delicious potato casserolethat everyone likes, can you
make that again?
Or you have that awesome fruitsalad that people love, can you
make that?
I think it shows some care andconcern for the person and it
also makes my life as the hosteasier and I think it makes the
(16:29):
guest life easier.
Now, that holiday hack may notbe exactly what would fit into
your life or your family dynamicor friends dynamic, but I think
it just is an invitation tojust be more clear in your
communication around theholidays.
It is a high stress period andI think that we all could do
better if we just directlycommunicate our needs to other
(16:52):
people and allow them to givethe help that we need, and we
need to be able to ask for thehelp that we desire.
Last holiday hack is the factthat oftentimes my body, like my
physical body, tends to notwant to move as much.
Perhaps in the winter, I lovedoing a lot of different forms
(17:15):
of exercise and I struggle tostay in the house and exercise.
I love going to classes orcycling or Pilates and to be in
that group community, and thenwhen the weather gets cold, I
tend to not want to leave thehouse.
But because I then don't likeworking out as much at home, I
tend to not move my body as much, and that just sends me in a
tailspin, because moving my bodyis very much linked to my
(17:36):
mental health as well as just myphysical health, and so I have
found this absolutely amazingplatform called Lindy Well, it's
an online platform that doesvery short Pilates exercises.
With Pilates may just beenvisioning yoga right now, and
(17:59):
I would say it has a similarmind-body awareness like yoga
does, but yoga tends to beperhaps a little bit more
spiritual or it tends to be alittle bit more potentially
forceful, I guess.
And Pilates is a much gentlermovement as certainly in the
beginning can start out verygentle and then you can progress
.
But it is all about a lot ofcore work and a lot of like
(18:20):
building a strong body from theinside out.
I've been using Lindy Well forthe past three years and I
cannot say enough good thingsabout it.
It is so approachable.
The, I think, four or fiveteachers that they have on the
platform.
They all are likable.
They are very clear in terms ofexplaining the movements to you
.
If you're new to Pilates and Ijust love that there are a lot
(18:41):
of short format exerciseroutines or Pilates routines you
do not have to change out ofthe clothes you're wearing.
I mean, I've done themsometimes in some stretchy jeans
.
I've done them in my bathrobebefore.
It doesn't require, you know,if you're a female, it doesn't
necessarily require you to puton a sports bra Like it just is
something that fits really wellinto my life in a very easy,
(19:04):
tangible way.
If I'm locked inside or if Idon't want to do anything, I can
just shoot on to this onlineplatform and do something, move
my body, and it always feels sogood, and so I just wanted to
offer that up to this community.
If you are looking forsomething to do when you're
stuck in the house or somethingjust to kind of break you out of
like an icky mood or ickyfeeling, I have gone to this
(19:27):
Lindy Well Pilates platform timeand time again and had that
exact result.
I'm always thankful that I doat least a 15-minute exercise
routine with Lindy Well.
So those are my five holidayhacks.
I would love to hear any holidayhacks that you guys have that
makes you feel good or makesthis fourth quarter season go
(19:48):
smoother.
Anything related to anesthesiaor life.
You should email me atawakenedanesthetist at gmailcom.
If I get a bunch of them, I'llput them in the next Awakened
Anesthetist community newsletterand if you have not signed up
yet for that AwakenedAnesthetist newsletter, you can
do so via the link in the shownotes.
I sent out just one newslettera month and hopefully will
(20:12):
continue to build and to be avaluable resource for you all,
and so I really appreciate yourinput, as always.
If you like this episode andwant to hear more like it, leave
me a rating and review on Appleor Spotify.
I really appreciate you guysputting the effort into giving
me some feedback and hopefullywe can continue this
conversation over in theAwakened Anesthes community.
(20:34):
I hope you guys all have awonderful holiday season and a
last good few weeks to the endof the year.
I will see you next year.
Talk soon.
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