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Facing overwhelming challenges requires intentional self-care and perspective. This episode explores personal struggles with a broken washer, community concerns about ICE raids, and a family friend's health crisis, while offering reminders about maintaining healthy habits during difficult times.

• Broken washing machine leads to laundromat visits and unexpected complications with replacement
• Social and political concerns about ICE raids taking an emotional toll
• Close friend's mother hospitalized with liver problems, triggering grief responses
• Reminders about the importance of sleep, nutrition and hydration during overwhelming times
• Exciting news about first guest appearance on another podcast discussing leadership and emotional intelligence
• Host of that podcast is also an only child who may appear as future guest

If you like this episode, please follow the Only Child Diaries podcast on Apple Podcasts or other platforms you might listen on and consider rating Only Child Diaries and writing a review. It helps others to find us. Please share it with a friend you think might like it as well. Visit my Instagram page Only Child Diaries or Facebook Only Child Diaries Podcast.

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Episode Transcript

Tracy (00:01):
Welcome to the Only Child Diaries podcast.
I'm your host, Tracy Wallace.
Have you ever felt like youdidn't receive the how-to
brochure on life, that youdidn't get enough guidance about
major life issues?
So did I.
You don't have to be an onlychild to feel this way.
In my podcast, we'll exploresome of the best ways to better

(00:25):
navigate adulting, while doingso with humor and light.
Welcome everyone to the OnlyChild Diaries podcast.
Today I'm going to give you afew quick updates on things,

(00:47):
because it's been a well ahectic week, and I'm going to
talk about how you deal withthings when life is overwhelming
.
It's kind of overwhelming rightnow, but it's just one of those
things that ebbs and flowsright Now.

(01:08):
I might have told you, or Imight not have, that our washer
broke.
First world problems, right,our washing machine broke and
it's a long process, but when Iwas doing my event it broke and
I kind of left it just to theside of something to take care
of.
Later Took our laundry to thelaundromat, which is something I

(01:30):
don't like doing.
I equate doing laundry to beingin hell, basically, but it's
something that I end up doinganyway, and so going to a
laundromat is just not as muchfun as it might be.
The two times I went it was hotand the laundromat with all

(01:51):
those machines was also hot, butit's something that you have to
do.
I got it done.
Finally, I had some time towait for a repairman, so I
called out the repairman and,surprise, our old machine, our
old Maytag which is a good brand, solid brand is too old to fix.

(02:12):
The motor is conked out andthey can't find a new one or a
used one to replace it.
So it's time to let that one goNow.
You would think that the size ofa washer is the size of a
washer, but once we startedlooking online at other washers

(02:33):
to buy, we realized that ourwasher and our dryer are the
size that they are, and newwashers are a different size,
and the space that the washerand dryer are both in is very
limited and very tight.

(02:54):
I seem to remember that at somepoint we did get a new dryer,
perhaps, or maybe a new washerwhen I was young and we had to
redo the cabinet that's in thelaundry room to make it smaller.
There's probably just a halfinch of space that remains, and

(03:16):
the new washers are a full inchand three quarters wider than
ours is, so we don't have aninch and three quarters.
It's a good thing that we foundthis out.
We discovered this, because ifwe had ordered it and then it
came and it wouldn't fit, thenwe'd really be in a big debacle,

(03:36):
right?
So that's one thing.
So that puts us back.
I'll still be going to thelaundromat.
On top of that, there'severything that is happening and
continues to happen here in LosAngeles and throughout the
country, and those are the ICEraids and, while it doesn't

(03:57):
impact me directly, my husbanddirectly.
We're just concerned.
We don't like seeing the raidson TV and in our community on
social media.
It's upsetting to us and Ipersonally don't agree with the
way that they're doing it.
Again, I recognize thatcriminals are criminals, but it

(04:22):
doesn't seem that they're doingthis in the most humane way
possible and that is veryhurtful to my empathic self.
Now, on top of that, well, someof you have heard me talk about
my friend who passed away fromglioblastoma in 2018.

(04:47):
Her mom and her sister are likefamily to me.
I knew Gina for 32 years.
She was like my sister that Inever had.
So last week, her mom, well,she wasn't feeling well and she
went to the ER and I decided togo over because the hospital

(05:10):
that she went is very close towhere we live it's in the next
town over and I decided to goover there and be with her and
she was, you know, as clearheaded as she could be for 88
and a half, but she was talkingand she knew who I was and she

(05:31):
was communicating, but she wasjaundiced to an extent Her eyes
were yellow, the whites of hereyes were yellow and she was
having some other troubles.
Turned out, her liver numberswere very high on the labs and
she was having trouble withpeeing.

(05:51):
When she finally did, her urinewas very dark, which would make
sense if she was dehydrated orwhatnot.
But it wasn't just that, it washer liver numbers.
So I haven't seen her since inthree days but her liver numbers
have gotten worse and thingshave gone downhill and they're

(06:16):
not sure if she's going to pullout of it.
So that's upsetting to me andto everybody that knows her and
everybody that loved Gina.
She was kind of adopted, I guess, by a lot of different people

(06:36):
who loved Gina, and when youhave sort of an adversarial
relationship with your ownmother, gina and her sisters
maybe didn't get along thatclosely with their own mother,

(06:56):
and I get that.
But losing a parent, no matterwhat the situation is, is always
a difficult thing.
It's a life-changing event,it's a tough thing and so it
brings up for me, it's a trigger, it brings up thoughts about
all that and I'll just leave itthere.

(07:21):
I was also reminded this weekabout Dallas, my boy Dallas, and
losing him and just loss ingeneral, which is a tough thing
to face and deal with andovercome.
So I'm a little bit sad I'vemainlined chocolate a little bit

(07:44):
more than I should have thisweek, which maybe didn't make me
feel so good one day.
But just a reminder that whenthings do get overwhelming, it's
still important to get yoursleep and it's still important
to eat well and hydrate.

(08:05):
Just because things are fallingapart around you doesn't mean
that you should stop taking careof yourself and your needs and
the things that you have to takecare of in your own house.
So there's that Now, a piece ofgood news.
I'll end on.
A good point is that I had myfirst guest appearance interview

(08:32):
on another podcast this lastweek.
I'm very excited about that andthat episode is going to be
coming out, I believe, in August.
So I'll give you more detailsas it gets closer.
But I'm really excited aboutthat because somebody wanted to

(08:52):
actually hear about me and askme questions about my things
around leadership and emotionalintelligence and it was quite
the pleasure.
And it turns out that the hostis also yes, yes, it's true an

(09:17):
only child, so I'd like to haveher on as a guest on my podcast,
on this podcast.
So we'll talk about that more,but in the meantime I want to
remind everybody to take care ofyourselves.
Next week we'll tackle anothertopic together.
I hope you'll join me.

(09:41):
If you like this episode, pleasefollow the Only Child Diaries
podcast on Apple Podcasts orother platforms you might listen
on and consider rating OnlyChild Diaries and writing a
review.
It helps others to find us.
Please share it with a friendyou think might like it as well.
Visit my Instagram page OnlyChild Diaries or Facebook Only

(10:08):
Child Diaries Podcast.
Thanks for listening.
I'm Tracy Wallace and these arethe Only Child Diaries.
Bye.