November 8, 2023 • 32 mins
Welcome to episode 36 of "The Power of R.E.S.T.," where your host, Mica, delves into the transformative art of resting. Kicking things off with a heartfelt shoutout to our tribe of listeners, Mica unravels a tale of caution from a tarot reader: slow down or burn out. Today's chat is all about reimagining rest, not as wasted time, but as a rich, essential pause. Mica decodes R.E.S.T: Recharge, Embrace, Set, Tune, and shares strategies for making each one a pillar in our daily lives. Join the movement on Facebook or Patreon, and let's reshape our R.E.S.T together.
Website: www.austinfoodguide.com/podcast
Instagram: www.instragram.com/mica.mccook
Instagram: www.instagram.com/thesavoryshotpodcast
Would you like to be a guest on the show? Email us at podcast@austinfoodguide.com for more information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Mica (00:00):
Welcome to the 36th episode of the Savory Shot.
(00:07):
I'm going to start this showout the same way I start it out
every single time with thank you.
If this is your first time, ifthis is your 36th time, thank
you so much for being here.
For all you ride or dies who've beenhere with me since episode one, you know
(00:29):
I got to give you a shout out first.
Y'all, this show wouldn'tbe what it is without you.
I mean it.
It's the truth.
Y'all have been here from day one.
I can't thank you enough for comingback every episode, showing the same
enthusiasm, the shame, the shame, thesame love that you do every episode.
(00:55):
So thank you.
To the ones who are joining usfor the first time, welcome.
All you fresh ears out there,you boo things, you consider
this your personal welcome wagon.
Your girl is rolling out the red carpetinto this little familia of ours.
(01:17):
Welcome, to the Hot Mess Express.
For those who know me, for the oneswho don't, my name is Mica McCook.
I am a food photographer.
I'm a Harry Potter fanatic.
I love barbecue.
I like breakfast tacos.
Spicy salsa.
I love my husband.
(01:37):
I love our dogs.
I love you guys.
I know it's a little weird tosay I love you being the first
time that we've met, but I do.
I love you.
Thank you for joining this show.
Okay.
Yeah, that that's a little awkward.
I, I hope you come back after this.
(02:00):
It's a little messy.
A little messy here.
I hope y'all had a bomb weekend.
If you follow me my personal Instagram,or my work Instagram, Austin Food
Guide, then you should know thatI definitely had a good weekend.
(02:20):
I went to the Austin Food and WineFestival, and uh, there was a
lot of food, there was a lot ofwine, there was a lot of tequila.
And I enjoyed all threein massive quantities.
It was banging good time..
But before I go any further, let'stalk about today's episode, y'all.
(02:44):
In this episode, we arepulling back the layers.
And we're talking about somethingthat I think a lot of us could
probably do a little more of, rest.
I want to ask you this.
Have you heard of this quote,A good rest is half the work?
(03:10):
Ha!
A good rest is half the work.
Every time I see little quoteslike that, it makes me want
to yeet it out the window.
A good rest is half the work.
Get out of here with that.
(03:30):
But it's true.
A good rest is half the work.
Makes you think, doesn't it?
Rest is really the secret ingredia.
Ingridia?
Maybe that tequila's still in me, y'all,if I'm saying things like ingridia.
(03:52):
The question, though, is, isrest really the sacred ingredient
in our recipe for success?
That's a, that's a deep one.
But before I get trailed off and down,down this solo episode, grab your
coffee, your coffee, grab your wine.
(04:12):
I don't know if it wasfive o'clock somewhere.
It might be five o'clock where you're atand uh, kick back in and enjoy the show.
(04:57):
Before I dive in to the meatand potatoes of this episode.
I want to give some context ofhow this whole topic came to be.
So, as you know, I mentioned in the introthat I went to the Austin Food and Wine
Festival and your girl had a banging,banging good time singing, drinking.
(05:23):
If you saw that video ofme singing Garth Brooks.
I got friends in low placeswhere the whiskey drowns and
the beer chases my blues away.
Yeah, your girl was singing that hotpotato mess, but I had a good time.
(05:44):
At one of the vendors, Spellbound Wine, ifyou like wine, check out Spellbound Wine.
This episode has not been brought toyou by Spellbound Wine, but if they
want to sponsor an episode, come on in.
Seriously though, I wentto Spellbound vendor booth.
They were giving out free tarot readings.
(06:06):
So I went.
I stood in line.
I saw this tarot reader, andy'all, what I learned from
that, it was like three minutes.
What I learned from that three minutes,oof, I will take with me forever.
So I asked this tarot reader, I feellike I am on the verge of something
(06:31):
big when it comes to my career, and Ijust want to know if I am headed in the
right direction, if the things that Iam doing are the right things, and am I
putting the right energy into the rightthings that will continue to push me
forward in this career path that I'm on.
(06:51):
So the tarot reader lays outthem cards and tells me all
kinds of crazy things, y'all.
The first thing that the tarot readersaid, yes, I am on the verge of
something big, but I need to rest more,because if I don't get the rest that I
need, that I so desperately need, thatI will be too burned out to enjoy the
(07:20):
direction that I'll be in career wise.
The tarot reader said to methat you don't rest a lot.
And it's true.
It is so true.
I don't rest a lot.
The tarot reader told me that onlyin rest will I discover what I
(07:40):
should be focusing my energy on.
Only in rest, will I be able to take astep back and really see the big picture.
I'm not a big risk taker that I'm prettyhesitant when it comes to big money
moves all true, all true, but the mainpoint, is that I don't rest enough.
(08:01):
And I told my friend Anna what this tarotreader said, and she like, full stop.
Full stop, agreed with this tarot reader.
She's like, Mica, you are alwaysworking, sun up to sun down.
I'll send you a text messageand I won't hear back from
you until late that evening.
And I'm like, what?
And then I get a text message fromyou at 5 o'clock in the morning.
(08:23):
I'm like, why is she up at5 o'clock in the morning?
Like, You are not working.
One who rests often andI wish that you would.
And I was a little taken abacky'all because in the last year.
I feel like I have beenmaking an extra effort to be a
(08:43):
present and accountable friend.
I've really been making aneffort, so yeah, I was taken
aback when she said that to me.
But, I was like maybeI could rest a little.
So on Monday, this pastMonday to be exact, I said
to myself, I am on a mission.
I'm going to rest.
I'm taking the day off.
(09:04):
I'm not doing any work.
I'm resting, taking the day off.
Man, I did everythingbut take the day off.
My mission was to embrace rest.
And I didn't do any of that.
(09:24):
The struggle was real.
I cleaned my house from top to bottom.
I did all my laundry.
Pruned my flowers.
I did the grocery shopping.
I went on Amazon and did,some household shopping.
Yeah, I did.
(09:45):
By the time I sat down on my readingchair, it was already past 3:30.
And I'm like, that's like half my day.
What the fuck?
I was supposed to rest today.
I was so disappointed in myself.
I felt like the wholeday just passed me by.
And I had exactly two hours.
(10:06):
of quote unquote actual rest.
I read for two hours, and that was nice.
That was really nice.
Then I cooked dinner, and then I waslike, alright, it's time for bed.
I'm laying in bed, and I was justthinking about this whole day.
I was just so mad still at myself,because I was supposed to rest.
(10:27):
And then it dawned on me that...
Rest is, for me, this elusiveunicorn that I've never seen, that
I don't know what it looks like,I don't know what it feels like.
It's just different.
And I needed to think aboutwhat does it mean to rest?
(10:49):
What is my version of rest?
Because everyone has something different.
Rest is different for everyone.
Some people like to clean.
That's their idea of rest.
Some people love to go run errands.
That's their idea of rest.
Some people want to post up on thecouch and binge watch a Netflix show.
(11:13):
That's rest.
Some people want to catch up on ZZZ's.
It's different for everyone.
And for me, cleaning the house...
Doing the laundry, the garden andstuff, that wasn't rest to me.
I didn't feel restedby the end of the day.
I felt like my whole day was just gone.
So, this morning, I made an acronymfor the word REST, R E S T, and
(11:41):
I'm going to break that down.
First, let me just tell you guyswhat REST looks like for me.
REST for me means takinga break from social media.
(12:02):
Getting out of the house.
I'm an extrovert, I liketo be outta the house.
Resting is going to a nicerestaurant that has a beautiful view.
I love bookstores, so I'd probablyvisit a bookstore and I'd...
buy overpriced books.
The other thing that I loveto do, I love cruising.
(12:23):
I love driving around Austin and I justlove listening to music while I'm driving
and singing along and if it's a niceday, I want the windows rolled down.
There's a street in Austin, Lamar, andit is the longest street in Austin.
It's one of the only few streets inAustin that starts all the way in
(12:46):
North Austin and makes us all itsway all the way through South Austin.
I love to get on North Lamar andI love to drive from North Austin
all the way to South Austin.
Is my favorite thing to do.
That's my rest.
(13:09):
I'm gonna list my acronym, andthen I'm gonna break it down.
All right.
R.
Recharge your batteries.
E.
Embrace your downtime.
S.
Set boundaries.
T.
Tune into your needs.
Hey, clap, clap, clap,golf, clap, golf, clap.
(13:31):
Hey, hey, whoop, whoop, Rest.
So recharge your batteries.
Y'all, I know I'm not alone.
Have you ever felt likeyou're running on empty?
Even your coffee needs a coffee?
That is your sign to recharge.
You wouldn't let your phone hit0%, so why do it to yourself?
(13:57):
When you rest, when you takeyour day off, that is simply you
plugging yourself into your chargerand recharging your batteries.
E.
Embrace your downtime.
My first job was at Chick fil A.
I was like 14 years old.
I had this asshole of a manager.
(14:20):
He really was.
He was an asshole of anasshole of a manager.
Something he always said, andI'm sure someone listening to
this has heard this before.
If you got time to lean,you got time to clean.
There is no downtime allowed.
You had to be doing something.
(14:41):
Even if there was nothing todo, you had to look around
and make something up to do.
I feel like that, thatmentality has just followed me.
It followed me into my high school years.
It followed me in my college years,it followed me in my late 20s, it's
followed me into my 30s, and I want toshake it off and be rid of it by my 40s.
(15:07):
Unraveling this idea that you justconstantly have to be going, you have to
keep doing, there's not a moment wasted.
And you see those quotes,Those who want it, go after it.
Those who are desperatefor it, pick up after it.
Only the weak rest.
Only the weak take a nap.
I've come to the realization that, that,that, it's my Texan accent, my Texan
(15:36):
accent, y'all, when I get so passionateabout what I'm talking about, my Texan
accent just comes out and it's crazy.
But what I was trying to say earlier, andI'll probably cut this out, I've learned,
and I continue to learn, and I will keeplearning, downtime is not wasted time.
(15:56):
It's not a luxury.
It is a necessity, It's, it's a lifeline.
It's as important and as vitalas breathing in oxygen, as
drinking water, as eating a meal.
You cannot move forward anywhere inyour life, in your career, in your
(16:18):
personal relationships, in yourwork relationships, your goals.
You can't do any of that without rest.
So embracing your downtime, it'snot something to feel guilty about.
You see those stupid quotes onInstagram when it's look, I'm
a, I'm a look one up right now.
(16:39):
Like here's one, for example, I've gota dream that's worth more than my sleep.
I need my sleep.
Half of car crashes are caused becausepeople didn't stop at a road stop
and take a nap for 20 30 minutes.
Then they crashed their car off a,off a cliff, never to be seen again.
(17:02):
I don't know if that'strue, but I need my sleep.
You need your sleep.
That idea of stripping yourself of yourbasic minimum necessities is toxic as
fuck, and you should you should let it go.
You should drop it likea hot potato that it is.
(17:25):
You need to find joy in thestillness, the quiet, and even
the chaos that is doing nothing.
And y'all, I know it's a lotharder for the parents out there.
The only respite that you canfind is by hiding in a closet.
(17:47):
Cause them damn kidswon't leave you alone.
You can't even take a poop byyourself cause they stickin their
fingers underneath the door.
And they're like, when you comin out, Mom?
I get it.
As a parent, finding downtime,let alone embracing it, sheeit.
That's like finding aneedle in a haystack.
That's like finding thecorrect lottery numbers.
It's, it's hard.
(18:07):
But I'm challenging you parents to rest.
I'm challenging anyone who Is feelingshame about embracing downtime to embrace
it, even if only for a few minutes.
S.
Set boundaries.
I'm gonna say it again.
(18:28):
I know it's a trigger word.
I know my therapist is sickand tired of hearing the word
boundaries because it's overused.
But I'm gonna say it because Iknow that there are at least two
of you out there who struggle.
With setting boundaries, I read a longtime ago, not that long, actually, it
(18:50):
was like a year or two ago, it was for aclass assignment, I was reading an article
about why social media is so addictiveand like binge watching is so addictive.
It boils down to thisthing called stopping cues.
Before social media, before streamingservices, there were stopping cues.
(19:13):
If you watched TV, cable TV,there was a commercial break.
That's a stopping cue.
That was, your cue to get up and goget some water, go to the bathroom.
When the show ends, that's a stoppingcue to stop watching TV and do something
else or watch the next show or whatever.
There was cues to stop.
(19:34):
With social media and streaming,there are no stopping cues.
The stopping cues have been removed.
So you can scroll, scroll, scroll forever,swipe, swipe, swipe on TikTok forever.
You could spend hours, hours on socialmedia, and you could spend a whole
day binge watching a Netflix showbecause there are no stopping cues.
(19:57):
Hell Netflix, it used to be wherethe, the credits would play.
Then you physically had to press thebutton to go to the next episode.
It don't even do that anymore.
Like it'll run the creditsfor like 10 seconds and then
autoplay the next episode.
Thus continuing and continuing.
So you have to createstopping points for yourself.
(20:19):
You have to create boundaries.
You can use your phone as a timer.
You can go, okay, I'm going to beon Instagram for 10 minutes, and
then you set a timer for yourself.
Then you tell yourself what you'regoing to do after that timer goes off.
After 10 minutes I am goingto get up and go do A, B.
Or after 20 minutes, I'm goingto do this, this, and this.
(20:39):
Setting those boundaries for yourself,you are drawing a line in the sand.
You're, I don't know, office carpet,I don't know where you're at.
But you're sendingyourself a clear message.
This is my time and I'm taking it back.
I've decided that my work dayends when Aaron gets home.
(21:02):
I think I said this earlier on Instagrama while back, that one of my rituals
is that I clear off my desk, I writein my planner, my win of the day, I
check whatever tasks I did that day,then I plan my next day, then I,
I log off and I clean my desk off.
I clear it up and thenI get away from my desk.
(21:23):
That is the boundarythat I set for myself.
Maybe that's something you can do for you.
You can say, you know what, for one houra day, I am going to put my phone away and
I'm just going to spend time with my kids.
We're going to go outside.
We're going to play.
Or for one day a week, my spouse, and Iare going to go on a date, or one day a
(21:48):
month, I'm going to have a date to myself.
The kids are going to go to ababysitter, and I'm going to
go and spend time for myself.
Setting those boundaries and settingthose boundaries with other people,
is huge, game changing, it's a life,I don't know what I'm trying to say,
it's, it's a life changing thingbecause you are telling everyone that
(22:14):
I need this in order to be my best.
Okay.
Finally, T.
Tune.
In.
To.
Your.
Needs.
Man.
What?
If we all, just every so often,did like a little internal check
(22:34):
in, or maybe even have a friend,like an accountability partner.
It's so important that welisten to the signals that our
bodies and minds are sending us.
They're the GPS to our well being.
Every so often, justcheck in with yourself.
How am I feeling?
(22:56):
How am I doing in my heart?
How am I doing in my mind?
Am I feeling a little burnt out?
If you find yourself just dragging throughthe mud and you're like, Fuck this.
I really don't want to do this.
Ask yourself, okay, do I need a rest?
And really pay attention.
You know how you get when you're tired.
(23:17):
You know how you getwhen you're burnt out.
You know how you get when you justare going through the motions.
What do you need to happen in your lifeand your body to get through that burnout?
Because it will happen and it will happenagain and again and again and again.
So think about that.
(23:37):
Rest, recharge your batteries,embrace your downtime, set
boundaries, tune into your needs.
I'm not preaching anything revolutionary.
I'm not preaching anything new.
There are countless, countless, countlessepisodes that push this idea of rest.
(24:09):
Why is rest essential?
Why is recharging your batteries,embracing your downtime, setting
boundaries, tuning into yourneeds, why is that important?
This is what I think, this is my opinion,you can take it, put it in your pocket,
and run to Canada with it, or youcan stamp on it like a book, whatever
you want to do, it's just my opinion.
(24:29):
Imagine your creativity as thisdormant volcano, and without rest, it
just sits there, but with that rest,you feel the bubbly, you feel the...
Okay, that's the sound oflike lava shooting, I don't
know, that did not sound...
(24:50):
Let me try again.
Om nom nom, om nom nom.
And kaboom!
You're erupting with ideas andinnovations and these crazy
shoots and all these things.
You charge into your photo shootswith this boundless energy.
That rest.
(25:10):
Believe it or not, is the sparkyou need for your creativity.
Rest not only keeps your gears greased,but it also ensures that your gears
don't grind to a halt from a burnout.
It's the guardian angel against that,that demon beast, that burnout beast.
(25:36):
Y'all, rest is everything.
And I know I'm preaching to this to myselfmore than I am to y'all about why you
need a rest and, and not just go throughthe motions of rest, but get good quality
rest, whatever that looks like for you.
Get it.
Earlier in the episode, I toldyou what rest looks like for me?
(26:00):
I challenge you, to make a list foryourself of what does it mean to rest.
I'm talking about resting and thenI give you guys homework, but for
real though, for real, for real,here's some homework for you.
I want you to sit down and thinkabout what resting means to you.
(26:26):
What resonates with you?
Is it the R for the recharge, the E forthe embrace, the S for setting boundaries
or T for tuning in or all of them?
Send me a DM on Instagram.
Send me an email.
podcast at Austin Food Guide.
I, I want to, I want to know.
Okay, I have an idea.
(26:47):
We could have a virtual day ofrest event and, and that can
look differently for everyone.
I don't know how I'm gonna pull it offsince one of my, my lists of rest is to
not be on social media, so I don't knowhow I could hold everybody accountable
for what rest means, but maybe we could dosomething like resting day, like hashtag
(27:13):
rest day, and, and we all share a pictureof what we did on our day of rest, so we
can all plan a single day of rest, andthen All rest and then we come back and
we share what we did on our day of rest.
Kind of Like our own Savory Sabbath.
(27:33):
And I hope I don't upset any of my Jewishfamily by calling it a Savory Sabbath.
Maybe I'll ask my motherin law what she thinks.
So yeah, let's, let's do that.
Let's plan that.
A day of rest.
I'll, I'll come up with a cooler name.
And if you are down forit and cool with it.
(27:54):
I want you to send me a messageon Instagram and say, I'm in.
That's all you gotta do.
Just say, I'm in, and then Iwill come up with the date, and
I will come up with a way that wecan hold each other accountable.
The other thing I want to ask youguys I've had a couple people wanting
to know about like a group where wecan share photography tips, a group
(28:19):
where we can talk about the episodes.
I've considered Patreon.
I don't like the idea of chargingpeople to be part of a membership.
I am a little bit hesitant aboutSysethasebook, but I do want to
know what you guys would prefer.
So I'm gonna put out another polland I'm gonna say would you prefer a
Patreon or would you prefer a Facebook.
(28:42):
If I did a Patreon, then I would dosomething a little bit more in depth.
I would do photography lessons.
I would do behind thescenes of my test shoots.
I would do editing sessions.
I would do something that youwould earn your five bucks for.
So if you're, you're down for that,or we can just keep it as a free
community on Facebook and insteadof like lessons and stuff like that,
(29:05):
we'll just keep it as a place whereeverybody can provide resources.
So let me know what you think about that.
So we got the two polls, Dayof Rest and a place to commune.
Would you prefer Facebookor would you prefer Patreon?
Okie dokie, artichokies.
Okay, the next episode, y'all.
You're in for a treat.
(29:27):
I'm gonna have such a hardtime editing this episode.
So the next guest, we had sucha bomb ass conversation and
it ran for almost two hours.
Now I know y'all got, things to doand you don't have time to listen to
a two hour episode, so I'm definitelygonna, trim the fat, but it's so good.
Everything we talked about is sogood that I'm really gonna have a
(29:50):
hard time bringing it back, bringingit down, but I will do my best.
But please, please.
Come back, because it's a great episode.
That's all I'm gonna say,that's all I'm gonna say.
It's worth every minute, everysecond, but I hope that by the end
(30:11):
of this episode, at least, that thisinspires you to channel your own...
R.
E.
S.
T.
Okay, so three challenges.
Since I did the acronym of R.
E.
S.
T., I also would like to hearwhat your acronyms would be for R.
E.
S.
T.
So make an acronym, send me a DM.
(30:33):
I want to share them on Instagram, solet me know if it's okay to do that.
Three things.
Think about what R.
E.
S.
T.
means to you.
Er, er, er, er.
Think I guess this is like a twofer.
Think about what R.
E.
S.
T.
means to you and send me a DMand tell me if you're in and I
will start planning a day of R.
E.
S.
T.
Let me know if you would like a placeto commune, Facebook or Patreon,
(30:54):
and three, what's an acronym?
You don't have to do allthree, unless you want to.
You don't have to.
But at least do one, and whicheverone you do, I'm sure it'll be bomb.
But y'all, I just want to say thankyou so much for listening to the show.
I'm trying something a little new.
I am flying off the handle.
(31:14):
Woohoo!
I'm not following a strict script.
I just want to speak from the heart.
I decided to do it this way because somany of y'all share your heart with me
that it's only fair that I do the same.
If this episode is a little unhingedand, and less structured and less
polished, that's because I am thinkingon the fly and thinking from my heart.
(31:39):
So thank you for being here, and Ihope you check back for the next show.
So keep resting, keep playing, slaying,and I will catch y'all on the flip side.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh . Bye y'all.
Welcome to the 36th episode of the Savory Shot.
(00:07):
I'm going to start this showout the same way I start it out
every single time with thank you.
If this is your first time, ifthis is your 36th time, thank
you so much for being here.
For all you ride or dies who've beenhere with me since episode one, you know
(00:29):
I got to give you a shout out first.
Y'all, this show wouldn'tbe what it is without you.
I mean it.
It's the truth.
Y'all have been here from day one.
I can't thank you enough for comingback every episode, showing the same
enthusiasm, the shame, the shame, thesame love that you do every episode.
(00:55):
So thank you.
To the ones who are joining usfor the first time, welcome.
All you fresh ears out there,you boo things, you consider
this your personal welcome wagon.
Your girl is rolling out the red carpetinto this little familia of ours.
(01:17):
Welcome, to the Hot Mess Express.
For those who know me, for the oneswho don't, my name is Mica McCook.
I am a food photographer.
I'm a Harry Potter fanatic.
I love barbecue.
I like breakfast tacos.
Spicy salsa.
I love my husband.
(01:37):
I love our dogs.
I love you guys.
I know it's a little weird tosay I love you being the first
time that we've met, but I do.
I love you.
Thank you for joining this show.
Okay.
Yeah, that that's a little awkward.
I, I hope you come back after this.
(02:00):
It's a little messy.
A little messy here.
I hope y'all had a bomb weekend.
If you follow me my personal Instagram,or my work Instagram, Austin Food
Guide, then you should know thatI definitely had a good weekend.
(02:20):
I went to the Austin Food and WineFestival, and uh, there was a
lot of food, there was a lot ofwine, there was a lot of tequila.
And I enjoyed all threein massive quantities.
It was banging good time..
But before I go any further, let'stalk about today's episode, y'all.
(02:44):
In this episode, we arepulling back the layers.
And we're talking about somethingthat I think a lot of us could
probably do a little more of, rest.
I want to ask you this.
Have you heard of this quote,A good rest is half the work?
(03:10):
Ha!
A good rest is half the work.
Every time I see little quoteslike that, it makes me want
to yeet it out the window.
A good rest is half the work.
Get out of here with that.
(03:30):
But it's true.
A good rest is half the work.
Makes you think, doesn't it?
Rest is really the secret ingredia.
Ingridia?
Maybe that tequila's still in me, y'all,if I'm saying things like ingridia.
(03:52):
The question, though, is, isrest really the sacred ingredient
in our recipe for success?
That's a, that's a deep one.
But before I get trailed off and down,down this solo episode, grab your
coffee, your coffee, grab your wine.
(04:12):
I don't know if it wasfive o'clock somewhere.
It might be five o'clock where you're atand uh, kick back in and enjoy the show.
(04:57):
Before I dive in to the meatand potatoes of this episode.
I want to give some context ofhow this whole topic came to be.
So, as you know, I mentioned in the introthat I went to the Austin Food and Wine
Festival and your girl had a banging,banging good time singing, drinking.
(05:23):
If you saw that video ofme singing Garth Brooks.
I got friends in low placeswhere the whiskey drowns and
the beer chases my blues away.
Yeah, your girl was singing that hotpotato mess, but I had a good time.
(05:44):
At one of the vendors, Spellbound Wine, ifyou like wine, check out Spellbound Wine.
This episode has not been brought toyou by Spellbound Wine, but if they
want to sponsor an episode, come on in.
Seriously though, I wentto Spellbound vendor booth.
They were giving out free tarot readings.
(06:06):
So I went.
I stood in line.
I saw this tarot reader, andy'all, what I learned from
that, it was like three minutes.
What I learned from that three minutes,oof, I will take with me forever.
So I asked this tarot reader, I feellike I am on the verge of something
(06:31):
big when it comes to my career, and Ijust want to know if I am headed in the
right direction, if the things that Iam doing are the right things, and am I
putting the right energy into the rightthings that will continue to push me
forward in this career path that I'm on.
(06:51):
So the tarot reader lays outthem cards and tells me all
kinds of crazy things, y'all.
The first thing that the tarot readersaid, yes, I am on the verge of
something big, but I need to rest more,because if I don't get the rest that I
need, that I so desperately need, thatI will be too burned out to enjoy the
(07:20):
direction that I'll be in career wise.
The tarot reader said to methat you don't rest a lot.
And it's true.
It is so true.
I don't rest a lot.
The tarot reader told me that onlyin rest will I discover what I
(07:40):
should be focusing my energy on.
Only in rest, will I be able to take astep back and really see the big picture.
I'm not a big risk taker that I'm prettyhesitant when it comes to big money
moves all true, all true, but the mainpoint, is that I don't rest enough.
(08:01):
And I told my friend Anna what this tarotreader said, and she like, full stop.
Full stop, agreed with this tarot reader.
She's like, Mica, you are alwaysworking, sun up to sun down.
I'll send you a text messageand I won't hear back from
you until late that evening.
And I'm like, what?
And then I get a text message fromyou at 5 o'clock in the morning.
(08:23):
I'm like, why is she up at5 o'clock in the morning?
Like, You are not working.
One who rests often andI wish that you would.
And I was a little taken abacky'all because in the last year.
I feel like I have beenmaking an extra effort to be a
(08:43):
present and accountable friend.
I've really been making aneffort, so yeah, I was taken
aback when she said that to me.
But, I was like maybeI could rest a little.
So on Monday, this pastMonday to be exact, I said
to myself, I am on a mission.
I'm going to rest.
I'm taking the day off.
(09:04):
I'm not doing any work.
I'm resting, taking the day off.
Man, I did everythingbut take the day off.
My mission was to embrace rest.
And I didn't do any of that.
(09:24):
The struggle was real.
I cleaned my house from top to bottom.
I did all my laundry.
Pruned my flowers.
I did the grocery shopping.
I went on Amazon and did,some household shopping.
Yeah, I did.
(09:45):
By the time I sat down on my readingchair, it was already past 3:30.
And I'm like, that's like half my day.
What the fuck?
I was supposed to rest today.
I was so disappointed in myself.
I felt like the wholeday just passed me by.
And I had exactly two hours.
(10:06):
of quote unquote actual rest.
I read for two hours, and that was nice.
That was really nice.
Then I cooked dinner, and then I waslike, alright, it's time for bed.
I'm laying in bed, and I was justthinking about this whole day.
I was just so mad still at myself,because I was supposed to rest.
(10:27):
And then it dawned on me that...
Rest is, for me, this elusiveunicorn that I've never seen, that
I don't know what it looks like,I don't know what it feels like.
It's just different.
And I needed to think aboutwhat does it mean to rest?
(10:49):
What is my version of rest?
Because everyone has something different.
Rest is different for everyone.
Some people like to clean.
That's their idea of rest.
Some people love to go run errands.
That's their idea of rest.
Some people want to post up on thecouch and binge watch a Netflix show.
(11:13):
That's rest.
Some people want to catch up on ZZZ's.
It's different for everyone.
And for me, cleaning the house...
Doing the laundry, the garden andstuff, that wasn't rest to me.
I didn't feel restedby the end of the day.
I felt like my whole day was just gone.
So, this morning, I made an acronymfor the word REST, R E S T, and
(11:41):
I'm going to break that down.
First, let me just tell you guyswhat REST looks like for me.
REST for me means takinga break from social media.
(12:02):
Getting out of the house.
I'm an extrovert, I liketo be outta the house.
Resting is going to a nicerestaurant that has a beautiful view.
I love bookstores, so I'd probablyvisit a bookstore and I'd...
buy overpriced books.
The other thing that I loveto do, I love cruising.
(12:23):
I love driving around Austin and I justlove listening to music while I'm driving
and singing along and if it's a niceday, I want the windows rolled down.
There's a street in Austin, Lamar, andit is the longest street in Austin.
It's one of the only few streets inAustin that starts all the way in
(12:46):
North Austin and makes us all itsway all the way through South Austin.
I love to get on North Lamar andI love to drive from North Austin
all the way to South Austin.
Is my favorite thing to do.
That's my rest.
(13:09):
I'm gonna list my acronym, andthen I'm gonna break it down.
All right.
R.
Recharge your batteries.
E.
Embrace your downtime.
S.
Set boundaries.
T.
Tune into your needs.
Hey, clap, clap, clap,golf, clap, golf, clap.
(13:31):
Hey, hey, whoop, whoop, Rest.
So recharge your batteries.
Y'all, I know I'm not alone.
Have you ever felt likeyou're running on empty?
Even your coffee needs a coffee?
That is your sign to recharge.
You wouldn't let your phone hit0%, so why do it to yourself?
(13:57):
When you rest, when you takeyour day off, that is simply you
plugging yourself into your chargerand recharging your batteries.
E.
Embrace your downtime.
My first job was at Chick fil A.
I was like 14 years old.
I had this asshole of a manager.
(14:20):
He really was.
He was an asshole of anasshole of a manager.
Something he always said, andI'm sure someone listening to
this has heard this before.
If you got time to lean,you got time to clean.
There is no downtime allowed.
You had to be doing something.
(14:41):
Even if there was nothing todo, you had to look around
and make something up to do.
I feel like that, thatmentality has just followed me.
It followed me into my high school years.
It followed me in my college years,it followed me in my late 20s, it's
followed me into my 30s, and I want toshake it off and be rid of it by my 40s.
(15:07):
Unraveling this idea that you justconstantly have to be going, you have to
keep doing, there's not a moment wasted.
And you see those quotes,Those who want it, go after it.
Those who are desperatefor it, pick up after it.
Only the weak rest.
Only the weak take a nap.
I've come to the realization that, that,that, it's my Texan accent, my Texan
(15:36):
accent, y'all, when I get so passionateabout what I'm talking about, my Texan
accent just comes out and it's crazy.
But what I was trying to say earlier, andI'll probably cut this out, I've learned,
and I continue to learn, and I will keeplearning, downtime is not wasted time.
(15:56):
It's not a luxury.
It is a necessity, It's, it's a lifeline.
It's as important and as vitalas breathing in oxygen, as
drinking water, as eating a meal.
You cannot move forward anywhere inyour life, in your career, in your
(16:18):
personal relationships, in yourwork relationships, your goals.
You can't do any of that without rest.
So embracing your downtime, it'snot something to feel guilty about.
You see those stupid quotes onInstagram when it's look, I'm
a, I'm a look one up right now.
(16:39):
Like here's one, for example, I've gota dream that's worth more than my sleep.
I need my sleep.
Half of car crashes are caused becausepeople didn't stop at a road stop
and take a nap for 20 30 minutes.
Then they crashed their car off a,off a cliff, never to be seen again.
(17:02):
I don't know if that'strue, but I need my sleep.
You need your sleep.
That idea of stripping yourself of yourbasic minimum necessities is toxic as
fuck, and you should you should let it go.
You should drop it likea hot potato that it is.
(17:25):
You need to find joy in thestillness, the quiet, and even
the chaos that is doing nothing.
And y'all, I know it's a lotharder for the parents out there.
The only respite that you canfind is by hiding in a closet.
(17:47):
Cause them damn kidswon't leave you alone.
You can't even take a poop byyourself cause they stickin their
fingers underneath the door.
And they're like, when you comin out, Mom?
I get it.
As a parent, finding downtime,let alone embracing it, sheeit.
That's like finding aneedle in a haystack.
That's like finding thecorrect lottery numbers.
It's, it's hard.
(18:07):
But I'm challenging you parents to rest.
I'm challenging anyone who Is feelingshame about embracing downtime to embrace
it, even if only for a few minutes.
S.
Set boundaries.
I'm gonna say it again.
(18:28):
I know it's a trigger word.
I know my therapist is sickand tired of hearing the word
boundaries because it's overused.
But I'm gonna say it because Iknow that there are at least two
of you out there who struggle.
With setting boundaries, I read a longtime ago, not that long, actually, it
(18:50):
was like a year or two ago, it was for aclass assignment, I was reading an article
about why social media is so addictiveand like binge watching is so addictive.
It boils down to thisthing called stopping cues.
Before social media, before streamingservices, there were stopping cues.
(19:13):
If you watched TV, cable TV,there was a commercial break.
That's a stopping cue.
That was, your cue to get up and goget some water, go to the bathroom.
When the show ends, that's a stoppingcue to stop watching TV and do something
else or watch the next show or whatever.
There was cues to stop.
(19:34):
With social media and streaming,there are no stopping cues.
The stopping cues have been removed.
So you can scroll, scroll, scroll forever,swipe, swipe, swipe on TikTok forever.
You could spend hours, hours on socialmedia, and you could spend a whole
day binge watching a Netflix showbecause there are no stopping cues.
(19:57):
Hell Netflix, it used to be wherethe, the credits would play.
Then you physically had to press thebutton to go to the next episode.
It don't even do that anymore.
Like it'll run the creditsfor like 10 seconds and then
autoplay the next episode.
Thus continuing and continuing.
So you have to createstopping points for yourself.
(20:19):
You have to create boundaries.
You can use your phone as a timer.
You can go, okay, I'm going to beon Instagram for 10 minutes, and
then you set a timer for yourself.
Then you tell yourself what you'regoing to do after that timer goes off.
After 10 minutes I am goingto get up and go do A, B.
Or after 20 minutes, I'm goingto do this, this, and this.
(20:39):
Setting those boundaries for yourself,you are drawing a line in the sand.
You're, I don't know, office carpet,I don't know where you're at.
But you're sendingyourself a clear message.
This is my time and I'm taking it back.
I've decided that my work dayends when Aaron gets home.
(21:02):
I think I said this earlier on Instagrama while back, that one of my rituals
is that I clear off my desk, I writein my planner, my win of the day, I
check whatever tasks I did that day,then I plan my next day, then I,
I log off and I clean my desk off.
I clear it up and thenI get away from my desk.
(21:23):
That is the boundarythat I set for myself.
Maybe that's something you can do for you.
You can say, you know what, for one houra day, I am going to put my phone away and
I'm just going to spend time with my kids.
We're going to go outside.
We're going to play.
Or for one day a week, my spouse, and Iare going to go on a date, or one day a
(21:48):
month, I'm going to have a date to myself.
The kids are going to go to ababysitter, and I'm going to
go and spend time for myself.
Setting those boundaries and settingthose boundaries with other people,
is huge, game changing, it's a life,I don't know what I'm trying to say,
it's, it's a life changing thingbecause you are telling everyone that
(22:14):
I need this in order to be my best.
Okay.
Finally, T.
Tune.
In.
To.
Your.
Needs.
Man.
What?
If we all, just every so often,did like a little internal check
(22:34):
in, or maybe even have a friend,like an accountability partner.
It's so important that welisten to the signals that our
bodies and minds are sending us.
They're the GPS to our well being.
Every so often, justcheck in with yourself.
How am I feeling?
(22:56):
How am I doing in my heart?
How am I doing in my mind?
Am I feeling a little burnt out?
If you find yourself just dragging throughthe mud and you're like, Fuck this.
I really don't want to do this.
Ask yourself, okay, do I need a rest?
And really pay attention.
You know how you get when you're tired.
(23:17):
You know how you getwhen you're burnt out.
You know how you get when you justare going through the motions.
What do you need to happen in your lifeand your body to get through that burnout?
Because it will happen and it will happenagain and again and again and again.
So think about that.
(23:37):
Rest, recharge your batteries,embrace your downtime, set
boundaries, tune into your needs.
I'm not preaching anything revolutionary.
I'm not preaching anything new.
There are countless, countless, countlessepisodes that push this idea of rest.
(24:09):
Why is rest essential?
Why is recharging your batteries,embracing your downtime, setting
boundaries, tuning into yourneeds, why is that important?
This is what I think, this is my opinion,you can take it, put it in your pocket,
and run to Canada with it, or youcan stamp on it like a book, whatever
you want to do, it's just my opinion.
(24:29):
Imagine your creativity as thisdormant volcano, and without rest, it
just sits there, but with that rest,you feel the bubbly, you feel the...
Okay, that's the sound oflike lava shooting, I don't
know, that did not sound...
(24:50):
Let me try again.
Om nom nom, om nom nom.
And kaboom!
You're erupting with ideas andinnovations and these crazy
shoots and all these things.
You charge into your photo shootswith this boundless energy.
That rest.
(25:10):
Believe it or not, is the sparkyou need for your creativity.
Rest not only keeps your gears greased,but it also ensures that your gears
don't grind to a halt from a burnout.
It's the guardian angel against that,that demon beast, that burnout beast.
(25:36):
Y'all, rest is everything.
And I know I'm preaching to this to myselfmore than I am to y'all about why you
need a rest and, and not just go throughthe motions of rest, but get good quality
rest, whatever that looks like for you.
Get it.
Earlier in the episode, I toldyou what rest looks like for me?
(26:00):
I challenge you, to make a list foryourself of what does it mean to rest.
I'm talking about resting and thenI give you guys homework, but for
real though, for real, for real,here's some homework for you.
I want you to sit down and thinkabout what resting means to you.
(26:26):
What resonates with you?
Is it the R for the recharge, the E forthe embrace, the S for setting boundaries
or T for tuning in or all of them?
Send me a DM on Instagram.
Send me an email.
podcast at Austin Food Guide.
I, I want to, I want to know.
Okay, I have an idea.
(26:47):
We could have a virtual day ofrest event and, and that can
look differently for everyone.
I don't know how I'm gonna pull it offsince one of my, my lists of rest is to
not be on social media, so I don't knowhow I could hold everybody accountable
for what rest means, but maybe we could dosomething like resting day, like hashtag
(27:13):
rest day, and, and we all share a pictureof what we did on our day of rest, so we
can all plan a single day of rest, andthen All rest and then we come back and
we share what we did on our day of rest.
Kind of Like our own Savory Sabbath.
(27:33):
And I hope I don't upset any of my Jewishfamily by calling it a Savory Sabbath.
Maybe I'll ask my motherin law what she thinks.
So yeah, let's, let's do that.
Let's plan that.
A day of rest.
I'll, I'll come up with a cooler name.
And if you are down forit and cool with it.
(27:54):
I want you to send me a messageon Instagram and say, I'm in.
That's all you gotta do.
Just say, I'm in, and then Iwill come up with the date, and
I will come up with a way that wecan hold each other accountable.
The other thing I want to ask youguys I've had a couple people wanting
to know about like a group where wecan share photography tips, a group
(28:19):
where we can talk about the episodes.
I've considered Patreon.
I don't like the idea of chargingpeople to be part of a membership.
I am a little bit hesitant aboutSysethasebook, but I do want to
know what you guys would prefer.
So I'm gonna put out another polland I'm gonna say would you prefer a
Patreon or would you prefer a Facebook.
(28:42):
If I did a Patreon, then I would dosomething a little bit more in depth.
I would do photography lessons.
I would do behind thescenes of my test shoots.
I would do editing sessions.
I would do something that youwould earn your five bucks for.
So if you're, you're down for that,or we can just keep it as a free
community on Facebook and insteadof like lessons and stuff like that,
(29:05):
we'll just keep it as a place whereeverybody can provide resources.
So let me know what you think about that.
So we got the two polls, Dayof Rest and a place to commune.
Would you prefer Facebookor would you prefer Patreon?
Okie dokie, artichokies.
Okay, the next episode, y'all.
You're in for a treat.
(29:27):
I'm gonna have such a hardtime editing this episode.
So the next guest, we had sucha bomb ass conversation and
it ran for almost two hours.
Now I know y'all got, things to doand you don't have time to listen to
a two hour episode, so I'm definitelygonna, trim the fat, but it's so good.
Everything we talked about is sogood that I'm really gonna have a
(29:50):
hard time bringing it back, bringingit down, but I will do my best.
But please, please.
Come back, because it's a great episode.
That's all I'm gonna say,that's all I'm gonna say.
It's worth every minute, everysecond, but I hope that by the end
(30:11):
of this episode, at least, that thisinspires you to channel your own...
R.
E.
S.
T.
Okay, so three challenges.
Since I did the acronym of R.
E.
S.
T., I also would like to hearwhat your acronyms would be for R.
E.
S.
T.
So make an acronym, send me a DM.
(30:33):
I want to share them on Instagram, solet me know if it's okay to do that.
Three things.
Think about what R.
E.
S.
T.
means to you.
Er, er, er, er.
Think I guess this is like a twofer.
Think about what R.
E.
S.
T.
means to you and send me a DMand tell me if you're in and I
will start planning a day of R.
E.
S.
T.
Let me know if you would like a placeto commune, Facebook or Patreon,
(30:54):
and three, what's an acronym?
You don't have to do allthree, unless you want to.
You don't have to.
But at least do one, and whicheverone you do, I'm sure it'll be bomb.
But y'all, I just want to say thankyou so much for listening to the show.
I'm trying something a little new.
I am flying off the handle.
(31:14):
Woohoo!
I'm not following a strict script.
I just want to speak from the heart.
I decided to do it this way because somany of y'all share your heart with me
that it's only fair that I do the same.
If this episode is a little unhingedand, and less structured and less
polished, that's because I am thinkingon the fly and thinking from my heart.
(31:39):
So thank you for being here, and Ihope you check back for the next show.
So keep resting, keep playing, slaying,and I will catch y'all on the flip side.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh . Bye y'all.
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