Here is the transcript for today’s mini-episode in The How to Not Panic Sessions.
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Well hello again. Welcome back. I’m so glad to be here, with you, on this Friday afternoon. So before we get into today’s episode, I want to remind you: this is the last of the daily podcasts...for now at least. But I’m going to be doing 2 things in the coming days and weeks: one is that I will be going live on Facebook and Instagram and offering support and coaching and sharing some love and socializing-from-a-distance on those platforms. I’m @kellyhanlinmccormick on Facebook and @khanlinmccormick on Instagram. So let’s connect there and be together, even though we are physically apart. Ok?
Also, I’m going to be turning this podcast series into a video series. And I’ll be expanding on some of the points that we talked about here and changing things up just a little bit, y’know, a little less off-the-cuff. So I’ll let you know when that’s ready.
For now...I wanted to recap where we’ve been together over the past week. It feels like it was another era altogether when I started this 7-day mini-series...the world is changing by the HOUR right now and things are very uncertain and unknown. But I want to thank you for not only being here with me, because I do love hanging out with you, but more so for being here for YOURSELF. For taking some time out of the news cycle, out of your new daily routine of working-from-home and online learning with the kids, time out of the fear and anxiety that’s out there in the world...I want to thank you for taking some time to focus on your own mind, your own emotions. For making some space for your own self-care and sense of wellbeing.
We are going to need a lot of support and love as a society for a long time coming. We are going to be navigating the change and impacts of this for a long while together. And in order to show up for each other, in order to rebuild and reconnect and restart, we’re going to need people who are doing THIS kind of work. Who are willing to clean up their thoughts and beliefs, who are willing to be a little uncomfortable, who are willing to to get perspective. People who are willing to work on their INNER lives so that their actions out in the world are the most amazing, helpful, and kind actions possible.
So, let’s review what we’ve done over the past week together here and put all of these pieces together into a whole, ok? The first topic we covered here was Thinking on Purpose. And this will remain SO important. We have to be conscious and aware and willing to take in the information and have the conversations that we want to have...but to turn those external thoughts, that outside information, into deliberate and intentional thoughts. Thoughts that we want to be thinking on purpose. Thoughts that generate feelings and actions and results that we want to be creating. That’s up to us, always. Even in the face of a crisis. The truth of where our emotions come from doesn’t change during a pandemic. The truth of our responsibility to be purposeful in our thinking doesn’t change during a crisis.
Be willing to think on purpose.
Then we talked about completing the stress response cycle. Thinking on purpose caretakes for the emotional, feeling side of things. It takes responsibility for the experience of stress and anxiety from a mindset perspective. When you commit to completing the stress response cycle, purposefully, every single day, you’re caretaking for the physical aspects, the physical sensation, of anxiety. You help your body from a biochemical place; you support your nervous systems from the outside IN when you consciously move your body for 30 minutes or more at least once every single day.
So THINK on purpose to create feelings on purpose. And complete the stress response cycle in order to keep your physical body at a steady state. Ok?
Then we talked about the pause. This sacred moment, this space, that we all have right now. Everything is closed, canceled, postponed. There is nowhere to be. Deadlines are extended. Kids and families are home. Everything is SO different than we could have ever imagined was even possible in our world. This pause is an opportunity, though. And we all have this opportunity to ask ourselves: who do I want to be on the other side of this pandemic? How do I want to emerge from this crisis? Use this pause FOR you and your family, for your work, for your community. Use this time and space. It’s YOURS. You’ll literally never have this chance again. What will you do with your pause button and respite from the daily routine?
Then we talked about true self-care. Self-care for your mind, your body, and your environment. Self-care for your mind, in this moment during the Coronavirus pandemic looks like what is coming IN and what is going OUT. The things that are coming IN are things like: news, social media feeds, conversations with friends and family, and more news. All of those thoughts and ideas and data and stories that we consume from the outside world. Make SURE that you are being a CONSCIOUS consumer and that you are acting like a strict curator for what you’re allowing IN to your mind. Ok?
Then there’s what’s going OUT. Your thoughts create your feelings...your feelings drive your actions, your behaviors, how you’re showing up in the world. So when I say caretake for what’s going OUT of your mind, I mean, pay attention to the feelings that you’re generating and the actions those feelings are fueling. The way you show up in the world will be the direct output of how you’re thinking. If you’re feeling anxious, you’re going to take anxious actions. If you’re feeling calm, you’re going to take calm actions.
Be aware of the 2-way street of your mind and caretake for it. You are the only one who can do that job.
Self-care for your body looks like paying attention to the basics: movement, food, and sleep. You don’t need to get fancy here. You don’t need to recreate your life. But you DO need to think of the foundational building blocks of self-care for your body and that means paying attention to how you’re eating, how much you’re exercising, and how you’re sleeping. You have to have these 3 things in place. Now more than ever.
Next was the question I got from a LOT of you: managing your time and finding a routine during this quarantine. So, hey, I could go on and on about this topic. But here are a few things that I want you to keep in mind that I didn’t mention in that episode the other day:
Time is your most valuable resource. You don’t get time back. You create every other resource, like money, energy, knowledge, and to a large extent, health with your TIME.
Time is also the most important investment you will make. How you spend your time is an investment. When you spend your time sleeping, you invest in your energy and vitality. When you spend your time cooking and eating healthy foods, you invest in your physical health. When you spend your time working and creating value in the world, you invest in your financial health. When you spend your time with family and friends, or reading, or participating in hobbies and your favorite activities, you invest in your own joy and contentment.
You can make powerful investments using your time to optimize your entire life. It’s the only resource you have a very limited amount of. You can create ALL of your other resources from your time investments.
The only thing MORE powerful?
Your brain. Be onto yourself and manage your mind. Challenge your thoughts and beliefs. Question everything. Stay curious and fascinated. When you use your brain, when you clean up your mind, you can stay super clean on your time investments. It’s the best life hack ever.
Then, lastly, we talked about the new normal. The new normal that we’re living in NOW...and the new normal that we will be creating when this is over. We’re in a liminal phase right now. An in-between. We are no longer in the BEFORE of the Coronavirus. We can’t go back to BEFORE. And we don’t know when the AFTER is coming. There’s no light at the end of the tunnel for us yet, at least, not in the United States. We are in the in-between. And we have this blank slate moment to create a new normal NOW, while we’re in quarantine...and we will have another blank slate moment later, at some point in the future, when we get to create the new normal for the AFTER. After the crisis, after this pandemic, after the Coronavirus.
So the question is: what do you want your new normal to look like? What do you want to create? How do you want to feel? And think? And what do you want to believe?
Think on purpose.
Complete the stress response.
Think of this pause as an opportunity.
Consider TRUE self-care...of your mind, body, and environment.
Create a routine & consciously manage your time.
The new normal.
Before we go...I want to extend an offer to you. I’ve been thinking a lot about what I can do right now, how I can help. And my family is doing a few things in our local community with small businesses and to help people in real life and we are going to continue to think on this ongoing problem and become a part of the solution in every way that we can.
But also, as a business owner, it’s important to me that I create an offering right now in the world that helps. And here’s the deal: I have a little corner of the internet full of amazing people who are doing fantastic work on their minds and bodies and hearts. And I want to invite you in. I want you to join us. The world needs people who are calm, who are committed, and who are mindful and kind and compassionate.
I want to give you a special offer for The Fierce Calm Project. Regularly, members pay $97 per month to be a part of The Fierce Calm Project. But I want to invite you in for $7. You get $90 off your first month with us.
If you’re on my email list, you’ll get an email about this, but if you’re not, I’ve put a link in the show notes so you can access this offer there. You have to use that link to get the $90 off and join for just $7.
In April, we’re going to be focusing on Mental Health & Wellbeing. I’ve changed things up a bit and we’re doing something more crisis-specific next month. Now, this offer is good through midnight central time on March 31. Because I want you join NOW and get in and get comfortable with our little corner of the internet so that when we start our new topic next month, you’re ready to go.
We have weekly coaching calls. And we’re going to be doing more than usual for the coming weeks and maybe months. So at least weekly coaching calls as a group. Then we have a private online community forum; that’s open to you 24/7. I’m coaching in there every single day. There are videos and workbooks. It’s the best thing I’ve ever created and now, more than ever, we need people who are doing this work so that we can create amazing, wonderful things in the world.
So, $7. What do you think? Want to come join us? Look for the link in the show notes and you’ll be able to join right now for just $7. You get your whole first month with us for $7. $90 off. That feels so good. I cannot wait to welcome you in and see you inside the program.
Ok, I love you guys. I’m thinking of you all. I know this is the weirdest, weirdest time. But even though there is a lot of PHYSICAL distance that’s required right now, we don’t have to be strangers to one another. Please know that I’m with you, that we’re all in this together.
Ok, I will see you again next week on the podcast. I will be on Facebook and Instagram live and posting there and talking with you there between podcast episodes. And hey, if we need to get together more often, I’ll be here. Ok? Until then, stay safe, stay healthy, please please be smart and careful about what you’re doing in the world, do your part to keep everyone in your community safe and healthy as well. Take care, everyone, I’ll see you soon.
