Episode 730: What Two Weeks Off Taught Me About Life, Work, and Trust (Mindset & Self-Care)

EBT730 – What Two Weeks Off Taught Me About Life, Work, and Trust

Intro  00:01

Hey food bloggers. Thank you so much for joining me in this mindset and self-care focused episode here on Eat Blog Talk. One of the reasons I started a blog talk was to hold a space to talk about the importance of mindset and self-care. Being an entrepreneur can be a lot. If we are not taking care of ourselves, then getting actionable information about SEO Pinterest or whatever else is all moot. I will meet you back here every Wednesday to discuss various mindset and self-care topics. So you have the energy and space to tackle the rest.

[00:00:33] Megan Porta   

Hello food bloggers. Welcome to this mindset episode of Eat Blog Talk. So happy you’re here. I just returned home from a 2 1/2 almost 3 week RV trip with my family and I feel like a new human. Honestly, this trip literally transformed me in so many ways that I couldn’t even get into in this episode.

[00:01:01]   

But I’m going to talk about some ways that it did transform me. So I left this trip knowing that I wanted to be really intentional about unplugging. And I’m not talking about going from checking my email 25 times a day to 10 times a day. I’m talking about a type of unplugging that I have literally never done in my business since I started it in 2010.

[00:01:30]   

I delegated so many things to my team that I knew they were very capable of handling while I was gone. I communicated with my mastermind members, with people I worked with, just letting everyone know that I was going to be off the grid for this time so that they could take over in my absence.

[00:01:51]   

This was kind of an experiment, but I knew I needed to do it and I’m so glad I did because I took so much value away from this time away and completely unplugging. It was a complete reset for me. Just the way I live, the way I work, and the way I relate to myself and the world and my team and people around me.

[00:02:19]   

So today in this episode, I am going to share six lessons that came out of the stillness and the space of just being fully unplugged. These are lessons about presence, rhythm, self trust and I also include a few practical ways that I’ve brought this clarity back into my work and life. So let’s dig in to the six points.

[00:02:47]   

The first one is your body is your compass. When you quiet the noise, your body starts speaking to you with a ton of clarity. Over the past couple years I have dealt with some just kind of sideline issues with my body, some inflammation, some energy issues, fatigue, stomach issues at times. But during this trip I realized something really important.

[00:03:18]   

None of the symptoms that I felt in the past and that I felt a little bit on the trip, none of it has been random. Every single ache, every energy drop, every reaction to food has been my body waving a red flag telling me to listen up and tune in. There was a day on our trip when I had a weak moment and decided that we should all eat at a crappy chain restaurant.

[00:03:48]   

I know. I’m so mad at myself for doing that. Even after doing my due diligence and going onto their website and looking at their allergen information, I still had a physical reaction after eating something that likely had soybean oil in it. My body does not like soybean oil. This is something I’ve learned this year.

[00:04:11]   

Instead of getting mad at it though when it happened and just becoming super irritated at what had happened, instead I just paused and listened and I gave myself a ton of compassion to just move through the reaction and learn from it. The lesson for me was that when your body reacts in an uncomfortable way, it doesn’t mean that it’s betraying you.

[00:04:38]   

It’s actually trying to help guide you back into a state of alignment. So instead of what is wrong with me? Why did this happen again? I asked myself, what am I being asked to notice or change or release? So you can try this when you are feeling off. Whether it’s emotionally, physically or energetically, just get quiet and ask your body what it is needing from you.

[00:05:06]   

You can journal about it. You might be surprised at what is already inside of you, what you already know. The second thing that I’m taking away from this trip is that your rhythm is sacred and non negotiable. There is a pace that your body, your mind and your soul thrive in and that is going to be different for all of us.

[00:05:34]   

You know it when you feel it. You know exactly what I’m talking about. For me, that is slow mornings, mid morning coffee journaling without a prompt or a timer. But just because I want to journal gazing at mountains. Unfortunately we don’t have mountains here in Minnesota, but that’s why we go to Montana.

[00:06:00]   

And these things are not laziness or indulgences. They are what helped me to slow down and breathe and thrive. This trip reminded me that I can’t return to business as usual. Coming back into real life is going to look much different for me now. My nervous system doesn’t want that same urgency that I felt before the trip.

[00:06:28]   

The lesson is your rhythm matters way more than any to do list. When you honor that natural flow that your body and your mind are asking you for, that everything, your energy, your ideas, your relationships, all of that falls into place with much more ease.

[00:06:49]   

Try this. Build two mornings into your week that are slow mornings if that sort of thing calls to you, and not if time allows or if my schedule looks okay this week, but as a sacred appointment. And protect them just like you would a mastermind call or a client call or any other thing that you put priority on in your business.

[00:07:17]   

The third lesson I am pulling away from this trip is that you’re already living pieces of the life you want. When we were in Montana, I walked through a home that literally felt like the one I’ve been dreaming about for many, many years. Hi Megan. Thank you for inviting us into your home.

[00:07:39]   

Megan is a fellow food blogger from Pine and Palm Kitchen and she has curated the home of my dreams. It is beautiful. I feel so honored to have been invited into her incredible home. And not just that, but into her love. She is such warm, loving and kind human. Just absolutely loved visiting her.

[00:08:05]   

We all did. Outside of that visit, I found myself often on vacation, sipping coffee with my husband with Flathead Lake as the background or mountains as the background. And all of those moments caused me to just think, this is the rhythm that I want more of. I did a mastermind. I facilitated a mastermind call toward the very end of our trip when I was starting to dig back into work.

[00:08:35]   

And I felt this clarity and ease facilitating that call that only came because I was grounded and rested because of the trip. My community manager, Taryn. Hello, Taryn. She was on the call as she is on all of our mastermind calls. And she texted me after the call was done and said, oh my gosh, Megan, you look and just your energy is so much more different and in a good way.

[00:09:06]   

And I know that’s what she was sensing is that I was just in alignment because of the time that I had taken off work. I think we often imagine that the life we want or crave is so far away, it’s way off into a future place that we can’t grasp in the moment.

[00:09:24]   

But I think sometimes it’s already here in little bits and pieces and we’re not. We’re just not seeing that. The lesson for me for this point is that the future is not some far away destination. It’s being revealed in moments and feelings and glimpses. Now when you feel something light you up, it is not a fantasy or a dream.

[00:09:48]   

It’s actually a signal.So try this.

[00:09:51]   

Make a list of recent moments when you have felt fully aligned, alive, thriving, peaceful, whatever it is, and ask yourself, how can I invite more of that into my everyday life? The fourth lesson that I pulled away is, you don’t have to be everything to everyone anymore. This one was huge for me.

[00:10:17]   

I feel like I’ve spent so much of my life in business and out being the glue, holding everything together, being the support system for everyone, being the one to get the crap done. But that version of me ran on hustling, urgency, perfectionism, and also people pleasing. This trip reminded me that I don’t want to and I don’t have to live that way anymore.

[00:10:52]   

I just don’t. I can ditch it. The lesson for me here is that being everything to everyone is not noble. It’s exhausting. You are allowed to choose lightness and ease, and you are allowed to support only what supports you back.

[00:11:10]   

Try this.

[00:11:11]   

Ask yourself, where in my life am I carrying things that I don’t need to carry anymore? What would shift if I let go just a little bit and stopped clinging? Like you’re gripping onto a steering wheel super tight. Lesson number five is presence is the point. There was a moment on the trip that I will never forget you guys.

[00:11:38]   

It was such an amazing moment in my mind, and I will go back there. I know I will mentally, a lot. We were ziplining off of Whitefish Mountain. My husband and our son Sammy and I decided to do this. Elijah was down at the bottom. It was not his thing, which was fine.

[00:12:01]   

One of the first ziplining moments we had was at the very top of the mountain. And it provided this huge, wide view of the mountains and trees and lakes and so much amazing scenery. And I just happened to be next to Sammy, who was next to me and slightly in front of me.

[00:12:24]   

So I have this mental image of Sammy just zipping through this beautiful scene. And it was just like, I’m so grateful to be doing this with him and to have that image in my mind. I will never forget it. It was beautiful. There were so many other magical moments on the trip. Chatting with Elijah as he was eating huckleberry pancakes one morning with the lake and the mountains in the background.

[00:12:53]   

It was so beautiful and just such a special moment. There was another moment when we were in West Glacier where Dan and Sammy and I were playing catch in just this beautiful golden evening light. Yeah, it was amazing. So those moments and so many more were sacred. They weren’t breaks from work, they were the work.

[00:13:20]   

And I loved that. That clarity came to me. That’s what I’m here to do. This trip reminded me that presence is not what we do after we get everything done on our to do list. Presence is the reason for the list in the first place. So the lesson is don’t build a business that demands your absence from life, your people, your memories, your inner peace. That is the point of everything. Everything else is just a vehicle.Try this.

[00:13:54]   

At the end of the day, reflect on this question, where did I feel the most present today? And then double down on those moments. They are your compass. And the last lesson is redesigning work to serve your soul. Here is the most practical thing I took away and shift I made and one I am bringing home with me immediately and putting into action.

[00:14:22]   

Before the trip, I was totally stuck in default mode. I think you can probably relate to that. It’s easy to fall into that just default way of doing things. I was opening my inbox so many times a day, it’s ridiculous. I was reacting to every message, notification, email, everything that came into my vision.

[00:14:48]   

I was doing this thing where I absentmindedly tapped onto the Instagram app every time I turn on my phone without even realizing what I was doing. It was draining me in ways that I did not even understand until I unplugged. So I’ve made a few big changes. They’re small changes, but they’re big changes, if you know what I mean.

[00:15:14]   

First, my phone is no longer on my radar. It really wasn’t before. I’ve done a really good job of not being reliant on my phone hugely in the past few years, but now I’m happy if it’s in a separate room all the time. I am not checking it when I’m bored or stressed or standing in the line in line at the grocery store.

[00:15:36]   

I am making changes when it comes to my phone. Also, Instagram autopilot is done. I’m so done with that. That reflex where I just auto tap into the app. I broke it. I deleted the app off my home screen. I paused before I open it and often I don’t even go there. Inbox checking happens once a day if that.

[00:16:05]   

Which feels kind of scary because before it was many, many, many times a day and now it’s not that at all. I am realizing that 99% of the things that come into my email do not need my eyeballs or they can wait. My energy is so much better spent on other things.Creative work, other projects, presence with my.

[00:16:29]   

Family, and real actual rest. The lesson you do not need to earn your peace, you can create defaults, actually honor your energy, not ones that drain it. You are the gatekeeper of your time, so own that.

[00:16:47]   

Try this.

[00:16:47]   

Choose one tech related boundary to start this week. Maybe it’s checking email once a day or twice a day, or removing a social media app from your phone. Let your nervous system adjust and then expand from there. That’s all I have for you. Thank you for letting me share a little bit about my trip and things that I’m taking home from it.

[00:17:10]   

It was really a transformational experience, unplugging, and I hope that you feel encouraged to maybe try it in the future. It doesn’t have to be three weeks of unplugging, but maybe it’s a day or two days or five days. The unplugging on this trip did not give me clarity necessarily. It reminded me that I already had the clarity.

[00:17:34]   

It was just hiding underneath all of the noise. So if you’re craving more peace, more presence and more joy, you don’t have to run away. You just have to create the conditions for that stillness and listen to what comes from it. And here’s a reminder for you that you might need today. The person you’re becoming is not behind schedule.

[00:18:00]   

She or he is right on time. Thank you for listening and I can’t wait to see you back here again next week. Have a wonderful week everyone.

Outro 

Thank you so much for listening to this mindset and self care episode. These mindset episodes are now available on YouTube, so watch it over there. Search Eat Blog Talk on YouTube and we’ll see you there.