This is the second post in this series, the first is here.
Let’s talk about the morning commute. I should have written about this yesterday because I forgot my pump stuff and didn’t realize until I was walking up the stairs to the office. I had to go back home and then drive back to work again, so I basically did 3x my normal commute. But, I thought about it today.
What made the commute tolerable?
Listening to podcasts!
This is a new thing for me. I drive an older car (seriously, it’s a 2007 or 2008, how is that an old car?!?) so it doesn’t have bluetooth. My husband got me a bluetooth speaker for Christmas. I think he got it so I could make hands-free phone calls, but that’s not what I use it for. I use it to listen to podcasts.
I love listening to podcasts on the way to work because they make the drive go by so fast. I’m not worried about traffic or how long it’s taking, I’m just listening to an interesting conversation. I do it on my morning commute but usually not in the evening because by the time I’m leaving work, I either want to enjoy some music or have a few minutes of quiet. Sometimes I just need some quiet. I can’t listen to podcasts while I work because I can’t do both at the same time.
Also, because I’m old-school and I have Project Fi wireless service, I don’t like to stream while I’m driving, so I download them to my phone. I could make things easier for myself by using an app and subscribing to the podcasts I like. But, like I said, I’m new to this and only have a few podcasts on rotation. That’s my excuse.
So what podcasts am I listening to?
I think the one that started it all is Laura Vanderkam’s new podcast with Sarah Hart-Unger called Best of Both Worlds. The tagline is “How to get the best out of life at work and at home.” They say it a little differently on the podcast, something more like for moms that love their careers and love their families.
I’ve been following Laura Vanderkam ever since I came across her when I was looking into productivity and time management. She has written books and speaks on the topic, and I really love her message that we all have the same 168 hours, and we can make them work for us how we want to. She loves to track time, which I honestly haven’t done, but I really like her message and her perspective. I had never heard of Sarah Hart-Unger before, but I like her. The two of them together are really good. Sarah is very into planning and organizing.
On the podcast they’ve interviewed several women and what I really like about it is getting that glimpse at how other moms do it. They talk about their work and their childcare situations and usually walk through their typical day. Certain guests also talk about how things have evolved for them over time. They also do episodes on different themes, so there are several topics to choose from if you want to give it a try.
I also just listened to a couple episodes of Kendra Hennessy’s podcast Mother Like a Boss. Kendra is also someone I’ve been following for a little while, though most of her stuff focuses on cleaning and I’m not really into that aspect as much as I probably could be. I don’t want to clean everyday and she advocates for cleaning routines. Would my house look better if I did that? Yes. That’s just not where I’m at right now.
I listened to Episode 16 called Creating a Functional and Fabulous Wardrobe, with Jennifer Mackey-Mary. This podcast episode was really the catalyst that made me realize that I wasn’t accepting my body the way it is. It was such a great episode that I’ve listened to it twice. It’s had a real impact on me and I’ve told other people about it because I think almost everyone should listen to it.
If you’re going to listen to any episodes, please listen to this one.
Another thing I’ve been trying to get more of in my life is humor.
I think everyone needs more humor in their life. Or maybe not. I tend to take myself pretty seriously and be pretty hard on myself. And I’m just at a place where when I’m watching entertainment, I want to be entertained and I want there to be some humor.
Recently I got my dose of humor by watching The Good Place. I love Kristen Bell and I loved the humor in this show. I loved it so much that every time we turned the tv on, I put on an episode. Sadly, we ran out of episodes way too fast.
Lately I’ve been finding humor in, what I would have previously considered, an unlikely place. A moms group on Facebook. Now, I don’t really love Facebook and I generally try not to spend too much time on there. I kind of go through phases though. Right now, I’m in a phase where I like to read the posts from this group because generally there is a lot of humor. There’s also a lot of support there and many women feel safe posting things there that they don’t want to post elsewhere. So there may be some sense of community, but mostly I’m in it for the laughs.
Today I got a laugh when a mom posted that she was not making it work. She said when she woke up her 4 year old son was up watching Wild Kratts and had fixed himself a plate of Chinese food. The comments were amazing, like “Not making it work?!? Are you kidding, he’s self-sufficient, using up leftovers and chose a safe activity. That’s a win in my book.” (Or something close to that.) Everyone was congratulating her and she felt bad about it, but there was humor there. People were making light of it in a good way.
Yes, this mom thing is hard, in so many ways. I think we could all use a bit more humor and laughter in our lives.
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