Mind of Snaps - Positivity Podcast | Ep. 58 - "Start Where You're At"

Welcome to "Start Where You're At" - the 58th Episode of the Mind of Snaps Positivity Podcast!

This is a special podcast series that is separate from the regular Mind of Snaps Podcast, with a new release (typically) posted every Monday for Patreon supporters!

It is my goal to create as much positive & encouraging content as I can during these intense, uncertain times we're faced with. 2020 was so much more than anyone expected it to be, and nobody should have to take it on alone. The only way I can continue to do so, is with your help.

To help, you can: become a patron, subscribe to me on Twitch, you can send a tip which I'll turn into an investment... or you can simply share my content on social media. Every little bit helps me be able to continue to create the podcasts and other mindfulness & positivity based content in the future.

The format of these podcasts are forever evolving to reflect current events from personal to global, so I hope you are enjoying them. Please reach out to me if you have any suggestions!

Hang in there, friends... we're all in this together.

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You can find new Positivity Podcasts on Patreon every Monday; Patreon archive positivity podcast episodes are available free for the community every Thursday at 4pm on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, & Stitcher!

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Jessy (Mind Of Snaps / SheSnaps)

www.MindofSnaps.com

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Transcript

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Good morning, my absolutely radiant friends. I'm so happy like you have no idea. I'm so happy to be sitting here on this lovely Monday morning doing another positivity podcast for you. As you know, these past few weeks and really like the past month or more, has just been a complete and total whirlwind for me, I committed to creating this big event alongside rare drop the holiday home and hearth community and fundraising event. And then right when I was ready to start jumping into planning out the most detailed aspects of it, I started feeling off. I soon learned that I was pregnant, and also learned that apparently the first trimester of pregnancy tends to be one of the most exhausting things a person could experience. Who knew I started falling behind on work due to just absolutely overwhelming exhaustion, and then got to a point where I couldn't put it off anymore. And I had no choice but to either buckle down and work on the event, or give up on it entirely. I will be completely honest, the idea of giving up on it entirely and started to get a kind of sweet ring to it. But man, I just, I really wanted to do something special for the community during what I know, is an especially hard time of year for so many people. So I got into it and amazingly managed to pull it off. As you probably noticed, with my limited energy available, something did have to give. And unfortunately, it was this Patreon and stream schedule. I just could not keep up with the podcasts while attempting to get that event going. And since the event required a lot of attention during it, I couldn't run our usual video chats for the last two weekends either. I am incredibly appreciative and grateful that you all stuck by and waited patiently with so much understanding of what I was up to and what I was going through. I'm just so so so grateful. And fortunately, the holiday home and hearth event is done, done. And we can get back to whatever kind of normal I can manage with this new thing I'm experiencing. I honestly don't anticipate any more delays on podcasts because I've reduced a great deal of other commitments to make things easier on myself. But like either way, I know I will do my absolute best to keep on providing as much value as I can to all this community means so very much to me. And I just I really want you to feel like you're getting your money's worth. So let's get into what I wanted to talk to you about this week. Ah, this week, I wanted to talk about the importance of simply starting where you are at. As you know, most of these podcasts are inspired by reflecting on my previous week or weeks of life experience. And recognizing whatever patterns might have been either holding me back or helping me move. These past few weeks. As I mentioned, I have been crazy exhausted, it has been really tough to accept that my energy levels aren't what they were. And sometimes I find myself having trouble getting started because I'm just sitting here wishing things would go back to normal. I don't want this pregnancy to be over. I want to be able to have a full term pregnancy and deliver a healthy baby. But I would wish that my energy levels could at least go back to what they were before pregnancy. I noticed this a couple of weeks ago, I had just eaten breakfast, and I went to the couch to relax a little bit after. Because yes, I actually get tired after eating even small meals now. It's so weird. So anyway, I went to the couch, I grabbed my cozy blanket and I just laid there feeling a bit stressed while thinking about all the things I should be doing. But feeling like I just don't have the energy to do all of them. I started thinking again about how I needed to be working on the holiday home and hearth event, because it seriously was almost all on my plate. I was the one producing the event and rare drop was going to be providing help when it came to getting set up on their channel, getting the tilta phi pages set up for donations. And they did some other behind the scenes work including helping to find some great folks to donate some bigger ticket items like that Xbox series s. So I had a very limited timeframe left to create six full days of content scheduled to run from 8am to 10pm each of those days. I had this little spreadsheet set up With my schedule for the event, every time I looked at how blank it was, I would notice that feeling of overwhelm start creeping in again, how the fuck was I supposed to do it all while being this tired? Then I'd think about other people who I knew who were pregnant and would go running every morning before going to work, or who would do all these other crazy things like raising toddlers while pregnant and still somehow managing to get their shit done. And I would find myself feeling even worse than before. Truly comparison is the thief of joy. Oh, my goodness. Oh, so then that day, after eating and feeling tired all over again, as I was sitting on my couch, thinking of all the things that I felt like I had to do, and wondering how to do all of them. I finally started thinking a bit more logically about my situation. I thought, okay, clearly can't do all of these things. Clearly, I can't work a full day in the fully focused state that I need to be in to get this work done. But I can at least do something. Where do I start? So at that point, I filled up my water bottle went upstairs, which is also so weirdly exhausting. By the way, I sat down on my desk, at my desk, and I opened up my big empty spreadsheet. And I decided I would just start one day at a time. So I focused on the first Friday and I got to work. I knew I probably only had a couple of hours of time where I could dedicate to the work before I would crash. So I figured if I at least focused on the first day of the event, that's only six spots to arrange. That seems reasonable. I think I managed to get in about three hours of work, before I felt my brain turning to mush. Like, oh, my goodness, I noticed that my sentences were making less and less sense. And they were taking me longer to formulate, I was just really struggling. So I quit for the day, I went into my bedroom sat down on my bed for a minute with intentions of making the decision of what to do next, shower or eat real, real tough decisions there. Turns out though, I had burned through every bit of my reserves, because even making that simple decision was too much. I basically fell over in bed and fell asleep for the next few hours. I woke up with boo resting on my arms, and with me, feeling a bit more human. But still not enough to shower or eat right away. I kind of had to psych myself up for that. That day, though, it did, it did help me set a precedent. I didn't have to sit down at my desk only when I knew I could do a full day of work. Sometimes just sitting for an hour would be enough. And if not enough, it's still better than doing absolutely nothing and stressing myself out further, I had to accept a ton of things in order to make this happen, though. For the immediate future, I had to accept that I just couldn't do everything. While I would wish that I was some kind of Superwoman who could go for a five mile run before working a full day, like someone else I had known in the past. That's not me. I'm also not 24 like she was at the time. And I'm sure the extra 10 years age difference makes makes a difference makes an impact. As much as I would like to be that super energized pregnant person. That's just not my reality lately. So rather than getting stuck in wishing things are different or could be different. I just had to start where I'm actually at. And where I'm actually at is limited energy capacity. I only have so much energy to get me through my day and I had made a commitment to create this big event. I was absolutely determined to make it happen. So I had to give up on the fact that the house was probably going to be messy for a while nothing horrendous or anything but simple things that I was proud of myself for like after moving here. I had gotten to a point where I was so good at always going upstairs and folding or hanging up my clothes after doing laundry. I was really proud of that and I just don't have the energy for it anymore. So the laundry would sit in a basket in my closet and I would basically do my best to pick the least wrinkled thing to wear every day and say fuck it. Like it. I also had to give up on my desire to still be cooking and baking nearly every day. The energy is simply not there. On top of the lack of energy, I've also been struggling with getting dizzy quicker again. So I have to work with my body a bit more and spend more time than I would prefer sitting or laying back trying to rest a bit. I also had to accept and this was a big one for me. That while I might lose subs, subscriptions on Twitch and might lose out on some income for a while. I trusted myself to figure things out and get back on track once the event was over, this one was especially challenging. But I really was so determined to create a special event for the community. So once again, said, fuck it, I'll figure it out and did what I could to relax a little bit over finances and try to trust the universe. So each day, I would work for as much time as I could on the event, while doing what I could to maintain a semi normal stream schedule, and keep up with coaching calls. Some days, I could do about an hour of work on the event. Other days I could do for it was tiring, and it was taxing. But when I stopped focusing on how much I wished I could do, and instead focused on what I could actually do, things got a bit easier. I started to trust in myself a bit more and even accepted the help of a few kind folks who reached out. Last two weekends, we held the event. And I really could not be more proud of how it turned out. The first weekend, we raised over 70 $500 for ablegamers. And the second weekend, which just ended last night, we raised over 7200 for the full plate project. And that's not even counting whatever sales came in for merge, and you know any other donations that may have come in after the fact. But almost more importantly, we had some really special community moments while watching folks cook my music and game while chatting. It really was everything I hoped it would be. Having a few people in chat say they felt much happier about the holiday season, after getting to spend that special time together. That That really was all I could have wanted out of the event that just that made my day, my week, my life. I feel great just having seen those messages. Overall, I ended up booking 38 broadcasters for the event, and only one person had to back out last minute after a family emergency, everything else went relatively smoothly. And I am so glad. I'm also glad that it's over because now things can go back to a sort of normal routine again, hooray. Over the weekend. There are a few moments that fit in with the theme of today's podcast, too. We had a couple of like kind of fitness style streams. One where we got to follow along with iping tai chi as she who surely who is just so wonderful, taught us the magic of stress bending as she calls it, through mindful movement and Tai Chi. And one where we got to follow along and do some yoga with the absolutely adorable and wonderful just such a sweet person and xiety. In both sessions, there were a few folks in chat who were watching along and saying, Oh man, I could never do that I'm not that flexible. And right away, folks would chime in and say it's okay. This is how you gain that flexibility. Start where you are. It doesn't matter if you can't touch your toes yet. Or if you get winded, as you attempt some of the things you're seeing on screen. What matters is that you accept wherever you are in this moment and start something anyway. Just move. Give yourself a break. If you're not moving at the same pace as the person you're learning from. Everyone has to start somewhere. And wherever you are now, that's your starting point. No need to wish for the ability to be ultra flexible from the start or to somehow have tons of bodily strength without ever having taken the time to build it. Start where you are with what you've got now and do your best. And of course, take breaks when you can. Back when I train jujitsu. I would hear this similar thing all the time to Oh, I would love to do jujitsu. But I've got to get into shape first. Nope. Get into jujitsu. No, because it will help you get in shape. People understand that not everyone comes in at max health, just rippling with muscle and bouncing with energy. Everyone starts at a different level and does what they can to grow. So this week, think about some of those things you've been putting off. Because you don't feel like you're good enough, or because you think you don't have enough time. Maybe you've been avoiding doing art because you don't feel like you have natural talent. Maybe you've been skipping workouts because you're tired. Maybe you've been putting off some heavy, mentally intensive work because it feels like too much. It's okay. Whatever your situation is. First off, give yourself a break. This year has been so very hard on so many of us. Then do what you can to stop wishing things were different. And instead just start where you are. What are some small ways you can get started on achieving some of your goals? How can you start to do more art? Is it maybe just taking the time to doodle for 15 minutes. Day for fitness. Can you start doing 10 minute yoga videos, instead of being upset, you're not at a point where you can go a full hour. Whatever your situation is, stop and think about how you can start where you're at instead of where you wish you could be. Then take a few deep breaths and get at it. You got this. You got this thing and again, because I know at least one of you is shaking your head just a little bit. It's okay, it happens. But you got this. And you've got a community behind you that loves you and cares about you. Some drink some water right now friends, and get back out there. Start where you are, and manifest dope shit.