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Up-Level Your Life with Mindy
Up-Level Your Life with Mindy
Rediscovering Passion and Clarity: Mindy Duff on the Rejuvenating Power of Taking Breaks
What if taking a break was the key to reigniting your passion? After a much-needed pause from June to September, I returned to the mic with renewed enthusiasm and a fresh perspective. Join me, Mindy Duff, as I recount the transformative power of stepping away, even from something you love, and the clarity it can bring. I share personal stories, including a rejuvenating family vacation in remote Canadian fishing cabins, illustrating how disconnecting from digital communication can refresh your soul.
But it doesn't stop there. In this episode, I guide you through a mindfulness exercise designed to help you identify what you might need to take a break from. The goal? To ensure you return to your commitments feeling more centered and revitalized. Let's build a community of shared experiences and mutual inspiration. I express my heartfelt gratitude for your support and urge you to subscribe, leave a review, and continue sharing your journey with us. Tune in and explore the liberating power of taking breaks, and the positive impact it can have on your life.
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hey, friends, this is your host, mindy duff, and you're listening to up level your life with mindy, your number one personal growth podcast that will bring you closer to uncovering your greatest self. As a certified holistic health and nutrition coach, I created this podcast for anyone who desires to improve physically, emotionally and spiritually. I'll be interviewing experts and sharing tips and tricks that have helped not only my clients, but that have guided me on my own transformational journey. I believe that we all have a greatness that lies within. We just need to uncover it. Are you ready to level up? Then let's begin. Hi everyone and welcome back to Upload your Life with Mindy. I'm your host, mindy Duff, and just a little solo episode today.
Speaker 1:If you are a regular listener, you might know that I have not had an episode for a while and if you are finding me, you know way after the fact of me recording this, then never mind any of this. But right now, let's see, it's September, I don't know what, something like 8th, I think, maybe, and I haven't actually had an episode air since June, and a lot of people I know, podcasters out there that will just record and record and record and then, once they've got a whole bunch saved up. That's when they start posting, and I usually don't do that. Sometimes I'll have a couple in the hopper, but I usually just record it and then, not too many weeks after I record it, I like to get it out there, just because that's just what I do. But it was June and I'd been recording these, you know, weekly and getting them posted and then all of a sudden I don't know if it was just the fact that it was summer or what but all of a sudden I was like, oh my gosh, I need a break. It was like one day opened my eyes and it was like the clearest thing to me. I just needed a break from podcasting. So I took one and I'm going to tell you I love my podcast.
Speaker 1:This is one of my favorite things that I do. For those of you that know very much about podcasting, this is not generally how people make money. It's possible, there are ways to make money with a podcast. But Joe Rogan, I'm sure, is doing all right with his podcast, as are some other big name celebrities and whatnot. But for the average Joe podcaster such as yourself, this isn't something I do because I'm just rolling in the dough every week. This is something I do because I just truly enjoy it. I enjoy interviewing all of my guests. I've had some fantastic guests on this show. I look forward to having even more.
Speaker 1:But even sometimes, when there's something that we really enjoy, sometimes you just need a break. And, like I said, I woke up one day and I was like, oh, I don't want to do it today, I don't feel like I want to do it tomorrow either. So I just it took a break and it's been really good. I feel like now I'm kind of at a point where, like, I'm itching to come back a little bit. So look forward to some more episodes coming up soon.
Speaker 1:It may not look like it was before, with every single week, it may be every other week I'm not really sure but you know what that's the beauty of something like this? Really sure, but you know what that's the beauty of something like this? I can just. There's no rules. So I guess, take it when you can get it.
Speaker 1:But let me talk about specifically about taking a break as relates to all of our lives, not just me. With my podcast I've come to well, this is something I guess I shouldn't say. I've come to realize it just this summer for the first time. I think we all know but maybe just need that reminder that sometimes taking a break is a really really, really good thing, regardless of whether it's something you enjoy or maybe it's something that's not quite so good for you or something you don't enjoy. We all could use a break once in a while. I'll share another example from just my personal life this summer. So good for you or something you don't enjoy, we all could use a break once in a while. I'll share another example from just my personal life.
Speaker 1:This summer I took vacation with my family in the summer. We have some fishing cabins that we go to that I've been going to since I was a child. They're nothing fancy, but it's very in a pretty remote place in Canada. Basically, there's no cell service, there's no cable TV, no, nothing. There's electricity, there's running water and there are some people around. But beyond that, our creature comforts that we get used to, like having your phone that you pick up a thousand times a day to check the weather, check your email, check your Instagram, check your whatever latest podcast from Up Level your Life with Mindy that's just not there. You can't do it, it's not accessible. It's probably about a 20-minute drive, 15, 20-minute drive to get to where you have decent cell service again and I just love it.
Speaker 1:The first couple of days usually everybody gets kind of twitchy, like you know. You find yourself like going to grab for your phone to check the weather and then, oh yeah, that's right, you know I can't, I can't do that, but by it really doesn't take too long. And then by the end of the week, you know, we pulled back onto the main road where my phone just is lighting up all of a sudden because I've got cell service. So here's this text message you missed. And here are these messages and here's this whatever. And I was like, turn around, go back. I want to go back to where no one could get a hold of me, because it was just such a nice break from everything. Now, do I love when my friends send me text messages? Of course I do. I don't want to be away from my friends forever, but it was just such a nice break to just be in this remote place in nature and not have all those distractions.
Speaker 1:And in particular the last couple years when I've gone and come back, it's made me a lot more mindful about my social media usage, which, you know, that's another topic, maybe for another day and I think we're all aware of how easily we can get sucked into scrolling on whichever social media is your favorite.
Speaker 1:It's really easy to kill a lot of time and sometimes maybe that's OK and maybe sometimes it's we're using it in a good way, and then sometimes maybe it's not the best thing that we could be doing in this particular moment. So it made me really mindful of some of my habits and I just wanted to kind of draw some awareness on taking a break and the importance of taking a break. Sometimes you maybe have heard, you know, absence makes the heart grow fonder. We think of that with relationships when you know maybe your significant other is gone, maybe on a work trip or something, and then, oh, they come back and oh, I do still like you I hope that's the case for you and how much you've missed them, because absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Speaker 1:You may realize after taking a break from someone or something that maybe you were taking them for granted. I think we do that a lot with people in our lives, especially people who are really close to us. It's very easy to well, they're always there, or they're my spouse, they're supposed to love me, or they're my. That's my mom, of course she's going to love me, whether I, you know whatever. But I think when you take those little breaks, it helps you to see people or situations or things in a new light. So I would encourage you to find some things that you maybe need to take a break from and take that break. You also may realize that, oh, now that I've taken a break from this thing or this person or this situation, maybe it's not in my best interest, maybe it served its purpose and now I'm ready to move on and I don't need it anymore. Maybe that's your job. Even Sometimes, you know, you go on a week or two week long vacation from work and you come back and whoa, you know what?
Speaker 1:Have I outgrown this position at work? Do I need something different Again? Or relationships, friendships. You know, people that come into our lives aren't necessarily, you know, there's no rule that says that they have to be your closest friend forever. It doesn't mean you have to break up with people in some extravagant way, but maybe just kind of taking a break and stepping away from things and deciding do I really want this in my life anymore and making those conscious decisions. You could do it with food too. Conscious decisions, you could do it with food too. Maybe you already, I think, when I said that, I feel like some of you instantly were like oh no, yep, I know, I already know a thing that I'm supposed to take a break from.
Speaker 1:I've done it a few times where I've taken a break from sugar like a total no sugar for two weeks, and that has really been eye-opening and just my own dietary habits. You don't realize how much sugar you're eating and how much sugar is in different things. And now, once I quit the little sugar fast, did I go back to sugar? Yeah, absolutely. I still ate sugar, but for quite a long time I was a little more mindful of it, until it's time to. Probably I should do one of those again now that I'm saying it. If I'm saying it, it probably means I should do it again.
Speaker 1:Maybe you're eating too much fast food. Maybe you're considering hmm, am I reacting to gluten, am I reacting to dairy? And you've just kind of been thinking about that a little bit. Well, take a break from it and see how you feel. That's really the only the best way to know when it comes to food is to actually take that break and see, and you might realize, oh, you know what I actually feel amazing, and I don't really miss it as much as I thought I would. Or, you know, maybe you don't notice a change at all and I guess maybe it's not the dairy, it must be something else.
Speaker 1:Now, whatever you're taking a break from, I would encourage you to I don't know give yourself depending on what it is, you'll know the answer here but give yourself more than just one or two days of a break from something, because it's going to be really hard to know and at the beginning you're probably, depending on what it is, you might really want to go back to that thing or that person, or whatever it is. We'll use food for an example, because that's an easy one we can all relate to. Let's just say you're inspired by this no sugar thing and you're curious about it. So you're like all right, no sugar for me. For you know, I don't know how long, we'll just see how it goes. Well, after, the first day is probably going to be okay, but the second day you're going to be like I want some sugar. Or maybe you're going to cut back on coffee or caffeine You're going to want, you're going to start twitching, you're going to be jittery, you're going to get headaches. You're going phone. You know you, instinctively, you know you grab for it and then it's like, oh, I can't, there's nothing there, it's just I can only use it basically as a camera right now.
Speaker 1:So give yourself a few days to kind of detox, I guess, from whatever this thing is that you're taking a break from Now. Sometimes that might be easier than other times, especially if it's a person that is in your life that you maybe can't control a lot of how much you're around them, but just maybe try to cut back a little bit from your time around them and do the best that you can. So what I would like to help you do right now is to determine what is that thing, what is that thing in your life that you need to take a break from right now. Again, remember that this could be good things. Again, I love doing this podcast completely. Love this it's one of my favorite things, but I needed a little break from it. Love this it's one of my favorite things, but I needed a little break from it and that was a good thing, even though my podcast is good, the break was also good, and now I can come at it refreshed with new eyes.
Speaker 1:So think in your head Actually, let's do this. If you are driving, do not close your eyes. Please keep your eyes on the road. But you can still do it. So don't think, oh, I'll have to do it. So don't think, oh, I'll have to do it later because you're not going to. You won't remember. It's okay, I'm that way anyway. So if you're driving, that's fine, but just kind of eliminate any other distractions. If somebody else is in the car talking to you, tell them to stop and do this with you.
Speaker 1:So, everybody else, if you're in a safe place, go ahead and close your eyes and let's just take three deep breaths in through your nose and let's go out through your mouth. And when we do these deep breaths, this really is just to kind of center us a little bit. You've been listening. Maybe you're folding laundry, maybe you're doing a little light cleaning driving. So let's just take these breaths and just allow them to center us a little bit more in this moment. And now I want you to ask yourself just one simple question, and that question is what do I need to take a break from right now. What do I need to take a break from right now? And if you really want to get serious, go ahead and ask yourself how long would be a good time for me to take this break, okay, and once you have your answer, open your eyes.
Speaker 1:Whatever came to you first, that's your answer. So whenever we do things like this, it's really easy for our egos to get involved and say, oh, hold on, wait a minute. No, no, no, you really mean this or this would have been a better thing. Whatever came to you first, that's the right answer. So you might be surprised by the answer. Maybe you aren't surprised by the answer. Usually we kind of have an inkling, but that's a great way to get answers to all of your burning questions.
Speaker 1:I do believe that all answers lie within right. I think that's true, though, and that's really kind of a simple way to get to those answers. Maybe you didn't like the answer, and that's okay too. It's your life. Nobody's forcing you to take a break from whatever it is that just popped into your head. But if you didn't like the answer, you might ask yourself why, and then you might try this exercise again. Try it again tonight before you go to bed. Try it again tomorrow morning when you first wake up and see if you get different answers. The same answer, yeah, and just I encourage you to roll with it.
Speaker 1:Whatever it was that popped into your head, that's, that's it. I also would encourage you to actually do the thing, because if you're listening to this podcast today, I really don't believe in coincidence, and so if this podcast popped into your awareness about taking a break from something, that's a good, probably sign from the universe. You know, here's your sign that you really do need to take a break from something. Okay, all right. Well, this was a short episode. I kind of knew that it might be, and that's okay Because, remember, short episode. I kind of knew that it might be, and that's okay Because, remember, there's no rules here. This is we're just doing flown by the seat of our pants here. So I would love to hear from you actually, if you do decide to take a break from something, if you feel compelled to share what it was or what your experience ended up being like. You know I'm recording this episode. It's September 2024. If it's like 10 years from now and you're like, oh, I just found this podcast and I did the thing, and here's what happened to me. You can still reach out to me, provided I'm still alive and kicking I hope so in 10 years.
Speaker 1:I absolutely love hearing stories from people that have taken ideas from this podcast and actually tried them or implemented them into their lives. That's really one of the main reasons of why I do this. You know, especially when I'm interviewing guests, I love to get the information for myself. You know, from all these experts I've interviewed, but, you know, hopefully they share so much wonderful information. Hopefully that same good information that I'm getting that I'm thinking is amazing.
Speaker 1:Some of you think it's amazing also, so that's why I share it, and so, yeah, I would love to have you also share with me. That just gives me a little more inspiration, too, and keeps me going. So, okay, all right. Well, wherever you are at today, I hope you are having a fantastic day and I will catch you on the next one. That's it for today. Friends, if you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe or, even better, leave a review and let me know what resonated with you the most. The more you tell me what you love, the better I'm able to create future episodes with even better content. I'm sending you so much love and light. I'll see you in the next episode.