As the clock ticks forward, we all grapple with the idea of transformation, but what if instead of a complete overhaul, we focused on enhancing the person we already are? Join me as I share my own metamorphosis f all while guiding you through setting powerful, yet achievable New Year's goals. This episode isn't just about lofty aspirations; it's a heartfelt exploration of why "new year, new me" is taking a backseat to realistic personal progress. From my triumph in adopting a healthier lifestyle to insights on why waiting to ditch toxic relationships isn't worth the wait, we'll tackle the truths behind our yearly pledges for change.
Shifting gears, we'll lighten the mood with a quirky tale of a dog's costly taste for cash, and I'll reveal how my anthem of the year, "Hello" by Aqyila, keeps me centered. Remember, it's not just about the big picture; it's about the intimate moments too, like my journey in nurturing individual bonds with my children. So whether you're looking to revamp your fitness routine or seeking solace in more restful nights, let's kick off the year with a dose of laughter, community, and a commitment to content that resonates. Get ready to not just set goals but to live them, right here on the Gag Is podcast.
As the clock ticks forward, we all grapple with the idea of transformation, but what if instead of a complete overhaul, we focused on enhancing the person we already are? Join me as I share my own metamorphosis f all while guiding you through setting powerful, yet achievable New Year's goals. This episode isn't just about lofty aspirations; it's a heartfelt exploration of why "new year, new me" is taking a backseat to realistic personal progress. From my triumph in adopting a healthier lifestyle to insights on why waiting to ditch toxic relationships isn't worth the wait, we'll tackle the truths behind our yearly pledges for change.
Shifting gears, we'll lighten the mood with a quirky tale of a dog's costly taste for cash, and I'll reveal how my anthem of the year, "Hello" by Aqyila, keeps me centered. Remember, it's not just about the big picture; it's about the intimate moments too, like my journey in nurturing individual bonds with my children. So whether you're looking to revamp your fitness routine or seeking solace in more restful nights, let's kick off the year with a dose of laughter, community, and a commitment to content that resonates. Get ready to not just set goals but to live them, right here on the Gag Is podcast.
Welcome to the gag is podcast with me, your host, charlie Chante, where I share the roller coaster of my life the highs, the lows and everything in between, after becoming a teen mom at 14 and a widow by the age of 21,. It's a journey filled with tears and laughter, reminding you that even in the toughest moments, there's hope. The gag is life may be unpredictable, but it's always worth living. Hey y'all, welcome back to the gag is podcast. I am your girl, charlie Chante. Thank you for joining me on another episode. Happy to have you here. Happy to have you here. Let me start off by saying happy new year to you. We are in 2024 and I feel like it came upon us pretty quick. Like I feel like we woke up one day it was Christmas and then the next day we were saying happy new year. Like I feel like that's how fast it went, but you know, it is what it is. So I hope that you guys had an amazing holiday. Like I said in my end of the year video, for holidays we kept it pretty mellow because baby boy was sick, but he's much better now. So we are into 2024 and y'all know where 2024 comes.
Speaker 1:
New Year's resolutions and I used to be super, super big on New Year's resolutions, like, oh my God, like what I'm going to do, oh my gosh, it got to be something amazing. But then, as I started to get a little older, I realized, like New Year's resolutions ain't nothing but a big lie you going to tell yourself and you going to break in 30 days. So I quit doing it. I started using it as a way to think about what has happened over the past year and see what I can do to revamp that. So today we're going to talk about New Year's resolutions. You know, like, have you thought about them, like we, a couple of days in, so hopefully you've thought about it, you've already started it. If not, you're putting it in motion so that you can start. Or however, you notice I'm still not back on my regular set that I made because your girls still having back pain. So these next few episodes y'all going to see your girl real comfy wonfy, as I'm still dealing with the back pain. But I'm not going to let that stop me from still getting out great content. But, like I said, I'm just going to be a little comfy wonfy. So like y'all might get another one where I'm in the bed. I don't know Just wherever my body is. I probably made me a doctor's appointment, but yeah, so let's go ahead and jump into today's topic.
Speaker 1:
So New Year's resolutions, you know I'm saying everybody's screaming New Year, new me. Like what does that even mean? So how you pick your resolution, like for me, I picked up that I know I don't want to start nothing new. I don't like the New Year, new me. Saying because if it's a new year and a new me, does that mean it's a new year and I'm about to be somebody that I'm not going to be? Like I'm going to transform and do this stuff and like not be who I am, like I'm going to get out of character. So I'm going to spend time out of my day, out of my life, to become somebody that I'm really not. No, we're not going to do that. So I quit saying New Year, new me, because it's just a new year, but it's not a new me. It's a new year, but it's an improved version of myself. I want to be a new person. I've mastered being this person that I am. Now I just need to figure out how to make it better.
Speaker 1:
In essence, like are you looking to change something Like do you want to add something to what you already do? Like what is the reason for the change? Is this change something that's going to be beneficial to you? Is there a habit that you want to break? Or like what is your reasoning behind changing up your New Year's resolution or picking that as a resolution? I guess you could say so, like are you doing it for you? Are you doing it for somebody else, or are you doing it to keep up with the trend? Because I know light, I know that at the beginning of the year, everybody's like it's the new year, I'm about to start eating healthy, I'm about to start going to the gym. Now, are you doing that for you or are you doing that because it's a trend? Because, let me tell you, I go to the gym on a regular and I've been this week. I will say y'all in the gym with some mighty cute outfits, so like are y'all in the gym to work out and change? Or are you in the gym because it's a trend? You know you got to decide because keeping up paying money every month to keep up with the trend and then you don't build this whole wardrobe around like a trend you're trying to follow, like that's weird, but do you go off, do you?
Speaker 1:
But for me, I try to pick things that are small and that I can use the whole year to master or what have you. For example, last year my resolution was to lose weight. I was, I started the year at my heaviest weight ever and on the last day of the year I was down 21 pounds, I mean. So I picked a goal and my goal was to lose the weight. I didn't specify how much, because I didn't want to get caught up on a number like okay, I got to lose this amount of weight and if not, I'm a failure. I made changes in my life. I made changes in my diet and then that got me to the end, which was 21 pounds. I'm enjoying it because now I can go to that being this in my closet and I can get them pants that I couldn't wear last year. About the slot of fuel to repair out because you know slim thick is on the way.
Speaker 1:
But back to the issue with hand. You know, in your professional life, are you trying to set a resolution for your personal life, like what are you trying to accomplish? Are you trying to get a promotion? Are you trying to get a raise. What are you doing to ensure that you're going to be in a position to proposition yourself to get that raise or to apply for that position that's a higher caliber for you? Does the new position require any education? Does it require you to take some CMEs or what do you need to get said raise or promotion for a new position? Like you got to make sure you hone in and find out what it is you need to do to be ready for that position. You know you can't go in with a.
Speaker 1:
I'm a plight for this position because I know it's mine, because I will be good for it. Okay, there's a lot of things that we would all be good at. But just because we're good at it, or you we think we will be good at it, does that still mean that we should apply for it? Or it's for us? Like should we do that? So you know, make sure you have the necessary skills. Like there's jobs that I'm like. This job is for me.
Speaker 1:
But once I started looking at it I realized, although I feel like this is the perfect job for me, I don't possess all of the skills needed for this position and I don't want to apply for a position that I don't feel that I check at least nine of the 10 boxes for that position. I want to make sure that I go in and I am confident although they may hire me if I only check seven out of the 10 boxes and help me build and grow. But for me and my comfort level I would rather go in with a nine out of 10 boxes check so that I can go in feeling more comfortable. That way I can go in and do the best that I can at this new position. I hope that makes sense to you guys. If not, go ahead and rewind that back. Listen to it again and I think you'll get the chest of what it is that I'm trying to say.
Speaker 1:
To say so in order to get further, sometimes we have to give up stuff and I know on a few episodes back I talked about giving up stuff to get where you want. Sometimes you got to get uncomfortable to get comfortable and with New Year's resolution I think that 1000% hones. True, you got to get a little bit uncomfortable. So my goal was to lose weight last year. So I had to give up gummy bears. I love gummy bears, but I knew in order to get to where it was I needed to be. I wanted to be. I know I had to give up gummy bears and yeah, I miss my gummy bears. And so now it's to the point where I can get gummy bears and I can just eat a few and I am perfectly okay with that, like I am just fine with having just a few gummy bears, like over as a 12 months went on, I had conditioned myself that, you know, it's okay to have a treat, but no, no, when to say when? You girl had to learn when to say when. She know she know when to say when. Also, you know, think about realistically what you can give up. Don't sit here and go. I'm going to give up X, y, z, knowing that that's something that's difficult for you.
Speaker 1:
One of the main things that I gave up, that I know a lot of people give up during the month of January, is social media. People take a social media detox. People take a social media trend. You know it's becoming a trend to like in the mother of January to take a social media break. That's cool, that's fine, you know, do you? But when you're doing that, what that time that you were spending on social media.
Speaker 1:
What are you going to do with this new found spare time? Are you going to read? Are you going to work on a craft? Are you going to work on building something? Are you going to do more self care? What are you going to do with that spare time? You know, because you're driving yourself crazy If you sit there and go. Man, I'm not on social media, I can't get on social media. I'm wondering what's going on on there. You know, like what am I missing out? Fomo, fear of missing out. What are you going to do with that time? Make sure you, you know, kind of kind of figure out what you're going to do with that time.
Speaker 1:
Um, a lot of people I noticed a lot of people say, at the start of the new year, they're going to cut people off, while you got away to the beginning of the year to cut people off, like, is it just like, okay, I'm going to put up with your stuff until December 31st at 1159, but at the stroke of midnight, you're done, you're out my life, shoe skedaddle, get on. You know why. Why do we have to wait, you know, to the beginning of the year? But I do think it is a good new year's revamp, we're not going to say resolution, we're going to say revamp. Um, because you can't carry people with you over and over and over, because it's like you keep doing the same thing over and over. You're going to get the same results right. So it's the same thing with people. You carry toxic, harmful people into the new year with you. You know it's in essence, you still bring in the same drama and everything into what is what you consider to be your fresh start. You don't want to do that.
Speaker 1:
I'm type of person If I'm going to cut you off, I'm going to cut you off. Like I'm not going to say I'm going to cut you off on this day, I'm going to cut you off. I don't need to continue to drag you, your weight and your baggage with me. I'm going to cut you off. You know, because if you're not benefiting to me you creating problems in my life, your dream I'm going to have to cut you off, except for, except for my best friends. Like no other people y'all can go, best friends forever, um, you know, just make sure you're doing whatever you're doing, you're doing it in a positive way, because just because you don't want to deal with someone, you don't want someone in your life doesn't mean that you got to be nasty to them. You just be like hey, you know, I'm at an intersection in my life and I don't think you quite fit where I'm going. You know nothing against you, no hard feelings, but where I'm going is somewhere that I don't think I can bring you with me.
Speaker 1:
Um, I seen a meme today and said my circle is so small, it's not even a circle anymore, it's a dot, and I wholeheartedly feel that. Um, you know. So be cognitive about the people that you bring with you into the next year that you have in your life. Um, you know, just be cognitive about it. I'm debating if I want to keep my glasses off or not, because I could. It bothers me that I can see the light in my glasses, um, and that bothers me. And then my glasses is hella dirty. Y'all don't judge me. Your girl was on the struggle bus over here. Let me tell you. I'm trying to. I'm trying to. I'm trying to told you your girl is on the struggle bus, but y'all can get this content because I ain't perfect. This is real and raw. You know, the gag is I'm not perfect, nope, your girl ain't.
Speaker 1:
But moving right along, sticking with your New Year's resolutions. You know, new Year and New Me. I tell y'all I don't believe in that New Year and New Me Like you go get the same old me Just gonna revamp a couple of things in my life. Make sure you stick with your resolutions, you know. Make sure you do stuff that. Make sure you set stuff that is attainable, stuff that you can do and stuff that's easy to achieve, something that, even if you have a setback, you're not gonna be setback. You know, if your goal is to lose two pounds a month but you lost zero, okay, we need to figure out. Whatever it was we did for that month wasn't working, so I need to try something else. You know there's always room for improvement.
Speaker 1:
Failure is not something, it's just a redirection. So I don't say failure, I just say a missed opportunity with a redirection. Oh, that sounds so good, that sounds so good, that sounds real good, that sounds real smart. I just made it up off the top of my dome, anyway. So don't say stuff like this is the one that I see a lot.
Speaker 1:
I'm gonna go to the gym every day, unless you're preparing for a show. What you need to go to the gym for every day I go to the gym. I make to the gym four to five times a week and for me that is to me I'm killing it, but it also allows me time for my body to recover, and it's not. I don't sustain any overused injuries and things like that. So start on realistic. Like, I'm going to go to the gym, especially if you haven't been in the gym a long time I'm going to go to the gym one to two days a week. One to two days a week is allowing. That's, that's, that's attainable.
Speaker 1:
You don't say because you're just starting off and you don't want to get burnt out. It takes 21 days to form a habit, you know, and so build yourself up. That way you don't suffer burnout with your resolution when you're going to the gym. What is the goal? Like, are you going to get stronger? Are you going to lose weight? Like, what is your goal for getting in the gym? Whatever your goal is, or whatever your new year revamp is, make sure you have a plan, because failing to plan will create a catastrophe for you and it will set you up for failure. I know because I've been there. I've done that and I'm trying to tell you plan, because if you just waking up day to day and you trying to wing it, it ain't going to work, sis, it ain't going to work and we ain't failing. Okay, we ain't trying to take too many redirections, especially if we can plan and we can prevent it. We ain't taking a whole bunch of redirections.
Speaker 1:
Some of my new year's resolutions read more books. On my bookshelf I probably have about 20 books that I need to read, and so I need to start setting aside time for me to read. Like I love to look at YouTube videos and different stuff as such, so maybe I need to cut back on my YouTube. So, instead of saying watching YouTube five times a week, maybe I can go down three times a week and substitute those other two days, substitute some reading in there, so that I can possibly get through these books this year. If I keep on record, that's about a book and a half two books per month, and I should be done at the end of the year. But I also need to know when I go to the store and I see another book that catches my attention, that I can't buy it. So last year I said I wasn't going to buy any new books until I read the ones that I have. Needless to say, I ain't getting on new books. Last year, because your girl ain't read, like I read some stuff, but I did read three. I didn't read, I listened to three audio books. So you know, I said, even though I'm not reading a physical copy, I listened to some audio books. It's not the same. However, I'm still to me account in me account, revent my fitness goals. Now, like I said, I go to the gym four or five times a week and I do have a trainer who I work with Um like when I'm not at the gym. And so this year I'm just going to get a little like.
Speaker 1:
My goal is to get a little bit stronger in my upper torso area. So a year and a half ago I had emergency surgery. So I've spent the last year and a half trying to rebuild and get my strength back in my abdomen and then last year I ended up getting a um. I got to be cognizant, I got to be careful of the words I use because you know they'll take you down. I received an injection and the injection was placed wrong and it messed up the mobility in my right arm. So I'm trying to regain some strength in my arm so I can get stronger again. You know, I'm not gunning for those six pack or nothing like that. Like that's not my goal. Like my goal is to get strength in my upper body, cause my leg, my bottom half, is fine, like that thing. Be thinking like these legs, be they be, they be legs, and is that where it's going to be? Yeah, the legs be laying, so I'm not worried about that.
Speaker 1:
Um, food goal revamps. Like I said last year, I quit gummy bears. This year, um, I got to, I got to be more mindful with my snacking. Like, I meal prep my food so I eat good. Eating good is not the problem, I'm sorry. Eating my meal prep is not the problem, it's I might get a wild hair and I want a bag of chips. Like right now, I really do want a bag of chips. Is it between a bag of chips or getting in my car and going to Waffle House? Yeah, I know how I feel about my waffle house. So, like, unplanned meals is my big, it's my big thing. Like waffle house will get me off my, it'll get me off my thing. So you know, I have to be more careful with that. This one is a big one and I thought long and hard about it, but I know it's needed.
Speaker 1:
I'm gonna focus more on my self care, and when I'm talking about self care I'm talking about therapy. I decided that I was gonna go back to therapy. I had a conversation with my psychiatrist and I was like I think I need to go back to therapy. You know, there's some things that I wanna work on and I feel like I have some tools, but I don't have all the tools. So I feel as though therapy would be more would be beneficial with where I'm at and then being able to recognize that I could benefit from therapy. I feel like that's a step in the right direction. As the show goes on, I will get more candid about having a psychiatrist, having a psychologist and going to therapy. That's what this show is. I've endured some traumas and you know it's been a minute, but I still need to work through that, and so, as time goes on, you know we'll discuss that and hopefully I can get some people on the show to talk about different things therapies and just small strategies.
Speaker 1:
If you're not ready to make that leap and go to therapy, I'm also going to start back getting my massages and my facials. I had kinda cut it off for a little bit, but on New Year's Eve my best friend and I went to get a massage and we went to do float tank deprivation Just kinda, you know, washed the worries and the troubles of 2023 off, come into 2024, a little refreshed, open-minded and such. So I'm gonna take myself care just a little bit better, take care of myself a little bit better this year, definitely going to rest. I know there are times where I'm like go, go, go, go, go go, but I need to start taking time to rest and relax and not just go to sleep but actually get rest Like an actual six, seven hours, eight hours is cool. It's sometimes it's too much for me, but I want to get.
Speaker 1:
I wanna be rested this year so that I can continue to bring you guys content and still have a life on the outside and not always be tired. And the last thing I wanna do this year is everyone tells me that I'm an amazing mother. I do this year. I wanna become a better mother, but I'm not quite sure what that looks like, because my kids are different ages at 10 years apart, and so I'm not really sure what that looks like. So I have to sit down and when I go to therapy this is something I'm gonna do as well I'm gonna sit and comprise a list of things I wanna work on with each individual child. Like I said, they're 10 years apart, so they don't have the same things going on. So I wanna make sure that I'm giving each one of them their own separate attention and not just one blanket agenda so they can. I wanna make sure that they feel special, they feel loved in their each respective. I wanna spend time with each one of them separately so that they we can talk, we can have our conversations, and then we'll have our family time with that. So, yeah, so that's what I wanna do with my new years. That's my new years revamp.
Speaker 1:
Leave me some comments, like leave me a review and tell me about your new year's resolution. Or, if you're watching on YouTube, go ahead and leave me in the comments what your new year's revamp is and let me know if you have a plan or if you know how you're going to obtain that. I would love to hear what some of y'all's new year's revamps are. Maybe I can give you some tips, maybe I can help you be an accountability partner. Anything I can do to help your girl is here, all right, so let's move into my favorite segment, what we call. You Can't Make this Up Now. I'll be finding these crazy stories and I'll be like, wow.
Speaker 1:
So this one you may have heard of, but there's so many questions that go on in my mind. So Family Dog eats $4,000 in cash off the kitchen counter. First of all, why y'all got that much money just sitting on the counter like that? That ain't a red flag. They all, like you, just casually got $4,000 sitting around at your house on the counter, like Y'all ain't had this in a cash box safe, y'all ain't had this money locked up, like so many questions. And Then the dog ate it, like the dog ain't never ate nothing else in his life. And then, all of a sudden, it decided it wants to eat $4,000, and I want to say that you know that he didn't eat all the money. Okay, so I didn't see this part. I had read the story, but I ain't see why. So they had took out $4,000 because they get some work done on a house and they needed to pay the contractors, and so I want to say that the dog ended up eating.
Speaker 1:
Let's see here. The dog left a shredded $1,500 on the floor but ate the remaining 2,500. What kind of money was this like? What on it? What did the dog smell on this money that made him say, man, what you do, money Taste like money, tastes like money like.
Speaker 1:
This dog took this to a whole another level. So he unfortunately got sick with this. So he was like, ooh, this money says good, but let me get y'all y'all money back. So he vomited and he pooped it out. And the owners, they went through the vomit and the poop to get said money out. They said that if they could salvage the money the bank told them, if they could get the Information off the money, the serial numbers, then they can exchange it for new money. And so they, the couple, washed and taped every bill they could find and recovered all but $500 at original amount.
Speaker 1:
That is wild. You got your dog ate $3,500 worth of money and y'all was able to salvage everything but $500. It reminds me of that verse in a nipsey hustle song where he talked about her brother buried the money in the backyard and they were blow drying his stuff. That's crazy. And Even though the dog ate all this money up. He, he recovered and he was healthy and everything. But it's, that's just crazy. See, crazy, crazy, crazy. My dog would never know my mom, my dog, my mom dog. He thought my dog wouldn't do such thing.
Speaker 1:
Anyway, so, before we close it out, y'all know we got to do a song of the week song or lyric of the week. So the song that I pick is hello by. I think her name is Akilah. I Hope I'm saying that right. I love that song. That's like my. That's like my. I'm going to therapy, I'm getting my things together, I'm getting my life in order. The song starts out by saying falling in love with who I am. I'm definitely falling in love with who I am. I'm becoming a better person, slowly but surely. You know, nobody's perfect and we don't change over night. You know we have to work through things and we have to take our time and work through things, you know. So, yeah, that is the song in a lyric of the week, as always. If you have not, please like, share and subscribe. If you have not already, leave me a review wherever you listen to your podcast. Well, until next week, I am your girl. Charlie Shantae. This is the gag is podcast.