Solocast: The One Thing You Can Rely On

In today's episode, Dawn Baker talks about the inevitability of change and uncertainty in our lives. She also gives tips for how to accept them and use them in your Lean Out journey.

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

• Business of Happiness Podcast episode 220
• Practicebalance.com article on Mindfulness

Get in touch with Dawn: 

• On Instagram @practicebalance
• On the web practicebalance.com
• Buy the book Lean Out

Transcript

Dawn 0:00

Welcome to the lean out podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Don baker. Are you looking for a new approach to finding work-life balance? You've come to the right place. Listen, as I interview amazing women professionals, who've taken the steps to lean out. And find balance on their own terms.

0:19

Hello. Hello. Thanks for joining me today. I wanted to bring you a solo cast. I am sitting here in my tiny guest house. It's a small shipping container on 80 acres of land that I live on in the Southern Utah mountains. And it is pouring out today. It has been raining all day. And what I was reminded of was how weather is really a proxy for inevitable uncertainty that we face all the time. Change uncertainty. We do many things to resist and avoid them. I know that I do yet. They keep happening. Living on this large piece of property out in the wilderness has given me a unique perspective on change and uncertainty. It's a very in your face kind of perspective because every day we take walks and do projects outside on the land. And every day we witnessed the environment changing. Every day, the weather is different and every day the landscape changes along with how the climate changes. The other day, my daughter and I took a walk to the spring to see if all the tadpoles that we had witnessed a few weeks ago. We're now jumping around as frogs. We only saw a couple big frogs near the water, but there were baby horny toads everywhere on the dirt paths. The summer wild flowers were replaced by some fall asters and queen Anne's lace. And the grass had transformed into four foot tall, dry Spears that kind of hurt as you walk by. Cause they're so. Dry and sharp. The warm weather was windy. And it just had this feeling like fall was coming. The Aspen trees were quaking and bending. And I looked down at one of our Creek beds, which is now dry and Rocky. And I thought about the spring that happened earlier this year, it was so wet. We had historic snowfall in Utah. And for a second, I had a little twinge of longing and sadness about how abundant and green everything had been. That particular Creek bed had water in it. And we had never seen water in that Creek before. And this all made me remember again, change. Uncertainty they are always with us So why do I bring this up and tell you this story? Well because change and uncertainty are cornerstones of being confident in Designing your own authentic work-life balance. You must accept, change and allow uncertainty in your life. Security and certainty are basic human needs, but they can hold us back from leaning out and taking the steps that are required to take a different path that we might be desiring. Now don't get me wrong. Certainty really does feel good. We lean on it. So how can we accept change and uncertainty so that we can grow as we need to. I have a few different ideas for you. The first is try thinking about the things that are certain. I heard this great podcast called the business of happier. Happiness. I will link the particular episode in the show notes. The host talked about how your values and your truths are things that you can count on as being certain now recall that I do have a values exercise, both in the lean out book and also on my website. So go to practice balance.com and sign up for emails in order to get that exercise, if you haven't already done. So. And as far as your truths, go try getting out a journal and writing down the things that you know, for certain to be true. And I'll bet you, some of them will surprise you. The second tip is to observe the everyday things that change on a dime in your life. Like what I described with the weather and with the environment around you. I have a blog post up about easy mindfulness hacks that I will also link in the show notes below. So if you need help in learning how to be more mindful of your surroundings, there are some different exercises you can try there. You will be surprised at how many small mundane things that you notice around you change constantly, and then it can normalize change for you so that you don't feel so scared of it. And like, it's something really bad. Another thing that changes all the time. If you have kids, is that your children are growing up and you can see this, you look away and then you look at them again. And it seems like they've grown six inches. All of a sudden you're getting rid of clothes that don't fit or shoes that are one or two sizes too big. And that can remind you of the inevitable change that is around us all the time. I know this happens with my daughter. My daughter grows like a weed. And I'm grateful for that, but I'm constantly having to buy her new clothes and shoes. She is just growing like crazy. And it's actually really fun to witness. The last thing I want to mention today about change and uncertainty is remember that if there is no change or no uncertainty, what would happen, we would be stagnant. Nothing would ever get done. And you would have some regret. So maybe pull out your journal and think about. What might happen if you don't take a step you're contemplating toward improved work-life balance or toward doing something different in your profession? How will you feel? In a recent newsletter, I wrote about regret the regrets that are the most powerful are the ones that are of inaction. If you are not signed up for my newsletter and you want to get information like that, and also tidbits about our life in the mountains and things that are happening on the homestead. Please go to practice bounced.com again, and sign up for that. I only send newsletters maybe one or two times a month. Thank you so much for listening. And I hope that. This thought about change and uncertainty and embracing it and accepting it. Is helpful for you today. If you're interested please contact me using practice balance.com and let me know your thoughts i'd love to hear how you're dealing with change and uncertainty right now. Thanks for listening to the lean out podcast. If you like what you hear, please leave a review for this podcast on iTunes or Spotify. So other people needing this kind of community and inspiration can find it easier. Also, you can support this podcast and learn more about the ideas presented by buying my book, lean out a professional woman's guide to finding authentic work-life balance. Lastly, if you want more information about working with me. Please visit my website@wwwdotpracticebalance.com.