Empty Nest, Full Life Shift

In this episode, we explore the messy, energizing shift from parenting on-call to owning your time, and how that change spills into work, health, and identity. 

We share different coping styles, practical habits, and simple ways to build community so the quiet feels full rather than empty

• empty nest emotions meet work-life choice
• time as a resource to steward, not fill
• travel vs home-based coping and why both work
• avoiding the trap of “just work more”
• health habits that lower cortisol and lift mood
• simple social rules to keep momentum
• celebrating launches and honouring your role
• defining a left turn as a conscious choice
• small experiments to find joy and energy

Follow Living Left for bold conversations by women for women on business, creativity, and comeback energy. 

Find us on Instagram @living_left_​​

Because what’s left isn’t less. It’s everything.

Transcript

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Setting The Stage: Living Left

SPEAKER_01 0:06

It's a Living Left, the space where we redefine success, purpose, and identity through honest, unfiltered conversation. It's not about finding what's next. It's about owning what's left. We're navigating business, family, change, chaos, and figuring out life. One left turn at a time. The rules? There aren't any. The raw talk between friends, honest, messy, necessary. Let's go there. Hi, Tanya. Hi, Anne-Marie. How are you today? I'm great. When we're back, we're going to talk about living left. And for those who are new, we I'm Ann Marie Burton and you are Tanya Garcia. And we are the owners of Left Turn, the marketing agency.

Why Transitions Touch Work And Life

SPEAKER_01 0:52

Yeah. But we're not going to talk about marketing necessarily today because we are really excited to talk about transitions in life and something that is a burning conversation in a lot of our circles. Um, because we happen to be parents of teenagers, and we both have two who have left to go to university. So two of the five left-turn babies. Yes. Or sorry, four of the five. Four of the five, because we two already went. Yeah. Are are off at school. And so that is the trans that that transition is like in all of our conversations within within our peer groups, within our professional groups, probably my whole entire algorithm as well. I seem to be getting everything is about the empty nest or is it the open door? And how are you handling this? And we have just found that that is a conversation that is on repeat. So we want to talk about it too, because when you go through massive transitions like this, it absolutely blends into all areas of your life, including your professional life. Correct. And I think we've been really, really grateful that we have such a flexible scenario, uh, a work scenario because we work remotely and we have built a company that is

Empty Nest Reality Check

SPEAKER_01 2:13

really truly open to flexible life. Yeah, it's open to life life adaptations. And so we've been able to, I think, again, compared to some of my peers, I think we've been able to be flexible for these life changes in a way that's not that's not normal. That's more it's unique. Yeah, yeah. So how have you felt? How have you felt, Dania?

SPEAKER_02 2:38

I have felt um, well, that's a very loaded question. How have I felt? So how have you dealt? Yeah. So I think one thing I wanted to build on what you just said too is that this transition, this left turn, if you will, that we're at, because um, everyone who has university students, you know, are are launching them off and going through this.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

College students or kids or college or whatever. There's a there's a we've always known what every single year is gonna be, and now they graduate grade 12 and yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:11

But I think for us in this particular transition, the idea of time is very much so the left turn is what in in what do

Time As The New Left Turn

SPEAKER_02 3:21

I now do with this amount of time that I have, right? Um, some of us kind of see that coming and make adjustments. So um interestingly for me, even though it's like eight years part of my history in the last eight years since we started left turn. Thanks for clarifying. Yeah. Um, you know, the the my the original left turn for me was to leave corporate big agency job and start something because I kind of saw down the road that there would be more time. Kids are getting older. I want to make sure I'm in a joyful situation so that I can move through this as positively as possible. And now eight years later, I'm facing it head on where I have two. You still have one at home, I have two, I am an official empty nester, and I am um working through that in a very unconventional way. Yes. Which, you know, when people get to know us, it isn't actually that unconventional where I No, it's not.

SPEAKER_01 4:30

This is very Tanya. Every single thing you're like, if you know Tanya, this is not surprising.

SPEAKER_02 4:33

This is what I would do. And I have been working through that. So my way of managing it is to get on an airplane and get out of the flipping country and to occupy myself because you know, I'm still working on this idea of, you know, just slowing down and being in the moment and feeling all the feelings. Um, so I prefer to do that by the ocean in another country, you know, drinking a pint of Guinness. So that's what I've been doing.

Coping By Changing Scenery

SPEAKER_02 5:06

So I launched my second kid in September and seven days later got on a plane for three weeks um and worked from Ireland, which I have been doing for now two years, I would say, right, Anne-Marie. So I don't do anything like that. I kind of what did you say? I'm like a boiling frog.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

Yeah, it is like you're they don't, yeah, you they don't know they're boiling, you're cooking them because it's you turn the temperature up slowly.

SPEAKER_02 5:34

Turn the temperature up slowly. So part of this left turn, which I knew was happening, this idea that I had uh more time. Um, and we'll get into a lot of there's been a lot of personal transitions and left turns that have gone through my life. We're gonna talk about my separation, we're gonna talk about my downsizing, we're gonna talk about all of those things.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

Yeah, maybe just about this particular episode of the world.

SPEAKER_02 5:55

This particular one is um the big one is knowing that my kids were leaving and I want to have a fulfilling life and and reclaiming kind of identity of who I am and discovering all of that. So the way I'm doing that is like I just got back two days ago, and in four weeks I'm flying out again. And but to your point, I have an amazing business partner who understands that this is what I want to do right now. Um, it's one and is what I need to do right now. I do need an ocean of separation for a lot of reasons. Um, and how do we continue to run the business? How do I continue to fully engage um with time zone changes, etc.? And you have been fantastic. But is you know, every everybody's way of coping is different. Do I is this this is what is working for me right now? Um, so when people ask me what the hell you're doing, that's what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

I'm I think your coping strategy, though, to have something to look forward to and have a vacation to kind of honor and celebrate the fact that you raised someone to 18 years old. Like a that seems to

Different Styles Of Adjusting

SPEAKER_01 7:05

be a really common response I've seen from a lot of people.

SPEAKER_02 7:08

A lot of my friends took off for a few weeks. Yeah. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

Just to kind of be like, okay, we're breathing. I put a lot of energy into that bucket. I need to put some energy into my bucket now and and focus inwardly. I think that's a really and that's a really healthy response. So now, and so when you're back, then that's the question is then how do you look at your time when you're on this side of the ocean? Like it's interesting. Um, we have a we have a mutual friend too who's like, I don't know what to do in the evenings because that time used to be really full of children-oriented, and and you didn't really give themselves, they didn't make a plan for themselves. The plan was given based on the schedule of the family, and now there's no one creating that. So that's a really weird place for for parents, I think, when there's less humans in the house.

SPEAKER_02 8:01

Yeah, 100%. And and I think that um it it's also finding the things that um you know, being curious about yourself and trying new things and doing new things, um, and not kind of throwing yourself into something that maybe you you did before that you you doesn't bring you joy. It's an opportunity to try something new, I guess. Yeah, um what the separation does for me is it, and I think this is true for anything. And so I've encouraged the idea of getting away from your house like for years. Like this is not new, this is very core to who I am, because I think you appreciate what you have when you come back. It can get very mundane and very if you're in doing the same thing every day with the same kind of people and the same, I mean, it's fine. But again, growth is a big part, you know, curiosity, forcing yourself to have different conversations or experience different things. Yeah, that's not easy to do in the world we live in right now, right? And especially working remotely and being home all of the time. So, do you have to get on an airplane and go to Europe? No. But the idea of I'll

Filling Time Without Overworking

SPEAKER_02 9:15

do it, I'll go work at my girlfriend's cottage for like three days if given the opportunity, it just pulls you out, gives you a fresh perspective. And then when you come back in, there's just new energy. And that is something I've been doing probably for the last five years, I would say. Pretty consistent.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

Those are little every those are regular little left turns.

SPEAKER_02 9:35

Yep. Yeah. How about you, Amory? Because again, we launched at the same time you were a few weeks before because you had to get yours to to another province.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

But um, uh, I'm where are you in this? I don't um I should have prepared for this a little bit better. Um, well, I have one that is in her third year but had switched schools, so that uh came so across the country switch. So that wasn't transition, almost like a almost like a first-year launch in many ways. And then another one who went early because he's an athlete and so he had to be there for camp. Um, so I felt kind of some of that grief earlier than all my peers. So I was like home in August waiting for everybody to get their kid out so that we could all talk about this. And by the time everyone else was falling apart at Labor Day, I had feel like I had bounced back a little bit. So so then, but then I got dragged in a little bit more to the grief. It's like you kind of put the grief on hold and then re-grieved. But it's not grief is a funny word. I don't know. I'm happy, I'm really happy for both of them. So I miss them. I think the bigger question is when you like I'm not very comfortable, like I don't find a lot of calmness and stillness. So that's a hard thing for me. Um, something I'm always trying to work on. Um, but I like to keep busy and I like to do a lot of things, and I'm happier when I'm doing a lot of things, and I've built a very busy life, and probably a lot of that has been around having a busy family. So there's still one person, one child here. So she's still just as busy, but uh we've always had a divide and conquer situation in our house with my spouse, so there's not really as need to divide and conquer in the same way with because I mean we had three kids, two parents. Then we then we had a couple of years on one-on-one, and now it's two on one. Like, what is that? Like it's weird, it's just a bit weird.

SPEAKER_02 11:39

I'm glad you brought I was waiting for you to get because I think the the key kind of insight for you that I think a lot of people are going to relate to because my busyness with my kids was at a different level. My life wasn't as kid busy because I they weren't in competitive sports to the degree that yours were. And and and I think there's a lot of people in your scenario, Anne-Marie, where you're running at a at a uh at

Health, Habits, And Small Wins

SPEAKER_02 12:04

a level that in some high cortisol level.

SPEAKER_01 12:07

Like it is intense. It is too crazy.

SPEAKER_02 12:09

Yeah, you had kids in multiple sports, like it was very much kind of the the culture and the environment of what it was. So I I I wouldn't underestimate, like while I kind of came off it slowly, like you went down. Like there was a drastic. So I think a lot of people can relate to that. That um that's not easy. That's not easy. So the time you have is not, I just have a few more hours in the evening. Like you have probably have added.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

Like I have full weekends, like I don't even know what to do. Like on Saturday, on Sunday, this just happened. I'm like, oh, all we had on our schedule was one practice in another town, but I was like, so no one needs to go. And I was like, I didn't really have a so, and I'm and you know me, I'm either like all in or all out. So I don't really have a very good medium speed. I think most normal healthy adults run at medium, and that's that's a that's a smart, that's a smart decision. I don't have a medium, I'm either high or low. So I was like, I I read almost an entire book on that Sunday because I didn't really know what else to do. I had a list of things I could do and I wanted to do, but I was like, no, I'm just gonna do this. And I sat outside and I read this book, and and I have to also realize that that's okay to do one thing, and it's and that was healthy, and I made dinner too. I've like did a few little tasks. Um, but you don't have to do 20 things in a day. That's a big so I'm learning about that. I'm learning I do, but I also miss doing 20 things in a day, so that's also a weird thing. So because that's our adrenaline, that's our we're feeding.

SPEAKER_02 13:50

So to your point, agreed. I I miss that too. I have I we feel fuller when we're most quote unquote productive, but I think we're entering this idea of this left turn where we have this time, and it's like, okay, how what's the balance between both? Um, and it's okay to just do one thing.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

And I don't know how if you're I think you're probably doing the same thing. I'm trying really hard not to fill all my personal time. I don't want to just turn it to work. I think that that's a really I'm glad you said that really ants. That's an easy way for a lot of people to be like, well, I'll just work more because I have a lot more time. But we've built a company that is um, we've tried so hard to

Defining A Left Turn

SPEAKER_01 14:30

be efficient, we've tried so hard to be flexible. I do feel if I suddenly just ramp all those hours into extra work, I don't know. I in some sometimes it's okay, but I uh for me, I don't think I'm gonna be as I I need to find other things. It's not sustainable and it's not actually filling my cup. I've it's a personal, it's it's it's a personal cup that got empty. I need to fill that up with personal. My work cup is still full, and my work cup is still fulfilling. It's good. I don't need to open it up. But you don't have to fill it more. Yes. Yeah, I need to fill over here. Um, and again, in the calmness and stillness, there's a lot of thinking and a lot of processing, and there's so I have no answers at all on this. I will say I'm leaving tomorrow to go visit my kid that's across the country. I'm unusually excited. Like, I never pack early for anything ever. Like when I see your packing, when you go away, you've like done, and I'm like, I've that is just not how I function, but that's okay. I throw things in a bag and we go. Like I packed two days ago. Uh like I have all my university gear for because you have time to do it now. I probably and I was like, and I've clean, it's clean. I'm like, huh. So organized. I don't even know what to do with that organization. So, and I have glow in the dark, um, uh, all kinds of blue glow, what are they? Yeah, anyway, I'm I'm ready. I'm ready. And bless him, he's like not ready for how excited I am. Like he's like relaxing. Poor boy does not want to.

SPEAKER_02 16:08

Yeah. But that's so good. No, I think, you know, and it's funny, I was gonna mention it when I was saying it before, and then I was like, I don't know, but um again, I agree with you. I think that a lot of us, as if you think of female professionals who are now is like, okay, well, we will be told to the narrative out there will be you have all of this time, now there's opportunity for you to ramp up in this area. And and for some people, that is the right answer. Um, you know, some people it's an opportunity for them maybe to take something that they've been passionate or or visionary, like thinking about and maybe bring that to life. Um, but you're right in that

Grief, Joy, And New Balance

SPEAKER_02 16:52

just redirecting it to something that maybe doesn't, it shouldn't all go into one bucket. Like you have an opportunity now. Um, and I know that I've always told you, like through personal experience that we'll eventually get into, like I could write a book on how we both could. Like, how do you start a business in COVID? And when your personal in and my extension is, and your personal life is being like your family's being blown up. Like I put all of my effort, like there were member three or four intense years of me just like opening the laptop. That was my answer. And and I saw you, yeah, you I did you filled the time with more work. Which was great, but not sustained. It's solutional, it's a solution. No, because I burnt out and there was a burnout that happened after that because I was like, Well, I should have balanced that a little bit more. So I'm glad you're saying that. I think it's using the pause and the opportunity and this left turn to say, I'm just gonna give it some space and let it breathe, and I don't need an answer tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01 17:59

No, and you can do, I also think there's two things there's habits. So, like, so one thing I've done that I'm actually happy I'm doing, but I've went on a reflection, I'm like, I just created something I had before, like a repeat. So, for example, you mentioned all the athletes, like so a big part of being a family that's active in a lot of sport is the the other families and friends you meet through the sport, right? And then do you keep in touch with them? Like, how do you manage that? So my kid goes across this country, and I'm like, where's the parent chat? And there's no parent chat. Well, who creates the parent chat and is now created, you know, has like 60 parents on this WhatsApp chat? I was shocked there wasn't one. Then I started with it thinking, oh my gosh, well, have I just created something I needed? And is this actually like, am I goofball because I created this? Well, but the benefit is I've met a whole bunch of new people, sure, and it actually is beneficial. And the response has been, why wasn't this here before? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 18:59

It's like any university, every university has a Facebook group, it's the same idea.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

Yeah, so it's just but it's super narrow to the team. I love that. Yeah, it's just homecoming

Rebuilding Community And Rituals

SPEAKER_01 19:10

this weekend and I'm gonna meet some people. So, okay, that's filling up my cup, but it's funny, it's just repeat, so it's not so much of a left turn, it's a this is what I do, so I'm gonna do it for this team too. Like I've always done this, so I'm gonna create that kind of community. So that's one thing I think some people we just repeat what we know, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that as long as it's positive.

SPEAKER_02 19:32

To be clear, a left turn, just to define it for anyone who's listening, like doesn't have to be an innovative new idea. Like we're in marketing, we know there's no new ideas ever, right? Like it's it's just recycle them. It's recycle, you evolve, you make it relevant based on what you need, you make decisions based on experience and the opportunity that's in front of you. The left turn, if we're looking at defining that, is the the drive to change the path. There's, you know, I'll I'll use risk, and you and you tend to, I agree. It's not necessarily the riskier move, but it's not a passive move. Left turn, turning left inherently, why we named we love that name is because the decisions aren't a natural turn. A right turn is typically a natural automatical, yeah. The automatic next year every year.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

Correct. And that's why people are uncomfortable in this stage. Because every September you bought the backpack and you did this and you did this. You went, you turned right, you did exactly what you've done every other September. And now there's there's you're forced into a left turn. And I think for many people, that is not how they operate, like they operate in a routine, they operate, and so it feels a bit weird, and we embrace left turns. You and I are, but we are still feeling lost a little bit in this transition, and I'm good with change. I love change actually, but this is it's very and it can be scary and it's uncertain.

SPEAKER_02 21:06

And yeah, I think we both kind of we I would say we are on the higher end of our tolerance for change for sure. Um, and that first week, yours a little bit before, was probably one of the harder weeks of my and I've been through some hard stuff.

SPEAKER_01 21:25

Yeah, and I found, I don't know if you find this, the first kid is the hardest because you don't know what you're doing, but then at home it's not as it's not as a bit of an adjustment.

SPEAKER_02 21:36

Because you still have yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

But then the next one you're like, wait a second. But I was thinking about how I how I managed that change with the first one when they left. And I used I did have a little bit more time because there was one less anyway. Um, but I did use that time to focus more on my own health. I absolutely did. That's a really good point. You've done a lot of work in the last two years. In the last two years, like I have made

Get Out, See People, Find Energy

SPEAKER_01 22:03

myself a healthier version of myself, which was like always on my list, always on my list, and never got dealt with. And so I do feel like that is a natural thing. So whether it's just moving more or managing your food or seeing people you want to see more, yeah, managing that stuff, like actually taking the time to invest in your health is important, which we should be doing anyway. But for me, I used the same almost the same way that people use like a near's resolution. Like it was like a fresh start. I was like, okay, good for you. I'm gonna use that. So I did that's how I dealt with number one leaving. Yeah, number two leaving. I'm like, well, the same kind of idea. I'm like, okay, I can level up a bit. I can level up and I can also invest more in my relationships more. Like that's kind of how I've focused it. So like I'm reaching out to friends more, like I walk a lot, but I walk a lot alone. I'm like, why am I walking? Why am I stomping around this neighborhood alone? Like, so actually making um like uh an appointment with friends to walk. I love that, you know, like we talked about in our last episode, getting leading left up and going, um, thinking about a big birthday I've got coming up. Like, what the heck am I gonna do for this? Like, I need to make this about me, which feels uncomfortable to say.

SPEAKER_02 23:25

Sure, of course it does because you've been focused on your children and your family for so long. I mean, I think that's the biggest um transition for a lot of women mothers who are doing that is like, oh my god, now I actually have to look in the mirror and face what I knew was there always, and there's no excuse anymore. Yeah. Like, um, but yeah, that's but business wise, I am glad you brought that up too. It's it's you know, it's not just we're digging back into the same old, we're also using this as an opportunity to um add some life to ideas that we've been talking about. Um, this podcast kind of being one, you know, reinventing it, and and we now have a bit more time. I'm happy to invest some more time to do this sort of thing. Um, we have a few endeavors that we want to launch now, and and and we can.

SPEAKER_01 24:21

Um and that's what I think people should do is look at their list and say what has been forgotten, yeah, and what brings you joy, what brings you joy, and go back to what truly makes you happy and spend some time in that and what made you happy, you know, before these people left. And so and I and I also think to celebrate what you achieved. So one of the things I did do um with this group of oh seven moms that I had become friends with through school is um I wanted to keep in touch with them because again, you're connected because your kids are friends and now they've moved on to their next phase. You know, many of like they're worth keeping in your life, but if you don't make an effort

Motivation, Fatigue, And Action

SPEAKER_01 25:09

to keep them in your life, everyone's gonna just go off and do their thing, not because they don't want to stay connected. But one of the things um I did is organize a gathering where we all wore the outfits, like a hat, sweatshirt, whatever of the school your kid went to. And we got together two weeks after they left, and I posted a picture of that on social media, and so many people were like, Oh my god, that was such a good idea. Why didn't I think of that? And I thought, why don't we talk about that? Like we celebrate birthdays and graduations, but there is something to be said about acknowledging and celebrating the fact that we also were part of that journey, like it's their journey. We launched them, we helped launch them to get there, sure, absolutely, and if you don't acknowledge it, it's really easy, I think, to get caught up in maybe the the other feelings. So to genuinely honor it and say, Wow, that was a pretty big deal. And there's gonna be the milestones are the children's milestones, but we did participate, and so that also is, I think, part why people feel sad because they like you don't get honored, like yeah, that's true. Or they don't honor it in themselves, no, um, but anyway, that's that's a topic. Well that in the room, there was a lot of talk, um, or we talked about that last time leaving left, but there was a lot of people who had launched. I just realized we said we're gonna keep these things, so we're 20 sec 26 minutes into this one, Tanya. So we're about ready to end it then. So I don't know. I think if you if people are listening to this and you have ideas on transition, life transition, like I'd love to hear what other people are doing. Like, how are they spending their new time? Yeah, and how are they feeling it? Like, I would actually genuinely love to hear how other people are spending their time because it cannot be just like boom, like blowing through seasons of Netflix. Like, it can't be that. Like, there's gotta be although there's some really good shows. Exciting as it is to talk about the girlfriend or whatever the House of Guinness. The House of Guinness is really good out there.

SPEAKER_02 27:14

Yeah, there's some good ones out there.

SPEAKER_01 27:15

There's so much, but I can't just like, oh, what'd you do in fall 2025? Oh, I watch this much TV. That cannot be the thing.

SPEAKER_02 27:22

Like, what it's it's part of the reason why I I get on an airplane, I'll be honest. Like, it is because it's so easy to get, especially in Canada as I get the winter months, like it's hard, you know. And so for me, it's lots to do physically for sure there is. It doesn't, but even still, it it is a reminder to force yourself out of like I have a general rule that if within two to three days, if it's the same thing, like I force myself, like I will text someone, I will, I don't go beyond three days of not seeing someone or doing something quote unquote fun, whether it's dinner or whatever. It's like my general rule. Because if you notice, after three days, it gets harder and harder to leave the house. Try it out.

SPEAKER_01 28:07

That's an interesting perspective. And I'd say too, it doesn't have to be something.

SPEAKER_02 28:09

I bet there's science behind it.

SPEAKER_01 28:11

Yeah, and I that would be we should look

Closing Reflections And Share

SPEAKER_01 28:13

that up. I'd also say it doesn't have to be something, because again, in this ridunculous economy, you do not need to get on an airplane and you don't have to go over.

SPEAKER_02 28:20

I'm not saying that, I'm not saying you have to.

SPEAKER_01 28:22

I'm just reiterating it. Invite someone over. My point is. Watch case of Guinness with somebody and have a Guinness.

SPEAKER_02 28:30

But but I think but what's important though, like so you know me, I'm a creature of habit. So I am very disciplined in I have my morning routine, I do my thing. So it's not, in my opinion, about going out for a walk or whatever. I do that. I do that every day, but it is about face to face. I need to see and be with someone different. That can be at a restaurant, that can be at my house, wine, that can be on an airplane in another country. Like there's many iterations of that, but the key to it is I have to either get out of my home, go for coffee or something, and and and secondly, be with someone.

SPEAKER_01 29:08

Yeah, yeah. So, and that's also particularly if you're not in a work environment where you're going like I think that prepared.

SPEAKER_02 29:15

But maybe that's then a weekend is fine. But I will say test it in yourself by day three. The idea of even going to the grocery store becomes uh maybe I should just Uber it. Like it does. Like, I think that there is a science. I will look it up. But day three.

SPEAKER_01 29:34

I wonder how many people though aren't seeing people for three days. Oh, longer.

SPEAKER_02 29:39

Oh, Amory, okay. Anyone who's listening to this, what is less guess? Like, I think there's people who go days and don't leave. I know that for a fact. I talk to people about it all the time. Because we don't have to. You can work. Like and they're it's not like they're not engaging with people. Digitally, online, whatever, they feel fulfilled in their home. And that if that works for you, that's awesome. But I will tell you, I believe that there is um there's a positiveness to pulling yourself out because the longer you wait, the harder it becomes. And if we have less children coming in and out of the house, like what are you doing? I don't know how that's a question. It's a question. So anyway, that that's a sidebar. That could be a whole other whole other podcast.

SPEAKER_01 30:33

Yeah, who is not leaving their home? I'm like, I'm leaving my home.

SPEAKER_02 30:36

So this is this is this is you, but you still have like I literally would not need to leave my home because I don't have any children at home. And you work from home. And I work from home. So I could choose to stay at home for days on end.

SPEAKER_01 30:51

Yeah. So that's the that's the context of it. That's the yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:55

So then you're yeah, so that's what we're talking about, though. We're talking about as you get more time and you have less responsibility and dependency. That's and and let's be clear the key to this is you were leaving your home not because you were choosing to, because you had to for someone else's benefit. You were an Uber driver, you were, you know, all of those things. So now you have an opportunity to reclaim that time and to now leave the house. But what's happened is you've lost, like, I love that you're reconnecting in relationships. Like I did that eight years ago. Remember when I stopped the agency life and I actually had time and I was like, I need my friends back and I need to create new relationships. If you haven't done that work, then you like I would never have to leave. Like, luckily, I can just text someone and go, dude, what are you doing? I'm coming to your hot tub. Like, that's what I will say. I have no shame in inviting myself over for my own mental health. But like, literally, like that, I think people need to really think about that. Yeah, I could literally be at home for five days straight.

SPEAKER_01 32:00

I'm not, but I know. I know you have you're just having you're making me wonder about anyway.

SPEAKER_02 32:07

Anyway, more to be discussed. I think we need to we need to close this one, this this um living left episode off. That was a good, I think, start to our discussions around left term.

SPEAKER_01 32:19

And anyone who wants to do anything, feel free to text Tanya at any time because she has two days.

SPEAKER_02 32:24

I always say yes. If I'm available, I'm coming over. Like this is people know. I am I am I am willing to do. I just spent a week in Spain with 30 Irish people that were mostly strangers. I knew them generally at the time of my life. I will do anything. I will meet new people.

SPEAKER_01 32:44

That's the whole thing. It's like being curious to meet and go outside of your zone. It doesn't have to be the same six friends you've had spent the last 10 years with.

SPEAKER_02 32:52

There's in new people and being uncomfortable that way. Like I have never regretted, maybe once, regretted saying yes to, and I distinctly know the one I regret. Um usually I come out of there so happy, and I've met new people and I have new relationships and always. Um, but it sometimes it does backfire. It had it did once.

SPEAKER_01 33:20

Well then that's another story. That's another story. So we'll do another podcast. The times we did things that we we thought would be fun, but they were not. They were not, but that's most of the time living things that we think are fun are gonna be fun, and things that we're scared of are fun. That's the bigger thing. The thing is, it brings joy, it wakes you up.

SPEAKER_02 33:38

It wakes you up. That's I think the key good line. It's about energy. Like you can get very stagnant, and like we're tired. I'm 51. Like, I'm tired, so I have to force myself to like be cool, be in new environments and do new things. So, anyway. Well, that was the line.

SPEAKER_01 33:56

What do we I heard that at a conference we went to? Are you tired because you're unmotivated, or are you unmotivated because you're tired? Yes, yes, so just do the thing, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:10

So I think you're tired because you're unmotivated personally, yeah. Right? That's the one I think.

SPEAKER_01 34:15

So whenever you feel that question. But if you become motivated to do the things and you put it in your calendar and you say, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna go for the walk with that friend, I'm gonna join the pickleball club, I'm gonna go bowling. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 34:32

I'm gonna go out for dinner even though they're not meeting until eight o'clock. Yeah. And I would rather be watching House of Guinness because eight o'clock is only an hour and a half before my bedtime. Like shit like that that you have to think about.

SPEAKER_01 34:45

That's really also go to bed very early. Well, what else would you do? Well, that's another thing. I guess people could sleep if with all this time, they could go to bed earlier.

SPEAKER_02 34:54

You should because like our hormones and our cortisol levels, like our bodies waking us up at three.

SPEAKER_01 35:00

That's another time. Okay, pause.

SPEAKER_02 35:03

Okay, Anne Marie. Pause. This is a good chat. Okay, good chat.

SPEAKER_01 35:09

Oh, if they didn't, don't tell us. We don't want to know. Only joy, only joy on this podcast. Okay, okay. Goodbye. Bye, Tanya. Goodbye.

SPEAKER_02 35:20

If you felt this one, share it. Because what's left isn't less, it's everything.

SPEAKER_00 35:26

Is that it?

SPEAKER_01 35:27

I'm gonna do it again. I'm like, why do you be there again at it?