#74 How Do I... Prepare Myself for Life's Challenges?

Ever feel like life’s curveballs are just waiting to knock you sideways? In this empowering “How Do I…” episode of Be the Sun, Not the Salt, Dr. Harry Cohen and Connie Fontaine explore the art of “prehab” over rehab: getting your mind, body, and spirit ready for whatever challenges come your way, so you bounce back stronger instead of just surviving.

Here’s what you’ll hear:

• Why swapping worry for smart preparation can turn potential disasters into manageable moments
• The power of building resilience through everyday “to-dos” that keep you energized and clear-headed
• How leaning into physical health, emotional check-ins, and simple gratitude can fortify you against stress
• Tips for surrounding yourself with the right people (your “corner man”) to weather storms together
• The difference between talking about problems and actually taking action that builds your inner strength
• Gentle reminders that investing in yourself today pays off big when tomorrow gets tough
• Why even small, consistent habits create a flywheel of goodness that carries you through uncertainty

This mini “How Do I…” episode is perfect for anyone facing job worries, life transitions, or just the general unpredictability of being human.  Start building the foundation to be resilient and ready for life's challenges with a little practical wisdom, right here.

Useful Links:

Tim Storey’s episode, where he talks about the important of having your own “corner man” and knowing who would be in your “green room” to help move you forward with positivity

To explore the book, or for more episodes, information, tips and tools to live a more heliotropic life, visit us at bethesunnotthesalt.com and find us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok.

Transcript

[00:00:00] 

Dr. Harry Cohen: Oh, welcome. So welcome to our How, how, how Be The Sun Podcast series. This one is entitled, how Do I Or We Prepare Ourselves for Life's Challenges? I'm joined by my co-host and chief super spreader, Connie Fontaine. Connie, what do you think of this topic?

Connie Fontaine: Well, this is a great one because I think we have a tendency to worry

Dr. Harry Cohen: Yeah,

Connie Fontaine: things that could happen to us, and that worrying isn't very productive. So I think talking about how to prepare for those in advance is really what we're talking about today.

Dr. Harry Cohen: and I love this new expression that I just came up with, which is I'm doing prehab instead of rehab instead.

Connie Fontaine: told us this morning, and I think we both went, Ashley, our producer, we both went, that's so good. Prehab,

Dr. Harry Cohen: Yeah, because prehab is like, look, I don't have the injury yet, but I'm preparing myself [00:01:00] for when I do have the injury. But what do you mean by that? I mean all the little things that we can and do do

Connie Fontaine: right?

Dr. Harry Cohen: prepare ourselves for life's eventual challenges, hiccups, injuries, difficulties, stressors. They make us more resilient .

I mean, our prehab work allows us to be in a great state of mind and body when the, you know, what hits the fan?

Connie Fontaine: Well, I like what it, the visual it gives me. So I think about like knee exercises that we do, especially as we age all of the, you know, the heavy lifting stuff that we're doing now so that we don't get the necessary injuries so that we prevent those kinds of things from happening. Every little twist and turn and fall could, could be something worse if we're not preparing for it.

And that's the same thing we're saying about any kind of mental or emotional crisis.

Dr. Harry Cohen: And interpersonal. The reason that we invest in going to the gym is that it pays off immediately and tomorrow. The reason we [00:02:00] invest in this be the sun, not the salt mindset and series of behaviors is that it makes us more resilient and prepared in the face of difficulties. I know that it has for me, and I love leaning into this material, just like going to the gym.

I don't feel like it always, but that's the point. Do it

Connie Fontaine: does.

Dr. Harry Cohen: anyway. Right.

Connie Fontaine: That's the point. That's why we practice. You know? Let's talk about some of the specifics. Like there are people, there's a lot of young people I know right now that are very concerned about potential layoffs. What is, what's the workforce gonna look like? Oh my gosh, what's AI doing to our jobs? What do you do? You, you can't really just sit and worry about it. That's not productive and sure is detrimental to our mental health.

Dr. Harry Cohen: It is detrimental to our mental health. So, you know, today's lesson is avoid cilantro. If you have people who. Who literally like to talk about the sky is falling or AI will, will cause all our jobs to lose or some other economic [00:03:00] catastrophe is gonna befall us. Excuse me. Um, can we talk about how I, right now today can prepare for any of this if and what does happen?

And the answer is, there's a lot of things that I can do today that anybody can do today to do prehab. Well, what do you mean?

Connie Fontaine: of collectively sitting around with your tribe and worrying, sit around with your tribe and action it, what can we do to be prepared for that?

Dr. Harry Cohen: Today in a very concrete way. Well, I guess I could invest in any of the things that make me feel more positively energized. Well, what do you mean? I can go work out? I can go walk in nature, I can go call a friend, I can go challenge some kind of negative self-talk, you know, spiral that I get into. I can really lean into one positive good thing that I can do today for myself or somebody else that'll make me or somebody else feel [00:04:00] great, and it becomes a flywheel of goodness.

Connie Fontaine: Yeah, that's the foundation. That's a, you need that physical health, that emotional health to tackle the problem because, and I think there are things that you can do to start to research what, what if, like, what does my job look like? How could I create my job to be something that's even more productive because of ai, for instance. Or what are the things that I could be doing to budget for and make sure that I'm protected for a couple months if I am in that situation? Is my resume ready? Like, so all the things that you can do to start to protect your roots in that way. And I agree though, being physically and emotionally healthy is the first step to being ready to do all that.

Dr. Harry Cohen: And, and when we keep ourselves physically and emotionally and mentally healthy and interpersonally healthy. That's the key. And when we keep it in those simple terms, what does be the sun, not the salt mean? Well that means invest [00:05:00] in some kind of goodness for yourself or

Connie Fontaine: Yes, yes. I think there are, there are people that are listening that would say, yeah, that's all great. I, I do this all the time. I'm really good. I take good care of myself, but what the heck, I might lose my job. I mean, they just heard the news coming outta New York. There's a, in terms of job potential, job losses, and what do they do with that energy too, because it's, it's, I think taking care of yourself physically, emotionally, and starting to do some other things too.

Dr. Harry Cohen: Right, and, and these are very practical things that one can do, not in preparation for a quote unquote layoff or economic downturn, but keeping your skills, as you said. You know, top-notch investing in your relationships personally and professionally, and taking care of your mental state of mind so that you are not victim to the external circumstances that befall you.

And that's a EE, every [00:06:00] single day. Focusing on our gratitudes, focusing on our blessings. Talking to your loved ones about stuff that is helpful for you and or them in any capacity .

Connie Fontaine: Yeah, I, I lean into that Tim story, um, analogy. What some of the terms that he threw out at us that have stuck with us. And one of them was, you know, have, have your corner man. Who's your corner man, is it identified your corner person. Um, that person who's. Sees you just like you were if you were in a boxing ring.

The person who sees you at your best and your worst knows how to cheer you on and give you the real results too, um, and give you feedback. And then there's the green room surrounding yourself with people. So, you know, taking advantage of those instead of what can often be. Something we do is sit around and bemoan, oh, did you hear the news?

And I think turning that whole situation into something that could be positive. Like, let's go weather this together instead of, oh, did you hear

Dr. Harry Cohen: Exactly and have a [00:07:00] bias for action. In other words, talking about this stuff is not the same as doing something. In other words, what can you do today? So for example, if you went to the gym today,

Connie Fontaine: Mm-hmm.

Dr. Harry Cohen: be a good to-do if you called a brother or a sister or a friend. That would be a to-do if you literally, um, did a, did a project that made you more resilient.

Connie Fontaine: Mm-hmm.

Dr. Harry Cohen: we to do talking is not the same as doing

Connie Fontaine: that's

Dr. Harry Cohen: so more, more to dos that you can, you know, put in your bank if you will, invest in yourself. All the more reason to be prepared by putting a little bit of energy into you.

Connie Fontaine: Right. And if you don't know what those to-dos are, ask, that's, I think that's where you start to leverage those loved ones, those people in the industry, um, people you trust and you can count on. What are my to-dos? Let's knock out this worry. If my worry is [00:08:00] X, what are all the things I can do to prepare for X eliminate X completely.

Whatever that worry is, you know, get some help to talking through the solutions if you don't know what those to-dos are. Mm-hmm.

Dr. Harry Cohen: I love this. So I mean, I get excited about being, you know, a devotee of doing my prehab even though I don't feel like it, like I have not exercised at all yet today, and I know I will, and I know I need to, but talking about it ain't doing it. So

Connie Fontaine: That's

Dr. Harry Cohen: do it. Is the point.

Connie Fontaine: So figuring that out. Yeah. So whatever that prehab, whatever's necessary in your life, I think it's thinking through what are those things that are weighing you down and making sure they don't weigh you down. Come up with those to-dos and to your point, Harry, take action. Hopefully this was helpful to spur you on and in something that will eliminate a worry, give you some actions, and hopefully it's something that you can even share with your friends or family, anybody that's thinking about this. Thanks for listening. [00:09:00]