Inside Marcy's Mind
Having hosted the Aging aint for Sissie's podcast for two years, I wanted to expand what I could discuss. This podcast will touch on the fun of aging and whatever has crossed my mind! Please join me as I walk through life! #retirement #travel #fun #aginggracefully Link in my bio! Listen now!
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Inside Marcy's Mind
Cancer, Community, and Creating a Simpler Life: Marcy's Insights
Join Marcy in this heartfelt episode as she grapples with her cancer journey, daily challenges, and incredible moments of hope. With a focus on resilience, Marcy emphasizes the importance of maintaining an active lifestyle during chemotherapy, sharing how exercise has positively impacted her physical and mental well-being. She discusses the transformative power of Tai Chi as a means of mindfulness and stress relief.
As the conversation unfolds, Marci invites listeners to contemplate the various ways they can simplify their lives, offering a rich list of 60 actionable tips designed to foster clarity and calm amidst the chaos. Reflecting on the themes of Lent, she encourages us to think about what we can release in order to make space for growth and positivity. Touching on her experiences with scams and navigating the complexities of health, her stories interweave humor and heart, reminding us of the importance of community, connection, and compassion.
Unpacking notions of strength and fragility, Marci's insights resonate deeply, engaging listeners in critical conversations about living intentionally and authentically. Tune in for joy, vulnerability, and practical inspiration as we explore how to navigate life's challenges with grace. Don’t forget to subscribe, share your thoughts, or leave a review!
Hello and welcome to Inside Marci's Mind. My name is Marci Backus and I am your host. Well, here we go. Another week. I have completed round one of chemotherapy for those of you that are keeping track and I'm still standing. So that is a good thing. And I'm still standing, so that is a good thing I did. This is some good information, I think, if you have anybody or know anybody going through any type of cancer treatment.
Speaker 1:But I'm very lucky in the fact that late in life I've managed to figure out my weight, I've managed to figure out my exercising and it's no small miracle that I did all of that before I was diagnosed with cancer, because it's the thing that's helping me through chemotherapy. My doctor said the fact my goal is to get to my swim class. It used to be five times a week, now my goal is set reasonably at four. If I make it more great, we've had trouble with the pool at the gym, so that's actually what's kept me away from the pool. But the doctor said one of the reasons my side effects are not horrifying and they can change is the fact that I do have a good exercise routine. She said they used to believe. You know, lay in bed and get your rest Now. Rest is important, mind you, but getting physical and exercise is important to. The weather's gotten better here in Chicago. I've done a lot more walking again, which, as we go into spring, I will be doing a lot more walking and that will help as well. But just know that physical exercise should not be frowned upon when someone's going through this. I know you want to think that we're fragile, and we are to a certain extent, but dang nabbit, we're strong and there's things we can do.
Speaker 1:So actually I'm feeling good because I, in the chemotherapy that I do, I do it orally. It's a lot, so it's not just once every three weeks that I get an infusion. I continually take my chemotherapy on a daily basis. So I have two really strong weeks and a week that's light, and last week was my light week. So I'm feeling refreshed. But today is my day where I take 30 pills in a day, not including other things that I have to take, but 30 chemotherapy pills. So it's a lot when chemotherapy goes through your GI tract, when it goes through your stomach, your throat, opposed to going into your bloodstream. It's a whole nother level of concerns and things that happen. So, but I'm proud of myself for the exercise piece and I'm going today and I will go Saturday. Alec and Sharon are coming next week. I'm excited about that. I have things planned for them to help me with that I do need some help with and I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 1:So that's the talk of my journey. That's where my journey is at. So what has been going on? So I take notes every week of things that go on. I make them on my phone in notes. I love notes. It's one of my favorite apps and it's gotten very fancy. Now you can do all kinds of things with notes. You can scan with notes. That's been a while, but.
Speaker 1:But the funny thing is there's something on my list that I apparently wanted to talk about that I have no idea what it means. I wrote box jar bag in one sentence, so I make quick notes because I'm on the fly Usually I have no idea what that means. Everyone box jar bag. If it comes to me during the episode, I will update you. If it does not, if it comes it reveals itself over the week, I will make clearer notes for myself and I will tell you what it means. But for the moment, box jar bag, no idea what it means.
Speaker 1:So, in the sense of talking about working out and exercise, I've added something to my routine. I've started doing Tai Chi following somebody on YouTube. And again, you know my, I love YouTube. You should all love YouTube. There's so many things. If you want to do something, youtube is it. And so I started Tai Chi. I follow a woman five minutes, starting with five minute segments learning the moves, so you learn so many moves in five minutes. I'm doing that this week and then I'll do that next week and add her next five minute video, so I'll be doing 10 minutes a day, et cetera, et cetera. But I thought I needed something to calm the mind, to move energy in a positive way, and I thought Tai Chi is good. I don't like yoga, so, and I don't like the other one that Lynn does. What is that? It's not for me. She's so good at it and it's kept her in beautiful shape her whole life. But Pilates, I've tried it, not my bag, but Tai Chi, moving energy. And let me tell you, holding your arms up in that position, if you don't think that's giving you a workout, people, I wouldn't mess with a Tai Chi lady. I'll tell you that much. Anyway, I am starting that Yesterday I did a last minute formation Bible study at our church We've been doing on Wednesday nights comparing the stories in the gospels.
Speaker 1:So you've got Matthew, mark, mark, matthew, luke and John. However you look at it and how each of them tells the story of Jesus's birth. We've gone through several different stories and I did the passion story last night. It was very. It's very interesting. It's very interesting If you don't understand the gospels and you want to. It's an interesting way to look at them because they were all speaking to a different audience. Therefore their Gospels sound different. One sounds like a lawyer, one sounds like it's trying to convince people of something. And if you listen to them and you read them and you read and you look at the stories individually, it really is quite fascinating. So we did that with the passion site passion story.
Speaker 1:With Lent coming up, I thought that was important. I will talk about this week a little bit. I'll talk about it now. So Lent I was raised Lutheran. I'm now an Episcopal only because I fell in love with Lisa James Hackney, who is going to become our Dean on March 9th. She is an amazing preacher. And Stephen Balke is no slouch either over here at the Episcopal Church and that happens to be right next door, which is lovely, but they are two very powerful teaching and preaching preachers and I love that, so does Craig. So we are Episcopal, but as a Lutheran, we never gave up anything for Lent, and so that's not a big thing for me, anything for Lent, and so that's not a big thing for me.
Speaker 1:But I do like hearing different ways that you can approach Lent. And Diana was telling me, my friend Diana was telling me the Pope giving up just things like giving up bad thoughts, giving up resentments, giving up those types of things, is one thing you can do for Lent. Another thing I've always liked is clear. If you need to clear out your house every day, pull something from your closet, pull something from your house, put it in a box, put it in your trunk, take it to the goodwill. Clear out your home and clearing out your trunk. Take it to the goodwill. Clear out your home and clearing out your home. You know how I feel about this. I am not a crap keeper. Clearing out your home clears out your mind, it clears out your heart, it clears out your life for things. But I did think ending feuds, ending bad feelings. I have to marinate on that one a little bit, but I think that that's another great thing to do for Lent. You don't have to necessarily give up chocolate, diet Coke, coffee, I mean all those things are great, but wouldn't your life be better if you gave up something that is taking you down spiritually? So take a look at that. Maybe we'll talk about it next Wednesday.
Speaker 1:I know I'm doing this on Thursday, that's because I was at the oncologist for an ungodly amount of time yesterday. Oh, here's a little story. So at the hospital is where my oncology clinic is, and they send the medicine for me from a specialty pharmacy, because you can imagine chemotherapy pills aren't just kept at your local CVS pharmacy, because you can imagine chemotherapy pills aren't just kept at your local CVS and they send it through those tubes. You know the kind that they used to use excuse me, at the bank. My nose is bugging me this morning. Anyways, when I did my check in with the pharmacist this week, I said please don't put those childproof caps on mine. I can't get them open. I have to bring them to my husband. If he's nowhere around that I'm sunk when I'm trying to do things. And so apparently they had them all in a in like a bag. They were in a bag but when they sucked through the tubes it sucked the lids off and my pills went everywhere in the bag. So they had to redo that. So on top of already being there for three hours, that seemed to almost cause another hour.
Speaker 1:One of the nice perks that my hospital I will tell you again, uic hospital here in Chicago is the best. Nobody's going to convince me otherwise. Northwestern is fine, rush is fine, but UIC is far and above superior in my opinion. One of the lovely perks they have for cancer patients is valet parking for free. Isn't that nice? And I've been parking my car all this time and they're like, and the lot I went to was full yesterday I said to Craig I think there's valet parking over at the clinic. So we went over there and, sure enough, valet parking right there. They just check your name, that you have an appointment and off you go. So that was kind of good.
Speaker 1:Last weekend went to see two plays. One of the beauty and perks of living in the city of Chicago and living downtown is culture. We walked to one of the theaters, the other one we took an Uber to and there's a funny story about that. But we saw Betrayal with Helen Hunt. Funny story is I used to do Helen Hunt's hair color in the 80s. I tried to send her a note but to no avail. We saw another wonderful at a local playhouse here in our neighborhood called Fun Home. If it is a, it's family dynamics, lgbtq importance, very good. I cried a lot. So be prepared. It was very good, very, very good.
Speaker 1:Then went out to meals with friends afterwards. So it was a great week for me to be feeling good, because a lot of eating out Put back on any weight that I had lost the two weeks before. So I think this is how that's going to go. I want to lose the weight for the two weeks that I don't feel good and the week that I feel good I get to eat, eat normally and put it back on. So if I do that, it'll be healthy for me.
Speaker 1:But well, my friend Joan and I were on the corner after we had dinner. After the show a guy came rip roaring around the corner and he had like a cat burglar mask on right, literally the black cat with just the eyes poking out, and it wasn't cold. So it was cold but it wasn't freezing, where you need the, the, the gator face mask kind of thing. And I joked and I said I wonder what he stole. And as he turned around, his arm is full, full of clothes and these two girls just look mortified. I said, well, that's shopping in Chicago. Anyways, it was funny. And it was funny because it really didn't faze Jonah either. We found it funny, but it is what it is, you know, and off he went down the street. Nobody stopped him, nobody was yelling, stop thief, none of that stuff. Because the police just don't do anything about it. And I guess that's good and bad. There's no reason to shoot at somebody running down the street with an armful of clothes and people there's. I don't know, I don't know what the answer is, but anyways, that was. That was an interesting thing.
Speaker 1:Now I'm down to the part of my list where it says box, jar, bag. No idea what that means. I do know what. The next thing it says Craig scam. That's the next notes. Well, yesterday, while we were and I have warned you people about this on my podcast, this is number 36 of inside Marcy's mind and I did two years of aging ain't for sissies. So and and a lot of those podcasts I have said, do not click on anything. Scams are scams are scams.
Speaker 1:So we were sitting waiting for the pill debacle and I look over at Craig and he's clicking on DocuSign. Now, those of you that know, docusign is something that comes from lawyers, real estate agents, when you have to sign important documents. Well, I knew for a fact we had no important documents to sign. So I said to him Craig, what are you doing? Well, I'm trying to get this to open. I said well, who sent you a docusign? I don't know. I'm trying to see. Well, hello, mcfly. Well, nothing more was said and we went out to lunch. We got home, I went in and took a nap because I was thoroughly exhausted. That is one of the things that chemo does make you tired. But I went in to lay down and I woke up to hearing Craig talking to Microsoft. So guess what Scam Got into his computer.
Speaker 1:Everybody, for the love of God, don't click on something you don't know or understand. There is nothing in your life unless you have completely screwed up your life and their bill collectors are coming at you from all sides or anything like that. You know, even the IRS doesn't send emails. They use snail mail. It's probably the only thing keeping snail mail in business. But don't click on things. People you don't know. Go up and look at who the sender is. It'll be QR23648, from Africa or from some other country. It's never straightforward. Docusign, and if you're not expecting to sign documents, don't click on anything. Oh, it just makes me crazy. Anyways, he did not ask me for help on that one. For those of you that know Craig and I am his IT expert, obviously I'm pretty good at it.
Speaker 1:I do a podcast. I think somebody was a little embarrassed that they had gotten themselves into that mess. Oh, it's a beautiful sunrise coming up right now. I love sunrise in the city. The last thing I'm going to end on, if you have not, from her Jane Vonda speech from SAG-AFTRA awards. Look it up on YouTube. She's a pretty remarkable woman and has done some pretty remarkable things in her life and her speech is not to be missed. So if you haven't had a chance, look it up, find it and listen to it. And I'm going to end my personal part of the podcast there.
Speaker 1:Today we are going to go in. You know, I have heard people say I want to go back to the simple life. Well, let me be, let's all be real. The fifties look simple on TV. They weren't. Women were not in good positions, et cetera, et cetera. We all know the negatives of the fifties and sixties. But would you like to make your life simple again? I would, and I'm going to tell you 60 ways that you can make your life simple again. Some of them will resonate, some of them won't. But grab a pen and a pencil If you're driving in the car.
Speaker 1:I will put this on my website, inside Marcy's mindcom. You can email me and I'll send it to you. You can email me at inside Marcy's mind at gmailcom. Also, I did get a very lovely email from a person saying how much they like my podcast. You know, if you ever feel like that, it really did make my day that day.
Speaker 1:I kind of needed to hear it. There's times I wonder if anybody's even out there listening, although I do get my algorithm. I do know people are listening, but I'd like more people to listen. So please share the podcast. You can get it anywhere. You get your podcast. If you're getting it from me on email, you can pass that email along anytime you want and send it out to your friends and have them listen. I appreciate it. I know I was talking about something in my brain chest. Oh, there's two other things. So I got two other emails my one from my friend, katie Penna. She had sent me an email and had sent a book. Here we go Laundry love, find joy in a common chore, and I had done a podcast about our laundry and how to do it and how often to wash things. So Laundry Love by Patrick Richardson Patrick with a C, no K, and I love that.
Speaker 1:And then my sister-in-law Liss, who was listening about traveling, said the mobile passport app, which is a great thing to have. And I also don't think I mentioned global entry. We have global entry that gives you TSA pre-check in the United States and then when you come back into the United States, all you do is scan your passport and leave, and mobile passport works very similar. You get to skip the line. So mobile passport works very similar you get to skip the line. So mobile passport is an app. Global entry is something you have to apply for, but I believe it's $100 for three years. It's totally worth it.
Speaker 1:Oh, and I did get my. I might have mentioned this last week. I got my passport, I was able to renew it completely online. I fit all the qualifications and they did it in two weeks. I didn't pay for anything, expedited nothing. It was done in two weeks.
Speaker 1:And the last thing we talked about last week, but I'm going to remind you, may is the deadline for getting your driver's license that you need for traveling. I mean, you can have a driver's license, but to fly you have to have that star on it, and I forget what it's called. Nonetheless, you got to tell me to do that. Check with your DMV, your local DMV Again. Share this podcast any way you can. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:And now let's just talk about how to make life simple again. Well, a simple life just sounds really good, doesn't it? It does to me. And life? I don't know if life is so hard or if we're making it hard. That's a good question. I'm going to put that out there. Is life hard for you, or are you making life hard, or is it a little of both? It's a good question.
Speaker 1:So let's get started on 60 ways to make life simple again. The first one is a really important one, and this is something Craig and I struggle with Communicate. Number two be polite. It's free to be polite. It's not always easy, and I think we are. All have this anger in us after COVID. That's just underneath the surface. Sometimes.
Speaker 1:Your health is your life. Keep up with it. Live below your means. Most stress comes from money problems, and I understand that right now. Money problems are not always something we create. But do your best to live below your means. Get enough sleep every night and these seem simple, but I'm telling you you're not doing them. Get up 30 minutes earlier so you don't have to rush. I always did that with the kids. I got up an hour before everybody needed to be somewhere, and even longer when I used to walk the dogs in the morning. Talk it out, shake hands or hug and move on. That is something we talked about as part of our Lent. That's part of that Lent that I was talking to you about.
Speaker 1:Don't waste your time on jealousy. Surround yourself with people who fill your gaps. Organize your living space and working space. You all know that I am the preacher on the soapbox about that. And the next one get rid of stuff you don't use. It will make all those things will make your life simple.
Speaker 1:That's 11. Right there. Number 12, ask someone if you aren't sure. It's okay not to know everything. Learn a time-saving trick. I love tricks, I love hacks, so figure out a time-saving trick. I have my backpack ready to go for the gym every evening so that I don't have to think about it in the morning, and I always put a bra on, because I go to the pool in a swimsuit and sometimes I forgot my bra and I have to wear my yucky swimsuit. Anyway, enough about me. Don't try to please everyone. Don't drink alcohol or consume recreational drugs. Well, we all know I gave that up 37 years ago. My life has never been better in that way.
Speaker 1:Be sure to pay your bills on time. Fill up your gas tank on the way home, not in the morning when you're in a hurry. Use technology to automate tasks. Handle important two-minute tasks immediately. Two-minute tasks people do them immediately. If there's something over on the left that needs to go over on the right, move it.
Speaker 1:Move closer to your place of employment. That's a big one. A lot of people waste time commuting. Don't steal Always. Be honest. Say I love you as often as possible. Do one thing at a time and give it all you got.
Speaker 1:Multitasking is overrated people. That's my own addition to that one. Finish one project before you start another. Be yourself when traveling. Pack light. I believe in that wholeheartedly.
Speaker 1:If you are on a trip you are out to enjoy, why are you taking clothes you don't even wear at home? Clean up after yourself, learn to cook, make a weekly menu and shop for only the items you need. Do you know who is an expert at that? My sister, cindy, is a genius at that. Know who is an expert at that? My sister, cindy, is a genius at that. She is impressive. And if you're listening, cindy, you know I feel that way and I she shared with me her weekly menus. And when right now I'm not cooking at all, craig's on his own because of the chemo, but uh, I I do do. I am better at that than I ever used to be. I also use a meal planning service when I'm not feeling like this.
Speaker 1:Buy and cook food in bulk. We are now in 31. Just so you know, that was 30 things I just gave you to make your life simple again. I hope some of those resonated with you. So we're on 31. Buy and cook food in bulk. Just want to make sure I was recording. All of a sudden I was like am I actually recording I am.
Speaker 1:Buy things with cash. Stay out of other people's drama. Maintain your car, home and other belongings. Smile often. That is something I do do Walking in the city. I smile all the time. I think it's nice to see people smiling back. If you hate doing it, stop doing it. Duh. Treat everyone with respect and patience. That is a hard one. Apologize when you should Write things down. Be curious, going into 41, explore new ideas and opportunities. Often I am starting a new thing I, and I'll let you know how it goes.
Speaker 1:I took a crochet class with my girlfriends and it kind of overwhelmed me back in the day, but I saw these super cute flowers that you can crochet and then you can make a wreath out of them. You can do all kinds of things. They were super cute and so I thought you know, I'm going to do that. I'm going to learn to crochet these little flowers. So I ordered a little kit with some yarn and stuff from Amazon.
Speaker 1:Don't be shy. Meet new people. Don't worry too much about what other people think about you. That's a hard one. Spend time with nice people. I do that. Don't drink. Don't text and drive. Don't drink and drive. Drink water when you're thirsty and coffee and Diet Coke that's my addition. Don't eat when you're bored. Big one Exercise every day. Already been preaching on that. That's why I'm taking the Tai Chi, so the days I'm not in the pool, I'm at least doing something else.
Speaker 1:Concentrate on things you can change. Find hard work you're actually enjoy doing. The harder you work, the luckier you will become. I don't know about that, but OK, follow your heart. I know that that will bring you joy. Set priorities and act accordingly. Take it slow. However good or bad a situation is, it will change. Excel at what you do.
Speaker 1:Mature, but don't grow up too fast. Oh Lord in heaven, I am the youngest in the family. I'm never going to grow up, so I love that one. You're never quite as right as you think you are. I have learned that I used to die on that hill, that I was right. I don't anymore, and I haven't for a very long time. I could hear things wrong. I could could be wrong. I am wrong, not wrong all the time.
Speaker 1:59, do something that makes you proud. I was proud yesterday doing that Bible study. I was, I was proud, I did a good job. And 60, make mistakes, learn mistakes, learn from them, laugh about them and move along. I hope those 60 things that I just read, at least one or two stick in your brain and you take them to heart.
Speaker 1:I think this I the reason I went through this list, is because when I read it, I thought it was a really doable list. It's nothing that is wooey wooey out there. Oh, this is how you're going to make your life simple again. Give away all your things and live a simple life. No, it's not saying that at all. Live the life you want, live it the best way you can and be a good person. Pretty much. Break down that list, right.
Speaker 1:Well, I hope you enjoyed today's episode. I'll have another one next week. We'll follow along and if I ever figure out what I meant on that list, oh good Lord, you know what's going to happen. I'm going to stop recording this and I'm going to remember and I'm going to think, oh, that was so good, I should have told them. I'll tell you next week. Right now, hang in there.
Speaker 1:I'm going to give you a fun fact. A lot of you may know this, but some of you don't. So we've got Lent coming up and Fat Tuesday is coming up. And why is it called Fat Tuesday?
Speaker 1:Well, fat Tuesday, also known as Mardi Gras or Shrove Tuesday, is a day of feasting and gluttony. Basically, it's because we are to give up things for lunch. So Fat Tuesday is meant to get it all out of your system. Be a glutton, be a fool, do it all Feast, prepare for the season to come. Fat Tuesday is a day of eating rich foods like fried foods, king cakes and pancakes. It's a day of using up fats and desserts in preparation for Lent. Fat Tuesday is a day of seeking forgiveness and peace and preparing for the 40 days of Lent. So the fat comes from getting rid of the fat in your home, using it up in all of the gluttony and desserts and yumminess that you make. So there's a little bit of Fat Tuesday trivia for you. You know what I always say go out there and do something positive. See you next week.
