Building September Ep. 12

In this episode, I revisit the growth of the construction site outside my window as a metaphor for my own personal progress. From shifting perspectives to new September habits, this episode is about refocusing, consistency and accountability. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Hi, I'm Emily Johnson and you're listening to Comfortably Uncomfortable, a podcast about discovering the beauty, the benefits, and the unexpected breakthroughs that come from stepping outside of our comfort zones. This isn't about having it all figured out, but rather showing vulnerability through personal stories and everyday situations that challenge us to grow. If you're on a journey of self-discovery and growth, you're in the right place. Stay tuned and together we can get comfortably uncomfortable. It's a bittersweet day. It's really not as dramatic as it just sounded. But if you have been tuning in every week, then you will probably remember the story I told about the construction site right outside of my building that I have been observing pretty much from the ground up, day by day, seeing all the growth, all the change, whatever. Well, I compared myself to... the structure of everything that was happening out there. And I talked about the billboard that said, peaceful mind. Well, the bitterness to the sweetness is because I can no longer see that sign from my patio anymore. I mean, the construction that has taken place over the course of the last 10 weeks, which side note, how crazy that I've been doing this for 10 weeks now. And actually it's been even more than in 10 weeks. It's just been 10 weeks since this. I think it was the second episode where I talked about this. So really, it's been even longer, which is so crazy. I just smiled so hard because, wow, the consistency, the efforts I put in every week to produce something. I don't know. It's just it's crazy to think that all this time has gone and I'm still still getting it in. And also this past week, one of my friends reached out and told me me that they could hear the growth and the way that I've gotten more comfortable just talking in every episode and that just means so much because y'all know I was very insecure and really felt like I was struggling with it in the beginning but it it does make me so happy to know that I guess I'm not sounding quite the same anymore even if you know there is still room for improvement which there always is um but anyways back to the construction site So yeah, I can no longer see the peaceful mind from my patio, which is kind of sad. But also, I go on a lot of walks. So if you're kind of thinking of it in like a cool metaphorical way, I just have to, you know, change my perspective in order to see it. I can see it on a walk. I can see it, you know, from the other side of the street. I just can no longer see it from, wow, my comfort zone. Wow. Okay. Well, anyway. Anyways, yeah. So that's cool. But so with that progress of the building that's going up right there, it just reminds me of how I am. I'm not finished yet with this journey of life that I'm on, but there's just been so much growth from where I've started to where I am today. And not even just in relation to my podcast, but just in general, my life, my time in Dallas, my health, my wellness, my wellbeing, just everything that I'm working on is a work in progress. And it's just really cool to, again, compare myself to what I see every day because from the very beginning, I was comparing myself to the nothingness of it all. So yeah, I feel like me and this construction site are just growing in sync and I love it. And I mean, it's crazy because like I was talking about, you know, you know the start of it obviously everything needs a solid foundation and no one necessarily sees what you're working on from underground like again referencing the construction site which I think I'll probably do that a lot this episode because I really don't have a plan I just sat down and I was like you know what I want to talk about that peaceful peaceful mind sign and I'm sure once I start talking things will just flow so this is kind of what's going on here um but But yeah, so nobody sees the foundation. And when you are building, I guess, and I only discovered this because again, I see it every day, but they build like a, gosh, I don't even know how deep that hole is. Like I really should have started taking pictures of it from the beginning, but that hole has to be massive. I mean, way underground, like basically something you would never know if you're not seeing it from the start. And again, that was kind of like me with the way I was building my foundation. Like so much of like where I am today happened in solitude, happened with me sitting by myself and really just kind of figuring stuff out alone. Yeah, you know, progress isn't always obvious. So even though like for the longest time, there was stuff that did not look like was actually happening out. And it's so funny, I keep pointing to this like, construction site ads. If you guys can see what I'm doing, I'm really talking with my hands right now. But so much of what happened day by day really didn't look different until one day it did. And reverting back to me, that's kind of how I feel. Day after day, I put in consistent efforts to achieve certain things that I wanted. I'm big on my habits or just big on certain goals that I set for myself. And every day, it doesn't look like much is happening. But when you can take a step back and really see the progress of how far you've come. It's like, wow, like progress was happening all along. It's just not always something you see. And, you know, I've even seen kind of like revisions taking place out there where maybe they have, you know, like some sort of plan and then they switch it up. Not that I even really know what the plan is, but I don't know. I just feel like that just felt so natural to say. Like, I feel like we're both both like there's always ways to kind of alter things that might not be going accordingly. Like I guess, for example, with them, like every other day they're blocking off, you know, streets around my house. So it's kind of like a maze to figure out how I'm going to get home this day, you know. And for a while it was just like really inconvenient because they would leave, you know, a whole roadblock for the weekend and not even put any work. And then over time they started like during the weekdays they'll have that road blocked but then on the weekends they'll open it up again so it's like I feel like they kind of figured out a plan to make other things easier I don't know I might be getting so sidetracked with the in-depth of the construction sites I really don't know what's going on over there but I don't know I just think I you know I brought it up about how beautiful it was in the beginning to just see everything kind of forming with this you know site that I could compare myself to and now to just see how much it really is taking off it just makes me feel even better about you know the growth that's kind of taking place within me but yeah it's funny because people ask me if it's hard to think of episodes and I'm like not really because I feel like sometimes things just come to me but today I started freaking out because it's like Saturday and I usually like to have episodes by Monday just because obviously I post on Wednesdays and Tuesdays Tuesdays with my new job really are consuming. So I really try to have most of what I need done on my days off so that I'm not, you know, stress editing and doing stuff when I really don't have time. But maybe today I can talk about my September habits and goals. I feel like that was my habit tracking and goal setting episode was kind of a hit. So maybe this can inspire you even though it's, you into September, maybe it'll inspire you to figure out what goals you want to set for the month. Last week, I chatted with my girl, Bata, and we talked about the different habits and goals we like to set for ourselves. And then we even mentioned holding each other accountable for... We've made it like our little text messaging checklist because we'll be like, read today, worked out, check, got our steps in, check. So that's been a fun little thing that we've been keeping up with. And in fact, I actually reached out to her today because I almost didn't go for a walk or really do anything because I was like, you know, I can give myself a recovery day. It's been a long week. But then I was like, oh, but I have to send her a picture. So I got my ass up walking and I was like, yay, that felt so good. And of course, on that walk, I saw several of my different numbers, you know, that just prove like YGT girl, like you should be out here glad you did it you know like all those things but anyways back to September I just pulled out my habit tracker I recently actually was like the end of August I went on a morning walk and listened to a meditation and I was like oh this was so relaxing this was such a great way to set the tone for the day I want to incorporate this next month because I do meditate but also like I know I told you all that August I was kind of all over the place like August was a weird month I mean I got on here crying there was just like very different than what I'm used to doing um so August was just kind of like really shaking me up and doing all these weird things so I really want to get right for September so with that being said I really did kind of get off my pretty much all my habits I think I marked on my list probably like a total of I'm looking at right now I was gonna say ten I didn't even mark ten things off I mean, like, I didn't even fill it in 10 times. But that's okay. That's fine. September is going to be different. September already is different. So that's great. But I wanted to start incorporating my morning meditations, which I've been doing. And honestly, it really is so nice. Like, I, with my new job, first of all, me time is so important. And because my new job is consuming so many hours, of my day and my free time, I make sure that I get up early enough to at least have a few hours to myself. Honestly, it's been great. That's where I thrive. First thing in the morning where I get up, I hype myself up every morning. I start listing off things I'm grateful for. I start doing my affirmations. I like to start with, I am grateful for a new day of opportunities. I am grateful for being able to get up and move my body I'm grateful for my friends and my family I'm grateful for everybody who's in my life I'm grateful for the people who are no longer part of my life and then I shift into all the things I am like I am healthy I am beautiful I am kind you know I just like say all these things to myself and it really does get you know it really does set the tone for the day um but the other day I was at the gym like 5 30 in the morning and I was running and I like to just like sometimes I'll listen to one of my workout playlists but sometimes I like to just see what what my shuffle is going to put out for me because you know sometimes they do just like you know send out banger after banger like oh I haven't heard this song in a long time but just what I needed to hear whatever so anyways on the cool down or like when I finished running my the next song the next the next song the next song on my shuffle was like this a song from a meditation playlist, I guess I have. And I was like, oh, I could use this as my morning meditation. So as I'm like cooling down and, you know, like walking, I'm just listening to this three minute track and just like deep breathing and just thinking of all these like calm thoughts. And I was like, simple as that. My morning meditation is done for the day. So I just go to say that with just like how simple something can be. But yeah, of course, walking and working out put that together and I do like to get those things done every day so even though I didn't work out today I still walked and that is good enough for me I have no social media on here and I only mean that for like my personal pages because I don't know sometimes I get carried away with like posting and then it just becomes a distraction because I'm just like I don't know you know how it goes so I was like you know what I need to be more active on my podcast page anyway so that's kind of where I've just been doing all my posting and I put up a poll like I don't know maybe a couple months ago about like oh should I post more of my lifestyle stuff here and everyone was all for it so I pretty much just moved what I post on my personal page to people who actually show interest in what I'm doing because they're listening to my podcast and following my podcast Instagram so shout out affirmations and gratitude I just went over that no alcohol well yesterday I got drunk but only because I was invited out by my co-workers so I feel like I reached a new level in my you know new place because I was invited to hang out with people so that was a good feeling they were at a bar that's walking distance from my house so it was so easy for me to like go over there it was cool I mean it was great I'm glad that I did it I had a great time with them but it's just funny I don't know if I should say this because I don't talk about nobody that I work with knows about my podcast and I'm keeping that keeping it that way for a while just because you know I don't want people to judge me before they get to know me if that makes sense not that I'm worried about what they would think but I don't know I just don't feel comfortable talking about my podcast while they're still you know getting to know me but yeah one girl last night just kept telling me that like she didn't like me because I was pretty and I don't know if she thought that was like a compliment but it was very insulting to me and obviously I wasn't like rude about it and she you know kept apologizing forever like thinking like that but it's like dang that's kind of like mean girl energy to just be like I didn't like you because you're pretty like I did nothing to her and you know what's funny is like we actually talked about it because I would I I'm a morning person. Maybe it's because I wake up at 5 a.m. By the time I go into work, I feel like I've already lived a full day. But I go in and I say good morning to everybody and she would always roll her eyes, make it so obvious that she was rolling her eyes at me. And I was like, you know what, girl, you ain't going to ruin my day. So I kind of intentionally started saying good morning to her just because I knew it would piss her off. But we talked about that last night and we kind of joked about it. But yeah, anyways, I don't want to talk too much about like work stuff but I did think that was very interesting and you know I'm not holding her I'm not looking at her differently for telling me that I appreciate her you know apology for it but damn you know that didn't really make me feel that great but anyways on to the next one writing I hate to admit that I have just kind of not been journaling as much as I used to and I don't know if it's because I'm just in a transitioning phase or just not really finding interest in it, but I just haven't been into doing it. And it's funny because when I actually do sit down and get myself to do it, I enjoy it, but it's just, I don't know, making myself do it. I'm just like, eh, not feeling it. So instead of journaling on my September habits, I was like, let me write. Even if it's just a sentence, even if it's a letter to someone on even if it is I don't know a phrase on a sticky note like I just need to write something every day because I guarantee myself that once I start writing something it'll turn into something more you know and in fact that's kind of what it's been doing I try to do it in the mornings too and funny I didn't today but again like I said I was a little much of a party animal last night so this morning I was moving a little slow but I'll do it right after I finish recording this. But yeah, so I started writing a sentence and then the sentence turns into more. Even if it's not like a full paragraph or a full entry or whatever, it's at least something. And that's kind of what I wanted to get back into is doing something in regards to writing. Abs. I put abs on here. I'm trying to get a cute little tummy and I don't know. I feel like when I really focus on doing ab work, I can see a difference. So I want to just be consistent with that this month. Even though bikini season's about to be over, I want to, I don't know, just, I just want to keep working on this. I want to keep grinding on the things that, you know, make me happy. Face balls. I have these like little things that chisel my cheeks. I don't know. I love it. It just maybe it could be kind of something that's just like soothing too especially first thing in the morning it just feels good it's almost like a lymphatic draining kind of situation so I have that on there because I do notice when I am consistent with that I do like my side profile that sounds so silly to say but it's what I do it's what I like um oh I have a cold shower on here I was recently talking to somebody about cold plunges and just like the best And how they, you know, can train your mental strength and discipline and just, you know, all those things I love. And I hate the cold. So that is like, really hard for me to embrace. But I was like, you know, I do want to ease into that. I do want to be able to sit in a cold plunge for three minutes. And yeah, so I was like, let me put cold shower on here and not obviously take a full on cold shower. But I do I have been ending my shower. hours with cold water for more than a minute. So I really am kind of sitting in it and freezing and freaking out, but I am reminding myself that I can do it. So it's cool to challenge myself in that way. Something, again, so simple, but over time I'll be able to be pleased with the results. Stretching. I put stretching on here because I don't do it enough. I don't think anybody does it enough. maybe maybe that's a lie people people stretch but I think we could all stretch more because when I do incorporate stretching I mean it is just the almost greatest feeling in the world right like I don't know it just really makes your body feel loose and it's just like giving love especially like for me I'm on my feet all day I love moving around like I it's really rare for me to just sit down and stay put um fun fact when I was a kid I used to literally never be able to sit through a whole dinner and my parents were like if you can sit through one dinner without standing up for anything we'll give you a hundred dollars guess what I never did that I never got a hundred dollars because I could never sit down for a whole dinner um maybe you can blame it on ADD ADHD whatever they tried to tell me I had as a kid um But yeah, anyway, so stretching. I have been incorporating stretching and it really does feel so good. I just always remind myself to just take a few extra minutes to just give my body some love. The last one is so irrelevant, so not important for you guys to know. And I only feel like I don't want to talk about it because it just would be a lengthy description. So if you care, you can ask me about it, but I'm not going to add it on here. But yeah, that's September for you. I'm excited about this month. Like I said, August was weird. It was really just kind of testing me in multiple different ways. And you know what? I'm ready for something different and I feel like entering September just kind of really brought on a new wave of exciting energy like I am shifting my focus I think I was you know entertaining things a little more than I should have and I just you know want to kind of focus on the things that I want the things that I deserve the things that I'm after a little bit more so I'm really using this new month feel to do all that stuff so I hope this motivates you guys to do something special for yourself in September smooth sailing September since August was what could be a cute word for August since August was just then September will be superb alright well that's that I hope you enjoy actually I'm going to run it back to the construction site again and end it with a quote referring to that, we're all under construction. Give yourself the time, the space, the patience, and the grace that you need because good things are coming. And even though we can't always see it in the moment, progress is happening. And as long as you stay consistent with putting in effort to achieve the things you want to achieve, you will eventually become the beautiful building that is forming outside of my window. I hope you were able to connect with this episode to some degree, whether it was through laughs, aha moments, or even just a little encouragement. Any and all feedback is welcome. And as always, your time spent listening is greatly appreciated. Grateful for you all. Till next time, XOXO.