An Announcement

This one's got a little bit of everything... a 90s Julia Roberts movie, a birthday PTSD flare, and why your attention span might be the actual problem.

I turned 36 this week, and two days later I found myself watching Erin Brockovich at 7am instead of working. Not because I had free time... because Monday, my actual birthday, hit me with one of the worst flares I've had in a while, and I spent the day searching for relief in my phone instead of feeling it.

So I challenged myself. Two hours, no phone, fully locked into a movie I knew nothing about.

In this one:

• The difference between scrolling for relief and actually finding it
• Why long form anything (movies, YouTube vlogs, whatever) is quietly good for your brain
• The phone mirror exercise I want you to try right now, mid-episode
• A hint at the program I'm revealing this weekend

If you've ever caught yourself scrolling for relief but nothing actually feels satisfying, this one's for you.

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Transcript

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What's up, you guys? Welcome back to the Dopamine Diaries Podcast. This is Coach Kate. It is what I said. It's Wednesday. I just had a birthday two days ago. Um, I turned 36, and well, I am officially halfway to 72. And holy shit. I probably should prioritize my skincare more. Um, but, anyways, that's not what I want to talk to you guys about today. I actually want to talk to you guys about the movie that I watched this morning. I know you guys are gonna be like, hey, what? Where is this episode going? Hear me out, hear me out. Okay, so um this morning I watched it's a movie from the 90s. It's called Aaron Brockovich. Um, it's about Julia Roberts is in it. I'd never seen it before. Um, incredible movie, like such girl power, mom power movie, but also with like so many, like, oh, so many like working mom things were in that movie. It was just so good. But, anyways, um, go watch the movie if you haven't, if it's it's leaving Netflix soon. But some of you guys might be like, Kate, why did you watch a movie in the morning? It's Wednesday. Don't you have to work? Yeah, I do. Um, and I woke up early enough because I wanted to watch a movie, and I want to tell you why I did that. Um, you know, I am somebody that I'm gonna kind of like expose myself here. I am definitely somebody that always used to say, like, I don't have time to watch TV, I don't have time to get into a show, I don't have time to watch movies. But let me tell you, I did have time to scroll my phone, I did have time to, you know, keep up with, you know, whatever was going on online. Like my platforms never missed a beat. Okay, but I didn't have and and I was working, right? But I'm working, I'm I'm being productive. Sometimes. Um, and so I always used to be the one that was like, yeah, I don't, I don't, um, I don't have time to watch TV. I don't, I'm too busy, I'm too busy working. And you know, I was really occupied scrolling. So um, why did I watch a movie this morning? Well, if you guys notice, um, how do you guys ever, you know, humor me? Because I'll be honest, again, I did this last night and I had to catch myself. Um, do you guys ever watch TV? But while you're watching TV, you're actually scrolling your phone? Like, do you guys ever like, you know, sit down at the end of a night, maybe you have kids and you finally get the kids to bed and you open up your phone before you really do anything else, and you, you know, start checking your emails, get on TikTok, get on Instagram, you know, see what so-and-so is doing, respond to some DMs. If you're a business owner, I know you're doing this. Um, but even if you're not a business owner, you're probably doing it. And then, you know, you realize the room's kind of quiet. It feels kind of awkward that you're sitting there at 8:30 p.m. in silence, but on your phone, so you put something on Netflix and then you look back down at your phone, and then that just continues on for the next couple hours. And we do both, right? Like we're scrolling, we're consuming something, but like we're double consuming. Like we have to be consuming something short form while um, you know, kind of in the background, consuming something long form. And do you guys ever wonder why we do that? Do you guys ever wonder why we do that? Um, do you guys ever wonder why it's so much easier to scroll your phone while you're watching something on Netflix than it is to keep your phone out of your hand and just watch the movie? Um, it's a little something called attention span. Um, it's it's it's a little something called an attention span. And unless you live under a rock, which I don't think any of you guys do, um, all of us have struggling attention spans. And we have struggling attention spans because of the majority of the technology um in the digital media that we are consuming. Um, how many of you guys actually watch long form YouTube vlogs? People still vlog, by the way. I know that that was like super hot back in like um the 2010s, um, but you know, then COVID hit and we all kind of like numbed our brains with like Tiger King and Endless Phones because we couldn't do anything else. And now it's like truly like our attention spans are shot. Um our baseline dopamine levels are just like listen, like the the bar is on the floor. Um, and nothing is really satisfying us, even though we're consuming um and and connected more than ever before, right? And so attention spans. So I watched a movie this morning because um, I'll be honest with you guys, on Monday, on my actual birthday, I actually had a really bad day. Um, I had a bit of a depressive episode come up. It was a um it was a PTSD flare, to be completely honest with you guys. Um, and it was one of the worst flares I've had in a while. And it was a shame that it happened on my birthday, but it happened on my birthday. And one of the things that I found myself doing Monday more than I have in a very long time was scrolling TikTok. And I was very aware that I did not like what I was doing, but I was also in such a low place um that that was all I could do. And I think that that is more common than many people um admit. I think we joke about it, like, oh, I was like doom spiraling or doom scrolling TikTok and found, you know, my algorithm dropped me off at some weird spot. Like we want to joke about it. Um, but more and more lately I've been joking less about the thing that is that is truly draining um my energy. So on Monday, I found myself just in a really interesting headspace, and I noticed that I was um scrolling a bit more. Um, and when I say scrolling, really what I mean was I was really searching for relief. I was searching for something. I was I wanted something stimulating, I wanted something to distract me. Um, I wanted something that would pull me away from what I was feeling. I needed anything that would take my attention away from um what my brain was telling me on that day. And so um I scrolled a bit more on money than I really wanted to. And what I know to be true about those days that I scroll more than I want to is if I don't catch that habit, it starts to spiral. Um, and so what I did this morning was I challenged myself to watch a two-hour movie before I started work, and I didn't pick up my phone the whole time. I challenged myself to stay fully immersed in a movie, a movie from the 90s, by the way, which I would not normally watch. Um, and a movie that I didn't do any research on um prior to watching it. I just picked one and I said, two hours, we're locked in, we're focusing, and even though it's gonna feel really easy to pick up my phone, even though I'm gonna want to check my email, even though I'm gonna feel massively uncomfortable that it's Wednesday and I'm watching a movie and work needs to happen, I'm gonna do it anyway because that is going to help my attention span. That is going to settle a bit of my nervous system as well. And you know, I could bring up a lot of key points as to why um a movie, like long form um media as an example is actually really, really good for your brain. Um, and I piss off a lot of people when I use this example when talking about um children. I piss off a lot of people on the internet when I bring this up. But um, you know, I think in the motherhood community, a lot of the conversation is around like, oh, like minimize screen times for screen time for kids, like screen time is bad. Um, don't let them watch TV, like blah, blah, blah, all that stuff. Um, and I think that there's obviously so much nuance to that. And in my opinion, I'm gonna sit down and watch a Disney movie with my kid all day, every day, um, compared to giving her um, you know, letting her watch like shorter things that are only like a couple minutes at a time, right? There's a reason for that. Like challenging your brain to focus, challenging your brain to pay attention is actually really good for it. Um, long form storytelling is actually good for it. That's kind of why I asked, like, does anybody still watch YouTube vlogs? Because people still make them. Um, challenging yourself to just watch it and listen and pay attention and not be distracted, not look at your phone, like not pick up to see really quick if anyone, you know, commented on whatever you posted on Instagram or whatever else it may be. Um, it's actually really, really good for your brain to challenge your attention span in that way. So this morning I did that. Um, I fully immersed myself in a movie this morning before I started work, and I can tell you with so much confidence that it completely changed and has changed. It worked in the in the middle of the day, and I feel fantastic. My energy is great, my focus is great. Um, I don't have that same doom feeling or desire to pick up and you know see what's going on online. Like, these are the really small hacks, but like these are the small hacks that unless you understand the nervous system in the brain, like it's obvious when I say this to you some of you guys, some of you guys are gonna listen to this and you're like, yeah, that makes like so much sense. Like it's not like you're telling me anything that's like um life-changing, Kate. Yeah, but the problem is when you're in the moment, you don't naturally default to it. Because when we're in these moments where it's hard, whether you guys had a Monday like me or not, any form of moments, a stressful work week, the five to nine shift with your kiddos, like a friend outing where you don't like half the people, like anytime you're in a situation where your system um doesn't like what it's feeling, where your system is overwhelmed, where it's stressed out, where it's burnt out, maybe you didn't get enough sleep, maybe you're at a certain part in your cycle, it doesn't matter what it is. Um, we are going to naturally seek relief and we will do that so much quicker than we usually have control over. It is a very automatic survival-based response. Like, so when I talk about, um, even when I like bring up scrolling and stuff, if you've been following me on social media, um, I think a lot of people are getting it kind of confused when I talk about this because they're like, well, like you can't, like, you I'll I can't give up scrolling. I don't want you to. I don't want you to give up screen time, whether that be on your TV or your iPad or your phone. It's not realistic for you to give that up. We live in 2026, man. Like everything is online. I don't want you to give that up, but I do want you to have an honest look in the mirror and really ask yourself, is this helping me? You know what? There's something that I ran um ads to this and I haven't really um offered it, offered it to anyone on my socials yet, or even on here. Um, but depending on where you're at while you're listening to this, I want you to um either remember to do this, or um, I want you to try it right now. So if maybe you're listening to this while you're doing something else on your phone, or maybe you're getting ready, or maybe you're in the car. Um, like I said, some of you guys might be able to do this as I ask you, and some of you guys might not be able to, and that's okay. Um, but I want you to, if you can, um, pick up your phone and I want you to hold it up in front of your face, and it's gonna automatically light up and it's gonna maybe unlock if you guys have face ID on. Um, and I want you to simply hit the button on your phone that makes the screen go black again. But I want you to have the phone in front of your face. I want you to whatever they not power off, but I want you to uh I want you to lock your phone. I want the screen to go black, and I want you to see your reflection for a second. I don't want you to just look at yourself and I want you to see the you that is existing right now today. And I want you to really have an honest conversation with yourself about how much of yourself you have missed by being so consumed and so locked in to everything else online. How much time have you lost because you haven't been able to feel any form of control over it? How many emotions or how many really hard days really weren't that hard? But because you had consumed so many different things that put your emotions on a crazy swinging pendulum of feelings, um, that your day suddenly was clouded by all of the things that you had consumed online, whether that be tragedy, death, uncertainty, it doesn't matter. Um, I want you to just look at yourself in the reflection of your phone. And I want to remind you that you are a person and you are a human and you are somebody that is living a life right now that if you're not careful, will go by so incredibly fast. And I don't want you to miss it. And I don't want you to feel like you have to give up certain things um in order to not miss your life. I want you to have control. I want you to have peace. I want you to know where you can find relief. I want you to know what you can do to give your brain a break that doesn't involve getting lost into an algorithm. I want you to have full control and authority over where your energy goes online. I want you to stop overloading your inbox with free recipe guides or whatever the hell else that you impulsively ask for in the middle of your scroll, but you probably aren't even remembering until right now, as I say that in your memory gets triggered. Um I want you to have your life back, man. I just I want you guys to have an opportunity to come out of the haze a little bit. But I want you to see that that is so possible while understanding the tool that technology can be versus right now the vice that it is for a lot of us. And so I just wanted you guys to see your reflection as I said that because listen, I believe wholeheartedly in what I do. I believe wholeheartedly in what I do. Um and I have thought about this uh a lot, a lot. I've talked to some brilliant people about this. I have really aimed to bring you guys something that does heal parts of your brain, that does provide an opportunity for your system and your body to kind of like exhale a little bit, right? Um and I just want you guys to know that. And I want you guys to to really see the you listening to this uh right now, and and I want you to believe that even if you feel like actual ass right now, even if you feel burnt out to the max, even if you feel completely overwhelmed, like you just don't have time, I want you to just trust me for a second that there are really simple ways. And no, you don't have to watch a movie in the morning. I know not everybody has time for that, and really today was the only day I actually had time for it. Um but I want you to know that there are a lot of really simple ways and things that you can do for your brain to actually give it what it needs versus let it continue to kind of deteriorate, you know, as life goes by. So um this weekend I'm going to be revealing the program that I have been hinting on my socials for quite some time. Um and again, I just I I I I want any of you listening to this to understand that there are upgrades available for your brain. There are patterns of behavior that you don't even understand are influencing how you show up in your personal life and your career and your relationships that have everything to do with the way that we are all consumed by technology. And I want you to learn a better way to connect and find relief for a body that is quite literally um on fire a lot. Given the world we live in, the lifestyles that we lead, the schedules, the responsibilities. It is hard to not be stressed. But technology is not a form of stress relief. It's a stressor. And we know this. This is not new information. Um the problem is technology has advanced and developed so much in our brains and our nervous systems have not. Um, and so that is what I will be bringing to you guys when I reveal this program a very tangible, hands-on way. Not things that you have to learn, not modules and shit. And it and not even like, you know, I feel like people do programs all the time where it's like they have the best intentions, but then they never follow through or they don't finish. I mean, this really is not that. Um because it's impossible to be that. It's it's uh it's individually prescribed. And I'm gonna continue to make a podcast where I talk about this. Um, but there's a way, like a method methodology, methodology, methodology, um, a proprietary framework um and piece of this experience that I've brought in that takes you and your experience um and then allows me to put you um in the exact like brain health, brain break, nervous system relief protocol that actually makes sense for you and not anybody else. Um and it's really special and I can't wait to talk about it. So yeah, I watched a movie this morning to work on my attention span after scrolling too much. Um and I feel better. And even if I wouldn't have watched that movie, and if I wouldn't have had the two hours, um there are about five other things that I could have done while getting ready or while eating breakfast, or even in the time that I've taken to record this podcast that would have done the same thing. Um because I've I've put my brain and my nervous system through um this method methodology, and I know exactly what um is prescribed to me. So I'm really excited to share it, and I'll talk to you guys soon. Bye.