Puerto Rico Reset - Bonus Episode

He hijacked the mic! 🇵🇷🎙️ We are supposed to be offline in Puerto Rico, but the "Environmental Wellness" here was too good not to share. So, I let my husband interview ME. We clipped on the mics (yes, I brought them to the beach 😂) to have a raw conversation about:

🏖️ Why Day 3 of vacation is my favorite day

❤️ The one wellness dimension I succeeded in and failed at this year.

🧠 The "Leadership Edge" I’m teaching in 2026.

If you struggle to actually relax on vacation, you need to hear this. "Puerto Rico Reset" bonus episode!

#PuertoRico #BurnoutRecovery #WellnessTips #CouplesPodcast #DrC #EnvironmentalWellness #CarolinaPR #LeadershipDevelopment #WorkLifeBalance #VacationVibe #PodcastClips #TheLIFEBlueprint

Transcript

Rod: 0:03

We're bringing you a special episode right now. This is called the Hubby Takeover. I am known as Dr. C's husband. Really. They call me Dr. C's husband. But uh I was able to uh get Dr. C to just go down a little bit um and just join us for a really special interview. What we want to do is flip the script. We are in uh beautiful, beautiful San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Dr C: 0:33

Puerto Rico! Hey!

Rod: 0:36

I don't know if you can see back over there, but that is the Atlantic Ocean. Um Isla Verde Beach, and we're uh we're doing our thing. Um amazing out here. But I was able to get Dr. C to just slow down for a minute and uh get a mic thrown on her. She's usually asking the questions, but again, flipping the script. So uh let's get into it, right? Okay. Listeners might hear the ocean, but we've got our mics clipped on, we're ready to go. I mean, Dr. C is always traveling with her gear because you never know. You never know. You though talk about all eight domains of wellness. Yes. We're talking about environmental wellness today. So, what does this scene here do for you that our environment at home in upstate New York does not do?

Dr C: 1:23

Oh gosh. So environmental wellness is about your surroundings and how they impact your well-being. So for me, you know, I love the water. Water signifies serenity for me. It signifies a moment of relaxation, rest, re-energizing. So this is what I long for to unplug. It has to be next to water. There have been times where I've asked you, I've said, I'm really stressed. I need to get close to water. And we get to a body of water back home. It's normally, you know, the closest beach. And what do I do?

Rod: 2:02

You let out a big yell.

Dr C: 2:03

I let out a big scream. Absolutely. Yeah. So, you know, I'm not gonna scream here because I don't have to. But this back here, this water, just hearing the waves, waking up to this every morning, it's amazing. It really is a time for me to just I I and I actually feel it. I feel like this decompression. I just feel lighter. I feel I feel like the grind stops.

Rod: 2:31

Well, and speaking of the grind, now we're a couple days into vacation, you know, time off from our but but time off from our you know, day-to-day full-time work. How many days did it take you to to settle in and you know, truly unplug and turn your brain off?

Dr C: 2:47

Yeah, I think it takes me uh probably by day three, I'm fully unplugged. Maybe day, I mean, like this this is day two of us being here in Puerto Rico. We got here yesterday. So today feels a lot more relaxed than yesterday. I was exhausted yesterday after traveling, after eating some great authentic Puerto Rican food. Whoo, that stuck to my ribs. And when I tell you, I was I was hot, I had the itis. And we, you know, so day one, you know, travel, it's it's heavy on the body. I mean it's stressful on the body and mind. So day two is really where I kind of get myself together, remind myself that I'm on vacation, remind myself that I'm not working. And then day three, oh, it's on and popping. I day three, I could do day three forever, which is full vacation mode, full unplug, not caring about anything, and really investing in my well-being by just just doing nothing.

Rod: 3:50

And that's good. That's good. Well, and for the record, I I fell asleep before you did last night. So I don't know what that says about me. Um, but let's um let's talk about your expertise. Again, expert, workplace wellness, you're you're training on it, you're speaking on it, you have an international reach in terms of your listeners. So you teach burnout prevention, but is it hard for you to practice what you preach? And then what's the hardest Dr. C rule for you to follow yourself? So, two-part questions. First, first part first, is it hard for you to practice what you preach?

Dr C: 4:28

Hell yes, it's hard for me to practice what I preach, which is why I preach it. Yeah, I, you know, when I started my doctoral program and I started learning about burnout, even I was fascinated with it, you know, which is why I chose it as my dissertation topic, my research. But when I started learning about what it does to the body, and when I started learning how much agency we have, how much control we have over our own well-being, I was like, holy crap. We I I got some work to do here, right? And it's very hard to to to follow because one of the things that I've realized is I have to stop myself from thinking of another topic. Or someone will say, Hey, you know, have you thought about this topic? And then of course my brain goes, you know, zeros in. And until I get that all teased out and I have a good either presentation episode, or if I'm in my consulting mode, you know, until I feel very sure about what I'm presenting to the client, it's it's it's a grind, right? I'm I'm in it. And you've even said, hey, you want to get up and stretch?

Rod: 5:45

Yeah, don't don't burn out teaching about burnout.

Dr C: 5:49

Exactly.

Rod: 5:50

That's been my exactly.

Dr C: 5:51

So yes, it's hard. It's hard. But this being being part of the pod, like having the podcast, being part of this movement that we've created with life has really helped me be more aware of my own, you know, overreach, my own overextension. So I'm getting there.

Rod: 6:08

Right. Well, now speaking of the Dr. C rules, and you know, you have a few of them. Which Dr. C rule is the hardest for you to follow yourself? You have one that you that jumps out.

Dr C: 6:20

Yeah, I think I'm plugging it. Just putting it down. I could, I could, I could, I could write for days, right? I could research for days. So yeah, it it the hardest rule is stepping away. The hardest rule is putting it down and being okay with it, like feeling okay with it, putting it down, not not thinking about it, putting it down and not feeling guilty about it, right? So those are things that I'm constantly having, this inner positive self-talk, where I'm saying, you know, it's time to put it down, it's time to practice what you preach, which is how I hold myself accountable. It's time to invest in your own well-being, it's time to unplug. So though that's what I say to myself, so that I can work through that feeling of I should be doing more.

Rod: 7:07

So I've learned a lot from you, an immense amount through this journey. And I've started to talk to other people about it as well. One of the things that jumps out all the time are the eight dimensions of wellness. So if you had to take one of those dimensions and grade yourself, or some of those dimensions, which one did you fail? And which one did you ace?

Dr C: 7:31

Yeah, yeah. Very easy to answer that question.

Rod: 7:35

Yeah.

Dr C: 7:35

I'm gonna start with the good stuff first, right? Of course, what the good news or the bad? Yeah, the good news. I aced financial wellness, and I have you to thank for that. So when me and Rod got got together and got married and all this great stuff that we did, Rod said, Hey, we should do a spreadsheet for our budget. And I looked at him like, What? I ain't doing no spreadsheet, you know, because to me that was a way of control, not that he wanted to control him, but that was a way of being controlled financially. That was I I didn't want I didn't necessarily want to know like where my money was going, right? So I I probably fought that for a couple years, gently, gently by saying, I'm not doing that. Um but when we finally got to a point where I said, ah, let's try this spreadsheet thing. Now I love it. So we have a cash flow spreadsheet, and basically every two weeks when we get paid, we go through it. This is what we're paying. These are our bills, this is where our money is going, this is how much we're saving, this is how much we're putting towards this, this is how much we're gonna use to purchase, you know, make a big purchase, whatever it is. It really has helped me feel more, it's it's lowered my anxiety because I'm not worried about money. We always worry about money. I'm not worried about where my money is going. I have a plan for my money. I also have a plan for our savings and what we're gonna do with it. I love to travel. That's our way of investing in our well-being. We love to travel. And so that has really opened up the opportunity to travel because now we're more deliberate, right? About how we're spending our money, how we're saving our money, where we're going. So a couple of bucket list things that we've done because of the spreadsheet. So I attribute, you know, a lot to that spreadsheet. And I would say I probably ace the financial wellness dimension. Not that we can't do more work on it. Absolutely because there's always the evolution, right? We're always evolving, we're always learning new things.

Rod: 9:38

Well, and that it reminds me of something that we've also talked about, which is maybe another episode in the future, just about how we travel and what that does for us and how that how that impacts us positively.

Dr C: 9:49

Absolutely.

Rod: 9:50

Because we're now booking out into 2027. We are now booking out to 2027.

Dr C: 9:54

But let me tell you though, the the one people hear them, they're like, oh, y'all must have it, y'all must have that, right? Like we must have it going on financially. Not really. Now let me tell you how we do it because this is this is this is a good tip. We book out sometimes a year and a half in advance, and we pay on it monthly. So it's not this big lump sum, and it doesn't feel like you know, we just you know, pay the arm and a leg to have some fun. So I would encourage you to get yourself a good travel agent. Lorna Washington is an amazing travel agent. We have used her numerous times, and we book a year, two years in advance, and we pay monthly. So definitely look up Lorna Washington and her travel agency, and that's how we get it done.

Rod: 10:43

Absolutely.

Dr C: 10:44

So, not something I didn't do well in.

Rod: 10:46

Yeah.

Dr C: 10:47

Physical wellness, right? Thank you, Nicola, for may adding me to your Peloton account. I'm trying, okay? So I am really trying. I did some stretches, I did some core work a couple weeks ago, but I haven't gone back to it. So one of the things for 2026 that I must conquer is a consistent fitness routine.

Rod: 11:16

Yeah, like a regular routine. Yeah, sure.

Dr C: 11:18

You know, it's not, you know, it's it's yeah, yeah, that's what I want to do. So I'm getting there, but it's tough. It's tough, you know. It got a lot going on, and last thing I want to do is work out. It's it doesn't, it's not fun for me.

Rod: 11:33

And and all our friends in in the world of Dr. C's Life Podcast, you heard it here as well. You can hold her accountable too. Please ask her about it. I I will. All right. So let's get some real quick questions about a couple topics and maybe hit me with the first thing that comes to mind. Well, we're in San Juan, Puerto Rico, as we said. So mofongo or arrogung and I have both. I don't think it depends.

Dr C: 12:04

What's the meat?

Rod: 12:06

Your meat of choice.

Dr C: 12:07

I'm gonna do arroz con gandule because it goes with any type of meat. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Arroz con gandule .

Rod: 12:15

And speaking of that, we're going to a very famous San Juan restaurant uh this evening.

Dr C: 12:19

At Jibarito, if you have not been there, please go there. It's amazing, amazing.

Rod: 12:23

You want to be there.

Dr C: 12:24

Yeah.

Rod: 12:25

Sunrise or sleep in.

Dr C: 12:29

Sunrise.

Rod: 12:30

Sunrise. Gotta see the sunrise.

Dr C: 12:31

Yeah, we we do that. Whenever we travel, one of the things that I mean we wake up early anyways because we're so used to it. We'll walk around, you know, explore, but we definitely have to see the sunrise. This morning we had the time, the sunrise was at 6 54 a.m. So we got up around 6 15, got ourselves together. But by the time we made it out, it had already come out a little bit. And because of our vantage point, we didn't really get to see it the way we normally see it. Like we normally see it literally come out of the ground, right? Over the water, and it's amazing. So we have a plan for tomorrow, but sunrise, man. Let me tell you, there's something about a new day. There's something about seeing the sun come out and thinking about wow. I have another chance.

Rod: 13:26

It's a rebirth.

Dr C: 13:27

I have another opportunity to do more. And yeah, sunrise.

Rod: 13:33

You know, another chance to be better than you were yesterday. Yes. Better than you've ever been before.

Dr C: 13:39

Yes.

Rod: 13:40

We talked about that. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. Thinking about a new year, 2026. I mean, it sounds, it rolls off the tongue now, but it started, it was, it started off sounding crazy, but it's almost here. So one word from Dr. C for 2026.

Dr C: 13:59

Oh, one word. Evolution. You know, life stands for learn, inspire, flourish, and evolve. If you're not evolving, you're not growing. You're not experiencing new things. You're not challenging yourself. So I would say 2026 is about uh continuing to evolve, continuing to really pour into your growth and achieving who you want to be, right? Yeah.

Rod: 14:34

Yeah.

Dr C: 14:34

Evolution.

Rod: 14:35

Let's do it. Let's talk about some of the leadership edge angles that you that you're bringing. You've got a presentation coming up in January at uh the leadership symposium in Rochester, and you're that's what you're calling it, the leadership edge. Without giving it all away. Yeah, your presentation. So without giving all of that away, why is the old model of leadership broken?

Dr C: 15:00

Yeah. We update our phones, I don't know how many times a year, right? Every time a new firmware comes out, every almost every technological device has firmware updates. If we are not updating our own leadership styles to 2026 workforce to the 2026 workers, then we don't have an edge. If we're still we're if we're still managing, now notice I said the word managing, right? That's antiquated. If we're still managing people and not leading, we got a problem. The other thing about leadership is that you know it's not always about you. You're not always the smartest person in the room. And you have to also be willing to be led. And I just I just think sometimes we hire people and we expect them to do as they're told and not to think and not to be innovative. And we lose a lot in our organizations because of that. So the leadership edge is really about leadership in 2026, making sure you're not leading from a 1980s manual.

Rod: 16:12

There it is. Well spoken. Now we just launched a new website. Yep. If a listener feels stuck right now, what is the first thing they should do on the new site?

Dr C: 16:23

Yeah, so try to make it as simple as possible, right? drwanda cooper.com. There you'll see you'll you'll see the services that are offered, consulting, speaking engagements, and obviously the podcast. So you can access everything as a one, is it's a centralized place to keep everything. I kind of had everything kind of all over the place. You know, I would get someone reaching out for consulting, someone reaching out for speaking, then the live podcast, and people reaching out to be guests on the live podcast, or reaching out for me to be on their podcast. So it was just, I had all these entry points. And so we created the website to really have a centralized place where you can go and connect with me and also kind of or connect with the podcast. You can, you know, listen to all the episodes in the podcast. You could listen to them and you could watch them. And just really, that's where you find me, drwanda cooper.com.

Rod: 17:18

Yeah, and the beauty of that is, and I can tell you as a uh a partner and and seeing this firsthand, Dr. C does so many things, so many things well. It really was an opportunity through this new site to highlight those various avenues. She she truly is worldwide. She's changing lives, she's touching people. This was the vision she had, and and it's it's coming true right before our eyes.

Dr C: 17:44

Yeah.

Rod: 17:45

So you talked about the website. Is there something else you'd like to leave people with for 2026? You know, this is a time, usually at the end of the year of the year, when folks start to say, oh, next year I'm going to do this, next year I'm going to commit to that. Next year I've got a so-called resolution, whatever it is. You know, resolution that's that's gone by you know February 15. However, however, they do it. Any any words with respect to that, given where we are in the calendar right now?

Dr C: 18:15

Yeah, I mean, if you look at the season finale, one of the things that I said is don't try to overhaul your entire life, right? Take one step at a time. I think we we've been sold a bill of goods, right? Where you go into this new year and you set your new year's resolution and that's it. You're good. The reality is that you have to work for everything you want. In order to be consistent, you have to practice every day. And so I would say ditch the new year's resolution and just pick one thing. One thing that you want to be better at. Is it communication? Is it being present? Is it building a relationship? Is it learning something new, right? Pivoting your career, whatever that one thing is. Make sure that you're researching, make sure that you're learning, make sure you're adding to your skill set. Really? That's that's that's really what it boils down to. And I would say it's not just because it's the end of the year. I would give that advice at any point of the year.

Rod: 19:21

Great. So as we try to bring this to a close, I want to go back one more time and make sure everyone knows how to find the new website, which includes all the avenues in terms of contacting you and all the services that you can provide. So, website one more time.

Dr C: 19:38

Drwanda Cooper.com, D-R W A N D A C O O P E R dot com. That's a Hamilton reference for you if you didn't get it. Don't sue me, Lynn Manuel.

Rod: 19:53

Please. You know, we still got it like that. We still need to travel, as we spoke about.

Dr C: 20:00

You ain't got it like that yet.

Rod: 20:01

It's on the way. So listen, always keep learning, continue to evolve, always flourish and never stop evolving.

Dr C: 20:09

Okay. You mess that up. It's hey, until next time, continue to learn. No, stop. You're messing me up. Until next time, never stop learning. Stay inspired. Continue to flourish and never, ever stop evolving. This is the live podcast with hubby and Dr. C.

Rod: 20:33

Boom, baby.