007: Mid-Year Check-In: Small Choices, Big Life

Half the year is gone, and that can either spiral you or steady you. I’m choosing steady. From San Diego, I’m doing a simple mid-year check-in that starts where real change starts: your breath, your body, and a brutally honest look at how you’re actually doing.

As I’ve gotten into my 30s, I’ve stopped believing that big life changes require big, dramatic moves. What works is small decisions that stack: earlier sleep, more water, fewer scroll sessions, a daily walk, 10 pages of reading, a five-minute stretch, calling your parents, showing up even when you don’t feel like it. I also break down what I call high-return actions, the habits that pay you back in multiple ways. Yoga and running are two great examples because they build fitness, calm your nervous system, improve mood, and help you keep promises to yourself.

We also talk about peace and control. People disappoint you, plans change, life happens. I’m learning to stop wrestling with outcomes and focus on what I actually own: effort, attitude, consistency, health, honesty, and the willingness to keep showing up. I share the questions I’m asking for the second half of the year, including how to say yes with intention and no often enough to protect your energy.

If this lands with you, follow the podcast, leave a rating, and share it with someone who needs a reset/checkin. Subscribe so you don’t miss the next dose, and if you’re in San Diego, reach out on Instagram at trainwithsand to join community yoga.

Transcript

Welcome And The Midyear Check-In

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Yo, what is up everyone? Welcome back to your daily dose. I'm your host, Luther, here in San Diego, California. And hey, I thought it would be nice to do a little solo podcast, mid-year check-in. So whether you're listening to this while you're driving, walking your dog, out on a run, working, cleaning the house, or maybe you're just sitting down and enjoying some morning coffee or tea, thank you for spending your day with me, okay? Or a little part of your day. So, like I said, today is July 1st, which means we're officially halfway through this damn year. Craziness, right? And I don't know about you, but every year seems to be moving faster and faster to me. When I was younger, in a teen like teenage years, six months felt like forever. Now I'm blinking somehow. We're already talking about the second half of the year. So I wanted to use today's episode as a check-in. Not just for myself, but maybe for you too. I just think we spend a lot of time chasing the next thing. We forget to stop and ask yourself, do a little quick little body scan, check and take an internal selfie and say, how am I actually doing?

A Simple Breath Reset

SPEAKER_00 1:03

So before we go any further, let's do something we don't do enough. Sit a little taller, lengthen the spine, take a slow, nice breath in through your nose, and exhale slowly through the mouth. One more time again. Inhale deeply, then a soft exhale. And let's get into it.

Small Choices That Stack Up

SPEAKER_00 1:25

So I noticed something as I've entered my 30s. The older I get, the less I believe that massive life changes come from massive actions. Like instead, let me just break it down. I think they come from like the really small decisions that stack over time. The little things, the little choices, the things that no one applauds, the things that you just don't want to share, the things that no one posts about on Instagram. Or like going to bed 30 minutes early, you know? Choosing water instead of another beer, putting your phone down, celebrating less screen time, going on going for more walks, reading 10 pages a day, calling your parents more often, stretching for five minutes a day, meditating, making your bed. None of these things, right? To to some, but none of these mostly seem exciting. But together, they can completely change your life.

High Return Habits Like Yoga

SPEAKER_00 2:18

And I'm becoming obsessed with finding what I call high return actions. One actions, multiple rewards, think about yoga. You show up for an hour. But what do you actually get? You become stronger, you become more flexible, you breathe better, your posture improves, your balance improves, you calm your nervous system, you meet people, you laugh, and most importantly, I think you disconnect from your phone. One hour, ten different benefits. Running is the same way. Guess what? You improve your heart, you build discipline, you build toughness, you clear your mind, you get some sunshine if you're running during the daytime, and you can reduce some stress. You gain confidence because you kept a promise to yourself, especially if you sign up for a 5K or 10K. That's a pretty incredible return on investment. And now I find myself asking, what other decisions in my life work like that? Can I choose habits that give me five or ten positive outcomes instead of just one? Because those are habits worth protecting.

Let Go Of What You Cannot Control

SPEAKER_00 3:28

And the other things I'm realizing is that life becomes a lot more peaceful when you stop trying to control things you never had control over in the first place. People will disappoint you. Plans will change, the car will have issues, business will have slow months, weather will change, people will leave, and people will come back. Life happens. I used to spend so much energy trying to control outcomes, truly. Now I'm just trying to control effort, my attitude, my consistency, my health, my honesty, and my willingness to keep showing up. Because that's actually mine. And I think that's where peace lives, honestly.

Reflecting On The First Seven Episodes

SPEAKER_00 4:18

So I also wanted to take a second and reflect on this podcast. This is the seventh episode, right? And honestly, it blows my mind. Been having a lot of fun with this one. Because this podcast exists in my head for a long time before it existed in the real world. Sometimes the hardest part isn't creating something, it's just starting. And episode one was really about introducing what your daily dose is. That's just a place where we can have conversations about life, a little bit of philosophy, of course, fitness, talk about growth, never shy away from failure, laugh a lot, whatever today's dose happens to be. And then we talked about, we have episode two up, my buddy Justin. We were talking about marathon training, doing the hard things. That one question that really stuck with me was what if the hard things are actually the things that heal you? Maybe the resistance you've been avoiding is actually the thing that transforms you. And then if you haven't listened to episode three, Myra and Melissa, these are two sisters that I train, and the Liz, we all uh got together and we talked about physical fitness, talked about how we like the why we train, and like the who we are becoming. It's just a really fun podcast there. And then episode four, that was a really fun one. That's where it just kind of sparked. First time I really talked about simple rules that make life better. Just nothing complicated, those simple habits that we just listed, simple boundaries, simple disciplines, and sometimes life doesn't need more complexity. Sometimes it just needs you to delete, delete, deletes for simplicity. And that was a really fun podcast. But yeah, episode five was also good. We asked, Who is you? So what is you? Who are you without your job, without social media, without your accomplishments, without your failures? Who are you really? And then the latest episode, which was really fun. We introduced Anna and Richie to the podcast. Love this conversation. Started with a bunch of jokes, so fun. But it naturally became about the beautiful conversation of becoming new parents. There are new parents, and how the decisions no one prepare you for. The fears, the excitements, the responsibilities. Even as someone without kids and do not plan on having kids, so shout out to the non-parents out there. I walked away thinking, wow, I never would have considered half of those things in a conversation. And that's exactly why I wanted to create this podcast, because everyone knows something I don't. Everyone has a dose that can help someone. Everyone has lived the life I haven't. Everybody has a story worth hearing.

The Questions For Your Next Half

SPEAKER_00 7:11

So as I move into the second half of the year, I'm asking myself some questions. These questions are: Am I becoming healthier? Am I spending time on the things that matter? Am I present with the people I love? Am I learning? Am I creating? Am I laughing enough? Am I protecting my peace? Am I saying yes to things that deserve a yes? And just as importantly, probably the most important, am I saying no often enough? Because every yes costs something, every commitment has a price, and your energy matters, your attention matters, your time matters. So spend it wisely. The one thing

Start With Your Next Decision

SPEAKER_00 7:53

I don't want to do anymore is wait for January 1st and become a different person. You don't need a new year, you don't need Monday, you don't need next month, you don't even need tomorrow. You just need your next decision because your next decision becomes the next habit. And your next habit becomes your character. And eventually that becomes your life. So if today is your reset, awesome, awesome, awesome. If today is the day you finally go for that walk, amazing. If today is the day you finally call someone, start therapy, start journaling, start yoga, start reading, start forgiving, whatever it is, do it today. Don't let perfection stop progress. Progress to perfection.

One More Breath Before Closing

SPEAKER_00 8:41

So before we wrap this episode up, let's check in one more time. Sit up tall, relax the shoulders, take a nice slow inhale through the nose, feel your spine lengthen, hold it in for just a moment, and now a nice slow exhale. And again at the end of that exhale, fill the lungs up with a big inhale, slow and controlled, and remember to exhale slowly. Your breath is always available, no matter how busy life gets, no matter how stressful things become. You always have the next breath. So please use it.

How To Support The Show

SPEAKER_00 9:21

Thank you for being here. Seriously. If you listen to one episode or all seven, I appreciate it more than you know. And if you're enjoying the daily dose, it would mean a lot for me if you would follow the podcast, leave a rating, and share the episode with someone you might think about need to hear it. Word of mouth is what helps this grow, and every share makes a difference, trust me. And if you're here in San Diego, I would love to meet you in person. So I teach community yoga every Monday and Wednesday. It's a chance to move, breathe, connect with some great people, and just simply feel better. You can follow me on Instagram at train with sand. Send me a message and I'll let you know the location. But until next time, please take care of yourself. Take care of each other. And remember, your life is spilled one small choice at a time. This has been your daily dose, and I'll catch you in the next episode. Peace.