Spring Break!!! There's sun, there's fun, and, of course, squirrels gone wild! What could go wrong?
With their big fluffy tails and infinite energy, what's not to love?
And if you're saying, Justin, a squirrel is just a rat with a fluffy tail, you're wrong, but not for the reason you might think. Squirrels in the wrong environment, like my attic, are actually worse than rats. Traps won't work on them and if you accidentally trap a squirrel, they will destroy EVERYTHING!
What does this have to do with engineering your energy and emotions? Well chances are you've allowed the equivalent of squirrels to come into your life as destructive thoughts or destructive relationships.
"If I just had a bit more money" or "If I just looked a bit better". At first glance these are cute thoughts, but when they take up residence in your mind they become destructive.
How about that friend that can never keep a commitment? Or the job that never recognizes you? Each has so much promise on the surface, but they're chipping away at your time and your personal power.
What to do?
The first step is awareness that you have squirrels. The next step is likely going to require help. To get the squirrels out of my attic I called a professional. For mental and relational squirrels, since you let them in your life, the support and help from others will be essential for getting them out.
Got a question or comment about the show? E-mail podcast@justinwenck.com. Remember to subscribe so you don't miss the next episode! Then connect with me at JustinWenck.com, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn!
Check out my best-selling book "Engineered to Love: Going Beyond Success to Fulfillment" also available on Audiobook on all streaming platforms! Go tohttps://www.engineeredtolove.com/to learn more!
Got a question or comment about the show? E-mail me at podcast@justinwenck.com.
Welcome to the engineering emotions and energy podcast. I'm your host, Justin Wenck.
Unknown:
Today,
Justin Wenck:
we are going to be talking squirrels squirrels squirrels, cuz it's spring break time, right? You know, there's fun, there's sun. And of course, squirrels gone wild. You know, if you're looking outside, you see him running around trees and digging up nuts that are bearing nuts and frolicking and, you know, getting friendly with one another and making little baby squirrels and I just, personally I find squirrels just adorable. I can just watch them for I'm not gonna say hours, that's a long time to watch squirrels, but definitely, definitely in the, you know, minutes, up to 10s of minutes. Because they're just delightful. I mean, all the energy, they have that fluffy tail, I just find them adorable. And you might be thinking, Justin, a squirrel is just a rat with a fluffy tail, you're wrong. And let me tell you, you're not wrong for the reason you think you're wrong. squirrels in the wrong environment can actually be much worse and much more destructive than rats. And I found this out the hard way. In my very own home, and you're probably wondering, like, why are we talking about squirrels and you know what they do? Stick with me, stick with me baby bird, one, if I'm going to feed you so we can all make sense is going to come together. And it's going to be a really, really awesome lesson, you're gonna be like, Oh, my gosh, I have so I have more squirrels than I ever thought. And you might be living in an area where like, squirrels don't even exist, which, I don't know, in North America, if there is such a place, I seem to see them everywhere and huge numbers, even when it's there's snow on the ground and places so. So, about a year ago, I started hearing, you know, some little, little pitter patter of little tiny clawed feet up in up in my attic of my house and first thought was rats, you know, so you know, got the little little rat traps and, and whatnot. And, you know, no, no bites, no nothing. And just, you know, don't pitter patter, you know, during the day, and then, like a boy or something, then it's there, it's not going away. And, you know, you you haven't been up in an attic of, you know, well, one, it's not fun. But when you're in a home, there are just some things that you got to do. So, a homeownership really is a lifestyle choice, because you're gonna end up doing some stuff you either don't want to do, or you're gonna have to pay somebody to do the stuff that you don't want to do. And that does not come cheap. So when you go up in the attic, you realize that, well, there's a lot of important stuff there. Like there's there's a lot of electrical wiring to lighting and stuff. There's your, you know, possibly your h fac, that's your heating, ventilation, air conditioning system, and associated wiring and ductwork and things and stuff like that, that, uh, you know, it's not going to be the easiest to get to to repair if it gets all knocked up and chewed and things like that. So it starts to be one of those things where it's like, well, I don't know anything about keeping squirrels or getting squirrels out of my attic. So, Brandt's bring in bring in a professional right so call call the local extermination company, they are they're an eco friendly so they're not really trying to you know, always exterminate it's just more more prevention is their thing, which was really cool. And, you know, the guy goes up does the investigation says that Yeah, you got you got squirrels, this is this is not a rat problem. And so we're gonna have to go and find all the entry points. And then we're gonna have to block them off. And make sure that they can't get in but if one somehow gets in, they need to be able to get out. So it's almost like a you know, you can I don't know, I'm trying to think of an analogy of something where like, you can you can like, you know, get out of it, but you can't go back. Oh, it's like, you know, if you ever like rent a car, or it's one of those like parking lots where the arm will go up and you can leave but it's got those spikes that if you back it says Don't you know backups of your tire damage, that type of thing. It's kind of like one of those where the squirrel can leave but the squirrel can enter. Right? Because this is what what Kyle our exterminator said, he said, if a squirrel gets caught in the attic, they don't just kind of like chill out like a rat would and just sort of like pass on and you know, I don't know like I guess a rattle just go I'm trapped and just sort of like meditate and chill and pass on to you know, it's next life or whatever. But a squirrel will just go fucking apeshit and start climbing and not I'm doing whatever I can to get out and do a whole lot of destruction in the process. So you do not want to trap a squirrel in any enclosed space, it is not going to end well. Just like oh, well, that's good to know. So when sealed up most most things, and it was about, you know, things are mostly mostly good for a while, and then a few months later, start here and so pattern Ah, stuff again. And then I, I'm walking down into the living room, and I look above my front door. And I'm like, I don't remember there being a hole in the drywall with insulation coming out of it before turns out as squirrel found another entry point, and got confused and freaked out and started knowing and climbing to get out through the drywall into my house through right above my front door. Right. I don't know why, but the scroll somehow, you know, poked its nose and must have been like, this doesn't smell like outside and found another way out. So Kyle had to come back. And he's realized, like, oh, there's you know, for other places where they're getting in, like, I guess where, like the flashing where the roof meets the edge of the house like they like caught up under and got in there. And so had to, you know, seal seal stuff off. And again, make sure that you know, there was exit points. And this is all stuff that like I couldn't have figured out or done all on my own. And so it's really good to have the help of someone now. Okay. So let's bring this to you. Because you're like, Justin, I don't have scroll problem. I don't even own a house. Or maybe I do. But just like it's not what it what does this have to do with anything to do with making my life better? Because really, we're about making sure you have less stress, more energy, and you can live from the heart. That's what we're about on this podcast. Right? So what this is about is you might not have physical squirrels. But you might have the equivalent in thought, or in relationships. And what do I mean? So a squirrel thought, which is not not the similar if you're like a teenage boy, and you have a girl thought, which is another Spring Break issue and maybe the steel drum music is starting to play in your heads its intent, and then then it's a thought that seems attractive on its surface. It's like, Oh, this is like pretty cute. Like, yeah, like I just need to make a little bit more money, like was more money or maybe just a little bit more attractive, then you know, I meet a better person or just, I get more compliments. The thing is, that thoughts like these, they get in, and they're very distracted, they start rummaging around, and they don't really stop, they just keep going. And you there really is no no end to them. There's there's no end to if I just had a little bit more money, because you get a little bit more. Well, what about a little bit more? What if you if you look a little bit better? What if you looked a little bit more better? And a little bit more better? More better? More, better, more better? Right? Similar thing with relationships. You know, sometimes you got these these friends. It's like, hey, it's my friend. They're, you know, they're good to me. They're nice to me. They're like, we've got a history we go back? Well, yeah, you know, like, they always say they're, you know, gonna pay me back, but they never do they, they say they're gonna, you know, be Meet me at 5pm. And then like, two hours later, or sometimes never leave me baby. We're friends. You know? Good. We're good friends. And I've been been together forever. You know? Or maybe it's the job where, you know, it's like, well, they know Yeah, I didn't get a raise this year, or the last year year before that, but they swear next year. I'm do and yeah, they don't they don't really appreciate what I do. Like Yeah, but um, you know, everybody, everybody's busy. I'm busy. They're busy, right? Like it's gonna get it's gonna get better. So these these relationships because I really do I find personal and business relationships, they really are under the category of relationships. So if you improve your relationships gonna improve your business life is going to improve. And so sometimes we get get into these little little traps of like, Well, you know, this isn't quite working, you know, these these effective, you know, human relational squirrels got into our life, they seem really attractive, seemed promising, but it's, it's not the right environment anymore, right. You know, these people are these these jobs like they're, they're just, they're in your life. And they're, they're slowly eating away at you like your self esteem, your self worth and your time and your energy. And you're not, you don't know how they got into your life. And since you didn't recognize it, because if you had recognized It wouldn't have allowed me like, there's a lot of stuff that you just don't put up with, it doesn't even interact, right? Like, you know, for example, if, if like, toilet breaks, and sewage starts coming up from that, like, you're gonna put up with that, no, you're gonna like, go turn off the water, whatever, call a plumber, get them there, and whatever it takes, you are going to get that shit figured out, right? So there's, there's some things that just you won't tolerate. So, when you have these mental squirrels, or these relational squirrels, the first thing is becoming aware that, that you've, you've got a squirrel problem, right. And sometimes it's not easy, because I know, it might seem like it's something else, it's like, well, you know, maybe, you know, it's maybe maybe it's maybe it's just a rat, and it'll just go away, or, you know, maybe it's, you know, just the house settling, you know, we rationalize these things, and, but at some point, you're gonna have to realize, like, You got it, you got a squirrel problem, and you got to do something about it. And the sooner you, the sooner you're figured out, the sooner you get to the next step, which is, you know, getting the squirrels out of your life, and chances are, you're gonna, you're gonna need at minimum some support. Because, again, squirrels don't want to leave easily, they got in there, because there's something something in it for them. So they're not going to leave super kindly, it's, it could could be a little rough. So working with somebody, you know, could be a coach could be a therapist, just could be like a really good friend, you know, that that's been there done that had that type of squirrel in their life, you know, they can give you their perspective, right. So, you know, I, I've had these in my, you know, my life where friendships where they were challenged, you know, or, or jobs where it just, I didn't feel appreciated. And, you know, go and talk to other friends, talk to some of my, my mentors. And, you know, get the perspective on how do I how do I get this squirrel out of my life? Because, again, all these things are great, you know, like, I still love I still love a squirrel in my backyard. Well, adorable, but I don't want them in my house. I don't want them in my attic. And these thoughts, they you know, they're in these in these jobs and really like, that can be fantastic for other people, but I don't I don't want them in my life. You know, nothing wrong with them just doesn't work here. So my question to you, what is the squirrel in your life that you are aware of? What's the thought? Or what's the relationship that you just like us shit, now that you mentioned it, this it's it's squirreled its way into my life and I can't I don't know how to get it out. But it didn't. It's not working. So you can find me on social media. You know, Facebook, the old Instagram Facebook, Justin Wenck w e and ck. Murray. Go to Justin Wenck comm slash podcast, sign up to subscribe, subscribe, rate me, that'd be great. Or you can email me podcast at Justin Wenck calm to let me know. What is the squirrel in your life that you're like, Man, these these ways of thinking these stories or these people or this career job has got to go and maybe I can help you out with it man make a topic for the next show or you know, I just straight up answer it. So, you know, send me a note. Let's uh, let's interact have a little fun. And that's it for today's show. Thanks, everybody, and good day.