Romanticizing Your Life

Automatically transcribed, so the wording is close but not exact.

Macie: Hey friends, welcome back to another episode of This Is Not Your Practice Life podcast. My name is Macie and I am so excited to have you joining the podcast today. So today we're going to kind of lighten the mood a little bit. A lot of my podcast topics are deep and they make you think of all of your emotions and sometimes They are episodes that bring about hard realizations and epiphanies and work that you can be doing in your life. And while this is also work that you can be doing in your life, this is geared to be some of the fun, lighter, more gratitude-filled work that you have the potential to practice in your life. And it's all around romanticizing your life. So if you don't know what romanticizing your life is, it's really a mindset shift.

It's slowing down to appreciate all of the things that are around you. I want to focus on joy because our world is filled with so much negativity. I mean, we are living in a time where we get immediate access to news, to events, to tragedies, to the hardships that are happening all around the world. 24-7, it's at the tips of our fingers. If we have a digital device, a smartphone, a computer, anything that you know is technology based is geared to fill us with so much information. And it's a catch 22. While there are wonderful resources out there in the world, things like podcasts and audiobooks and YouTube clips and TED Talks and all of the things that We can really get a lot from. There's even more things in the world that really have the capacity to drain our energy and to pull us out of loving all areas of our life or feeling joyful more than we feel bogged down by all of the information we're consuming.

The human brain was never meant to be consuming so much negativity all the time. I think of simply like the millennials. I am a millennial myself. And I just think about the time where we grew up. You know, we had I think they call us like the last generation that got the best of both worlds, where we grew up in the 90s, maybe the late 80s, and we didn't have all the technology. So we really got to see the world as what it was before technology infiltrated our Entire lives and before we had a device 24-7. I still remember my grandma who raised me getting her very first phone, and it was one of those simple, like Nokia phones that were the only game on it that I could play was Snake. And you did prepaid minutes.

And I remember when she got her first plan where you could do free calls after 9 p. m. So You know, I grew up when there were still CDs and dish changers and where I had VHS tapes and you had to use a rewinder in order to rewind VHS movies. And if you're younger than that, you may not know anything that I'm talking about. I remember the phones that I don't know if they're called rotary like rotary phones or whatever, where you had to, you know, just a different time. And then here we go in, you know, the early 2000s and I think it was maybe 2005, 2006, where I got my first official cell phone. And, you know, and ever since then, everything's just been fast. And then we have all the world events, you know, 9-11 and school shootings and just constant, constant, constant, just c not only consuming, but bad news, bogged down news, you know, COVID, like all of these.

Things that one's brain is just not meant to know everything about everybody all around the world all the time. There are certain aspects where it can be great to stay informed. And then there's other times where it just becomes too much for one person's capacity and it becomes very heavy. And so I wanted to do an episode to help you reconnect. to gratitude and to joy and to slow you down. And that really is romanticizing your life and knowing how to do that. Because even if you're in a hard season right now, learning how to slow down and romanticize your life is finding the good in the now because one day this may be a season you want to reflect on and you don't want to have the memory of all of it.

you know, going to hell in a handbasket or all of it being terrible because there really is good if you're looking for it. If you're not looking for it, you'll miss it. And it's really easy for our brain to focus on what it doesn't like and the negatives. That's how our brain was designed. So I want you to really learn how to romanticize your life so that you can enjoy it. You can bring back joy. So no matter what this season looks like, whether it's already joyful or whether you're really struggling, romanticizing your life can help a lot. And here are just some of the ways you can do it. Now, first and foremost, obviously there are a plethora of resources online to look at different ways to romanticize your life, but I'll share some of mine that I really love and that I like to slow down and pay attention to.

And I'll especially tell you how I do this in times and seasons where, you know, maybe I'm feeling a little meh or blah or bogged down. So one of the things I love to do to romanticize my life is I, and maybe it's the Libra in me, I don't know, but I really like to make things pretty. So when I am looking around in my home, making things pretty can be something like how I set something up on one of our inn tables or lighting a candle, getting a beautiful bouquet of flowers, nurturing those flowers, actually trying to keep them alive in a in a vase or vase, you know, just making my environment feel really good. It could be a throw blanket. It could be just artwork. That makes me excited to walk into the room or that means something to me.

It could be pictures of my family and little picture frames. And none of it has to be expensive. Romanticizing your life isn't always a monetary thing. There can be things you've spent money on that really bring joy and help you slow down and ground and feel really good, but it doesn't always have to be that way. So I get my environment pretty and I get it set up the way that I want. And then another way that I love to romanticize my life is I make cleaning almost like this fun ritual. So when I'm cleaning, I like to take it really slow and do a full reset of my space. Now, if you're in the busyness of life, you have kids, you're trying to do this, your kids are behind you, trust me. I was a pediatric OT for almost seven years, working with birth to age three.

So I would see moms trying to reset their space and then little ones going right behind and dumping out all of the toys. Okay. So you might be in a little bit of an impossible situation. But even if it's right before bedtime or something to reset your space and ground your energy and light a candle and make some hot tea or a matcha or sit down with you know a glass of wine or something that just helps you really appreciate slowing down in the moment and getting really, really present, you can have those little rituals. It can be bubble baths, it can be bath soaks, it can be, you know, having fresh eucalyptus in the shower. It can be taking a walk and just really taking in the walk with all of your senses.

So think about what do I see? What do I hear? What do I smell? Like just incorporating all of your senses. Sometimes when I'm on a walk, I will tell you I thrive in sunshine. I am a sunshine girl. Do not be surprised if one day my husband and I are off living in Florida. And we're snowbirds before we hit 40. Okay. I thrive in sunshine. That was one of my favorite things about living in Las Vegas, is every day I would wake up to full blown sun and I thrived. I loved it. And then we moved back into Kentucky, and Kentucky just has a lot of gray and a lot of rain and a lot of not solid, consistent sunshine, especially not like it was in Vegas. And I will tell you that it really does affect my mood.

You combine that with getting into the fall season. And although I love fall, we start to lose our sunlight. And eventually in a couple months, it will start getting dark at 5 p. m. So I tell you, like mentally, I start going to a place that isn't always the most positive, happy place. So I need ways to romanticize my life. And There are a few things that I do. When I go on a walk, I really pay attention to the season changes. I pay attention to how my neighbors have decorated for the season. So I've been really intentional this past year, if you call it the last 365 days. I've paid attention to like all the little decor that they put out. I try my best not to be looking at my phone when I'm out with my dog.

If it's rainy, which is a day that I don't really love, I pay attention to the little water droplets on leaves and on flowers. And sometimes I'll even stop and take a photo because I think it's just so pretty and something that, you know, you can really appreciate. Like, thank you for the rain. Because with rain, things grow and next season will be so, you know, lovely because we're getting what we're needing. You know, I have to change my mindset around it because I could really easily go doom and gloom. It's raining again. It's raining again. It's raining again. It's dark. That's really easy for me to do. So I have to find ways to romanticize my life. Same thing if it is a rainy day and I'm gonna be stuck inside.

If the temperature is nice, I like to open up my balcony doors, my windows, let in the fresh air on YouTube. And if you've ever been over at my house, you know this to be true. On YouTube, I will put up AI. jazz music with these beautiful backgrounds. Sometimes it's the beach. Sometimes it's a cozy cafe in Paris or Italy. sometimes it's rainy. Sometimes it's fall theme. Sometimes it's Christmas theme with like Christmas jazz and a beautiful AI picture of something really cozy, a fireplace. And that is one way that I romanticize my life. If I can't be outside the way that I want to be outside, I find ways to really bring joy about my environment on the inside and to appreciate the breeze and to pay attention to the curtain that's blowing in the wind and the temperature that feels very, very comfortable.

And I'll make myself a hot cup of coffee or a a hot matcha or a hot cup of tea. And you know, I'll sit there and I'll grab my computer and I'll really like Taken how grateful I am to be a coach and to be producing, you know, content and programs for my clients or emails that I'm gonna send out or upcoming launches. So you find the gratitude and the beauty in the little tiny things. It could be like you, your kids could be driving you crazy, but you can have a moment of romanticizing your life, of really thinking like, how do I want to love on them today? Or what do I want to remember about this day? Maybe you see a sticky little handprint on the window or a little catch up handprint on the fridge.

And and most times in you know, a time where maybe life feels chaotic and you want a clean environment, that might drive you crazy. But you can choose to romanticize the fact that right now, on this very day, they're only gonna be little for this short amount of time. They're never gonna be as little as they are right now, because tomorrow they will grow and the next day they'll grow and the next day that they'll grow. And one day you are gonna look back and you're going to remember the little tiny version that only exists in pictures and videos of a time period you can never get back. And you can choose to romanticize just the little things in your environment. You can choose to look around and see the mess.

and have a mindset shift and go, even though this drives me crazy, there will be one day where it isn't this anymore. And where they're they're teenagers and they're going in their room and they're shutting the door. It's the natural phase of life, or where they they don't feel like they need me as often or as much anymore. And you can really choose to have a mindset shift in any moment you want to romanticize your life, whether this season is one you're already really happy and satisfied in, or it's a season that feels really, really difficult. You know, what kinds of things make you just grateful to slow down in the moment? I'm trying to think of anything else that I love to do to romanticize my life.

I love bubble baths and I know my sisters, they love like bath bombs. I've, you know, I've watched people have all different types of things. It could be maybe a hobby, you know, romanticizing being able to crochet or knit. or do pottery or paint or anything like that, that you just you create this beautiful slowing down and you really use all of your senses to be present in the moment and make your life this this beautiful masterpiece because you're the one, you're the artist. You're the person curating and crafting your life. And we can't control all the other people in our life. You know this from listening to my podcast, but you can control you and you get to control how your life feels.

And a lot of that is based on your mindset around it and how you're looking at it and also your ability to emotionally regulate and the actions that you choose to partake in or not partake in. That all creates the result that you're living in your life. Okay. So no matter what your circumstances are, you can really slow down, look around and be like, wow, this is really truly amazing. Like I can tell you right now, I'm I'm doing this podcast But outside I just vacuumed and in my vacuum I also put like a special scented oil so it like it smells up the house and I've got a few candles burning and I've got my little YouTube background music on out in the living room. And if it were a little cooler, I would open up the windows.

And you know, you can journal, you can just close your eyes and just go through a mental list of everything you're grateful for. You can really scan your body and be so grateful. You feel good today, you're healthy today, you can walk today. you know, you were able to get up and get ready, you can go run errands. I love romanticizing even my trips to the grocery store. Some for some people, going to the grocery store is real torture. You can romanticize ordering Instacart and be so grateful someone else is willing to go out and do that for you. And when the groceries get delivered, you stop and take it all in of how grateful that you got to stay at your house and do what you wanted to do or what you needed to do or or take care of your responsibilities.

And it wasn't an extra task other than putting each thing in the cart online for someone to go get. You can romanticize that. When I actually go to the grocery store. I was telling a friend this. I have a grocery store that I absolutely love here in Kentucky. In Las Vegas, it was sprouts. Many of you all will probably be familiar with sprouts, but in Kentucky, it's the fresh market. And there's a smell to it. It smells like holistic and and like a health food store. And I just I love going in with my basket. I take a deep breath. I notice like how everything looks beautifully arranged. I love a lot of the branding that's carried in almost like a specialty kind of store like that that you don't always see in the larger chain grocery stores.

I do my best to romanticize all parts of my life as much as I can. When I'm on a dinner date with a friend or my husband, like I'm trying to capture those moments and those memories and how special they are because time is fleeting and because this is not our practice life. So you really do get to choose how you bring this level of joy into the mundane, the fast-paced, the sometimes surrounded by negativity world that we're living in. You get to choose to romanticize the life that you're living right now. And actually when you start doing that and you have gratitude for now, you open up your availability to receive more. And maybe I'll do an episode on that. Like a lot of times we ask for more, we ask for different, but we're not appreciating the now.

And we are energetic human beings. those like when we are ungrateful even for where we're at, we don't tell. the universe energetically that we are actually available for more if we're complaining about where we are. That goes with money, that goes with things, that goes with the life that you want to be more expansive. If you can't have gratitude for where you are and find ways to romanticize where you are currently, you're probably never going to teach energetically that you are a recipient for more, because you have to be able to really work with what you've got. And so maybe that will be another episode because that's a whole different can of worms I can open. But I hope that this episode really helps you romanticize more of your life.

You deserve it. Life is too short. This is not your practice life. The world is surrounded by so much all the time. So find the joy. Notice the little things. Like, do you remember when we were little and it would rain and you'd be in the backseat of the car with your parents and some of the games you might play? watching the the raindrops go down the windows and collect to see like which raindrop was gonna win. I know there's gonna be some people. And like even moments like that, just taking a mental snapshot of memories, of the smells, of this the music playing on the radio, that you know, dance in the kitchen with your loved one, like go dance with your kids, go run in the rain, go play, go karaoke, go have fun, romanticize the hell out of your life because you only get one.

So go do that. Okay. I'm not going to beat it like a dead horse, but do try to incorporate more joy in your life, especially because you're if you're here for the long haul on this podcast, you're doing a lot of freaking work and a lot of it can feel really hard. So also remember to do the good, fulfilling, wholesome, fun, joyful work. Okay. All right. Bye, friends. I'll see you next time.