Bonus Episode: Doing the Thing...Even When Life Is Life-ing

How many times have you said "I'll do it later / when the kids are older / when I have more time..." Or just given up completely because something got in the way?

Same, girl. Same.

AND I 100% could have used that excuse with this podcast when life threw me a curveball mid launch prep but I took a page out of my own book (aka, what I teach my clients) - find out what I mean on this impromptu episode!

PS - I recorded this on 7/15 and it's being released on 7/30 as a bonus so...1) my mom is ok, 2) I made it back home in time to do mom things, pack the fam and head back to Florida for family vacation! 

Transcript

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Welcome back to Open Book with Ash. I am your host, Ashley Molliter, and today's episode is something we're gonna call a little bit of a bonus episode. And we're gonna call it when life is lifing, because honestly, when the fuck is it not, right? So um you may or may not know that I am currently in Florida. I had to fly out here last minute on Sunday. It is currently Wednesday uh on Saturday. My mom had a medical emergency, and so I flew out Sunday, booked a one-way flight, no idea when I was getting home. And um I kind of have a plan with this podcast because it's so new. It's my new baby, my new passion project. Nobody knows about this plan except for me and my coach and a couple of my friends, but there's something about keeping a promise to yourself and building that relationship with yourself that you do follow through. And that matters, but that's a whole different podcast for another time. But I had to come down here and I only had two episodes. When I should say, if you don't know, I live in Missouri. My parents live in Florida. I only had two episodes recorded and I wanted to have four out there and I didn't know when I was getting home, right? And we leave for family vacation in about a week from Missouri back to Florida, actually. So I decided to bring my mics with me because I'm like, you never know, like maybe I can take some time and get in these last two episodes that I wanted to get out there and get them recorded so that I keep up with the timeline that I had set for myself. And it actually shocked me that I decided to do that, especially if you listen to my last podcast episode. It might not shock you. Like when I say that coming here to Florida last minute would have been the perfect excuse for me to be like, oh shit, I got to put the this whole podcast concept episode on hold. But I decided I'm gonna take a different route this time because recently I was talking through my coach or I was talking through this podcast with my coach, and uh I was talking about, oh, my son's going to college and I've got this going on. We've got family vacation and we've got dance and baseball. And I was, I was doing the thing, you guys. I was doing the thing that I work with my clients on, and I saw it as soon as she said my name. She's Ashley, she said, Ashley, there's something I want you to work on though. And I was like, it's planning, even if life is busy, isn't it? Like I just totally called myself out because I knew exactly where she was going with it. Because I see it in my clients. It's like I have kids' practices and they've got an after-school thing, or I've got to drive them here or drive them there, right? Like we do the same thing, just different varieties. So her calling me out on it and me like really seeing it made me think of it in a different way when I started packing to come down here. Like I was like, okay, I'm taking my mics with me. Like I'm going to follow through. I'm going to find a way to squeeze in these podcast episodes and spend some time recording them. I can edit them on the plane, you know, when I'm on my way home or whatever, right? I didn't really know exactly how it was going to look. I just knew that I was going to do it. So that's one thing, right? We don't always know how something is going to look, but we just have to know that we're going to take action. We're going to take one step towards whatever it is we need to do, whether it's waking up earlier to take care of ourselves and do a workout, um, scheduling the workout class and asking for help during that time, um, just finding those pockets of time, right? Because there's always gonna be more. And you can stay stuck. I could have stayed stuck. I could have said, well, now's just not the right time. And I get that. That story feels so true because I've lived in that story for so long. It's been such a great, like, it's like your little loveby when you're a baby. You're like, oh, it's just, I can't do that right now. Things are so busy. But once you see that life is always going to have something, there's always going to be a reason. Then you can stop waiting for like the clear path that you're looking for. Because seriously, think about it. When was the last time you had all of your fucking ducks in a row? When was the last time that life didn't throw you a curveball or that you didn't feel like you weren't in a busy season, right? Because you have to stop waiting for the clear path and you have to show up anyways. You're not stuck right now because life is too busy. You're stuck because you keep making decisions from who you are right now. Who the, you know, the tired version of you, the overwhelmed version of you, the I'll get to eventually, I'll get to it eventually version of you, who genuinely cannot see another way, right? Like when you're in that, you can't even imagine that there is some other possibility out there. That version of you is really good at just waiting, at putting life on hold, at putting herself last and saying, Well, I'll just get to it when, right? But there's a future version of you who isn't waiting. She's just figured out that there's no easier season coming. Okay. Like, yes, sure. I may have talked about in previous podcast episode how I have extra time on my hands, but then life threw me a curveball, right? I didn't talk about that. Like, oh, here, Ashley, that's that's literally, that's so funny now that I say that out loud. That's literally a test from life. It's like, oh, you have free time. Hold on, let me, let me give you something and see how you handle it. And I am handling it so much different than a past version of me would. I am here with my, I've said it like 12 times now, with my mics, doing these podcasts, recording them, taking time for myself in the morning and going to Pilates. As long as I've got like my dad taken care of and I know that he's got what he needs. I'm scheduling a class, I'm going, I'm taking care of myself. I'm getting him to appointments, but I'm still making sure that I'm taking care of me. We're visiting my mom, but I'm making sure that I'm still taking care of me. Like there are things happening every day, but I'm still showing up. And that's what the future version of yourself does, right? Like she's like, okay, life is gonna be lifing. Like that shit is just going to happen. How am I going to figure out ways to still do the things that I want to do even when? Because waiting doesn't make shit easier, you guys. It just means that you're literally missing out on the things you want to be doing right now. And there's not there's no pause button. There is no pause button. The work is in, I feel like a broken record right now, but this is like so unplanned, and this is just my brain being my brain. So welcome for those of you who don't know me. The work is in figuring out how you can make it happen, even if those small decisions, asking yourself these questions, like, what do I think will be different in three months or three years? Will I still be saying the same thing? Will I still be using the same excuses? Call yourself out on your own bullshit, right? Like, what am I skipping out on right now because life feels too busy? How would a future version of me who knows that there's always going to be shit going on? There's always going to be curveballs, what would she do? How would she solve this? Because those small decisions that you make by asking yourself those questions and getting really clear on am I making excuses? Can I figure this out right now? Getting clear on that is going to be the difference between who you are now and who you're becoming. And that's all I have for you guys today. Like this is just your little extra nugget of wisdom I'm leaving you with. If you are one of the people that has found me, thank you. I appreciate you. And as always, take what fits and leave the rest. And I'll talk to you guys next time.