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Against All Odds Podcast, The Less than 1% Chance with Maria Aponte
Maria highlights stories of people that have been the "less than 1% chance" and have come out of their situations thriving and seeing life as happening FOR them and not TO them! Inspiring and empowering stories that will show you that against all odds you can make it through anything!
Against All Odds Podcast, The Less than 1% Chance with Maria Aponte
Rediscovering Identity: Shelley Meche'tte on Motherhood, Personal Crisis, and Triumph
What happens when a successful career in entertainment is put on hold for motherhood, leading to a profound personal crisis? Join us on Against All Odds as we sit down with Shelley Meche'tte, an inspiring author, certified life purpose coach, and mom life strategist, who shares her raw and emotional journey of rediscovering her identity. Shelley opens up about leaving her career to become a stay-at-home mom, battling deep depression, and ultimately reclaiming her voice and self-worth. Her story is a powerful testament to the importance of self-love and the relentless pursuit of personal dreams, even when life takes unexpected turns.
Imagine facing life-threatening experiences that force you to re-evaluate everything. In this episode, we also survive near-death encounters with 18-wheelers, sharing how these moments have profoundly impacted our lives. These harrowing stories remind us of the fragility of life and the importance of cherishing every single day, especially with those we love. We also discuss overcoming limiting beliefs about age and motherhood, finding new opportunities, and achieving continued success, even when societal expectations say otherwise.
Finally, we uncover practical time management strategies to transform chaotic routines into serene schedules. Learn how techniques like time blocking and task batching can help balance personal and professional responsibilities, allowing you to prioritize what truly matters. This episode is packed with actionable tips and inspiring stories to help you appreciate life deeply and pursue your dreams with determination and flexibility. Join us for a journey of resilience, transformation, and endless possibilities, all through the lens of Shelley Meche'tte's incredible story.
Connect with Shelley:
Website: www.ShelleyMechette.com
Instagram: @ShelleyMechette
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Welcome back to the Against All Odds the Less Than 1% Chance podcast with your host, Maria Aponte, where we will hear stories of incredible people thriving against all odds, and my hope is that we can all see how life is always happening for us, even when we are the Less Than 1% Chance.
Speaker 2:Hey, welcome back to Against All Odds, the Less Than 1% Chance podcast with your host, maria Aponte. I hope you are doing fantastic today. Thank you so much for joining in. I have such an amazing treat for you. So Ms Shelly Maché is an author and a certified life purpose and confidence coach, and a mom life strategist. Don't we all need that? So welcome. I'm so, so grateful that you're here with us, shelly. Tell us a little bit about you and what your against all odds story is.
Speaker 3:Oh, my goodness, maria, thank you so much. I tell you, yes, I do have a have an against all odds story when my girls were about maybe five and 12,. First of all, I come from an upbringing of being very independent, and so my mom was a very independent woman. She raised me that way you go after the things that you want. She raised me with lots of strength, and so that was my mentality you go after the things you want. I had me with lots of strength, and so that was my mentality you go after the things you want. I had pretty decent grades growing up. I put my head to something and it's going to happen. At 18, I purchased my first car. At 16, I started working. At 20, I think 23 or 24, I moved out of the house, and so all of these things, when I put my mind to something, I do it. All of these things when I put my mind to something, I do it.
Speaker 3:When I became a mom, I was a single mom, and so I had my daughter. She was on my hip, we was just going, and that's just what you do you pick up and you go, and unfortunately, there were some things that happened in daycare and I decided, man, when I became pregnant with my second child, that I just didn't want that experience again. And so at that time, I had ended up getting married and my husband and I decided, hey, well, why don't I just stay at home? I just didn't want that experience again. I wanted to be there, I wanted to be close to the children, and I didn't want that same routine that I had. I was gone from. I dropped my daughter off at six something in the morning at daycare, and I didn't see her again until about 630 in the evening, and so I wanted something different from my daughter. So I ended up leaving.
Speaker 3:I left my career, which was in entertainment, which I've always loved. I tell people all the time, honey, I was acting in the womb OK. I was in the womb doing monologues, ok. So when I ended up leaving my job in entertainment, I left it of my own free will, and after me and my husband talked about this. But what I didn't know is that I was leaving pieces of me behind too.
Speaker 3:And when I ended up becoming that stay at home mom, maria, something changed. I had no value, I had no confidence, I didn't know who I was. I had these titles, but I didn't know the woman. I became someone's caretaker, my day became babbling with an 18 month old. I was running errands, I was cooking dinner, cleaning the house, cleaning spit up. I had no one to talk to and I fell into this depression. And I knew what the depression looked like because I had fallen into a depression years before and it had gotten so bad that I was considering taking my life. And so I knew where I was and I knew that if I didn't get some type of assistance that I was going to fall into this dark hole. But I still felt too embarrassed because I had this life where people were like, oh, couples goals, marriage goals, and so I felt too embarrassed again to ask for anything.
Speaker 3:It wasn't until I was standing in my bathroom mirror one day and I was literally screaming because I just felt so isolated, I felt so closed off. I felt like there was nothing of me to give except someone's mother and I went into a full emotional breakdown. It almost felt like a nervous breakdown and I fell to the floor. It was that scream where your head is in your hands and you're in that fetal position. And someone was screaming and it was me and I'm like who is that?
Speaker 3:But it was in that moment that I realized something has to change, something in me has to change. I can't make anybody else responsible for my happiness, my joy, my peace. And at that time I did a complete self-discovery, rediscovering who I was, who the woman was. I stripped myself of every single title. I began a journey of who is this woman, who is Shelly? And as I began to love the woman not the mom, not the wife, nobody as I began to get to know the woman all over again, I began developing a voice again. I began developing my confidence again. I began asking for what I needed and what I wanted, and I was even able to take some dreams off of the back burner because I felt worthy of them now, including being booked to do a Disney project a couple of years ago. I never would have had the confidence to even audition for that had it not been for me going back to find out who I was, what did I love, and putting myself first.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. I had one of those. I've had multiple experiences of self-identity, but I clearly remember after I separated from my ex-husband, it was like, oh, I've been with this person for 11 years and I went from being a daughter that was very, very protected to being a wife and trying to have a child.
Speaker 2:and then this yes and I started doing just these random things and I realized give me a glass of wine and some cheese and let and put me in front of a basketball game and I will thoroughly enjoy that. Yes, the thing that I didn't do. I had not watched basketball since probably middle school, Wow. And all of a sudden I'm like, oh, I remember I enjoyed this Exactly. I don't do it now, but it's not. But it was me rediscovering who me was.
Speaker 3:Exactly, I remember asking myself do you even like Cheerios or do you eat the Cheerios because the kids leave them? And so, just going back, one of the exercises that I did was going back to childhood and saying what was your most, what was your most serene moment, what is it that you really enjoyed, and is there an opportunity to get pieces of that? We all know that as we grow, life changes, things change. We can't do every single thing that we used to do, but I can bring pieces of it with me. Maybe I can't go out with the girls every weekend, but I can say, hey, I need to schedule something once a month with you guys. I need my girls, I need some time. I love to watch sitcoms and so now part of me rejuvenating me is every single night. Honey, you will find me with some good times with some golden girls.
Speaker 3:You're going to find something because I need to laugh before I go to sleep. But that's something that rejuvenates me. Something so simple that I never thought would be important started to be important when I began to go. What is it that you love? It doesn't have to be grand, what are the simplistic things that you love? And I'm like I really like to watch me a comedy, yeah, yeah, and then being able to put that into my life was.
Speaker 2:You just wouldn't believe what a game changer that was yeah, and it's so funny because, again, these are circumstances that we can do and try to look for that identity constantly. I because, guess, now, the Maria that I am right now doesn't watch basketball, doesn't drink wine because I feel awful afterwards and doesn't eat cheese because I feel awful afterwards, so this new Maria loves other things. Yes, and it's just we are ever evolving. Yes, things, and it's just we are ever evolving and it's so beautiful that, like, we can learn who we are in the moment right now and that should be like, that should be a sacred space for us. Exactly, exactly.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and that's one of the things that I actually love too, maria is that I didn't have to remain that person. There's so much pressure on us as people to remain the same purpose. We're getting all of these mixed messages all the time. Still, be that person that you were. Don't change. Make sure that you're evolving and you're being the best person that you absolutely can. Well, don't you change, because when you change, then you're fake. Well, make sure that you grow. Make sure that you do and you be happy for you.
Speaker 3:So we're constantly getting mixed messages, and so that was the other thing about growing into my identity and understanding that I didn't have to be the same Shelly, even if I did like Cheerios, it's okay for three years later for me not to like it anymore. I don't have to remain that same person. But if there are pieces of me that I enjoyed before, I can definitely be sure to incorporate those things into my life season. Because that was the other thing that I learned. We all have life seasons, and when we try to remain the exact same person in a new life season, all it breathes is frustration, bitterness, anxiety, overwhelm. But when we allow ourselves to say this is my season, now I'm in a season I'm a caretaker right now, or I'm working nine to five and building a business right now. My needs, my priorities, the way I'm looking at things is different today than it was three months ago.
Speaker 2:Yes, absolutely, and it's okay. Yes, I love that so much. I feel like we so often just conform to what society Mm-hmm thinks that we should be, what our family thinks that we should be, and especially as women. I feel like we go through these phases of our lives and we were talking about it prior to starting to record this, but this post-menopause phase of my life has been so different, so different, so different.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I need to learn what now I enjoy, and it's. I really have learned that going out for a walk in the morning is a happy place of mine. I hear the birds, I feel like connected to the earth, I connect to God and just feel this immense gratitude. It's just the things that bring me peace. If you would have asked me a few years ago if I would have liked to go walking, I would have been like no, I don't have time for that.
Speaker 1:Right right.
Speaker 2:And now I'm like, oh my God, I can't. I love this walk. This walk is amazing. I hear the birds chirping. But just, it's just a different phase and I just I've always been such a like go-getter, Like give me something that I have like a goal for and if I believe in it. Oh, you better believe that I'm there exactly and not that I don't have that. However, I really have to feel very passionate about something in order for me to put that much energy into anything because I'm in a different phase of my life.
Speaker 3:Exactly, exactly.
Speaker 2:And yes, but that's what's so awesome.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's what's so awesome. Not just being in a different phase, but really receiving that phase, really looking around and going wow, this is a beautiful time in my life, even when life is chaotic, where can you look and go? Yeah, things may be up and down, yes things. Some things may be out of my control, but when I can turn that inward and when I can say but what is the beauty of right now? It doesn't mean that I'm not going through. It doesn't mean that life isn't frustrating right now. It doesn't mean that I'm not going through. It doesn't mean that life isn't frustrating right now. It doesn't mean that everything is glamorous. What it means is, in the midst of everything, I can still turn things inward and find the beauty, understanding who my identity is.
Speaker 3:I think one of the things that I loved so much when rediscovering myself and who I was is that my value didn't depend on circumstance. My value didn't depend on looks. My value didn't depend on the size of the dress. My value didn't depend on if I got the kids to bed at nine. My value didn't even depend on if I lost my temper. It didn't make me this bad person, this bad woman, this bad wife, this bad mom. When I learned to understand that there are human experiences that do not affect the worth of who I am as a person, as a woman, that's when I began to become more free, more open and even more accepting of my own errors and mistakes.
Speaker 2:Yes, I feel, oh my God, yes, yes, yes, yes, just. If you didn't hear that, just rewind and listen to that again. And I feel like you you become more empathetic for the people around you.
Speaker 3:Oh, absolutely Absolutely. I don't know how you can't be.
Speaker 2:I feel like this empathy now for, or just a different perspective in looking at people's situations, rather than and my kids get irritated with me about this, but like when, even when they're having issues with friends or whatever, and I'm like, well, have you thought of maybe they're on their monthly cycle right now and they're just tolerance level is not as much and maybe that's why they they snipped at you because I feel like last week you at me too. So I and I understood that you were just not in a good state of mind, but they hate that. They're like, oh, mom, here you go again, but it just it makes you understand that there's so many different perspectives. You don't know what someone is going through, you don't know what kind of?
Speaker 2:family life they are having and it makes you such a more empathetic person when you realize you have your own eras that you go through.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:And yeah maybe my patience isn't as much right now because my estrogen levels are really low, and all the things, all of the things it's always something.
Speaker 3:Life is so awesome, right, that there's always something that's going on. And so if we have an opportunity to look at people and look at situations through their eyes sometimes some people, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter, you're just a mean person. But at the end of the day, if we take time to not just categorize you first, but to see the human nature in you, then I really think that there would be more of a gentleness one to the other, that there would be so much more kindness, so much more understanding. If we don't jump to the conclusion first, absolutely, I feel like that.
Speaker 2:that very much sums it up. I feel like this world I feel like needs more compassion or empathy and kindness, and it's okay that you don't have the same beliefs that I do, just like it's okay that I don't have the same beliefs that you do and if we can still have a conversation about these things, gosh, we've evolved a lot, yes, but it all starts with us and learning who we are and our identity and what helps us drive for more and what. Some when we need to retreat a little bit and have our 30 45 minute sitcom. That just makes us laugh like those are the things when we learn who we are and what makes us tick in whichever way, we just become much more accepting people.
Speaker 3:I think, yes, we're much better for ourselves and be much better for me than I. I'm so much better for you. When I went through that metamorphosis, when I began to look at who are you, what do you enjoy, when I began to take my dreams off of the back burner because that was one of the things I felt that I had missed out. I felt that I missed my chance. I missed my opportunity. That saddened me that I would never have an opportunity to do the things that I wanted to do in life. But when I understood that dreams don't die because life changes. Dreams don't have to die because you become a parent. Dreams don't have to die because you lost a loved one. Dreams don't have to die. Do we have to sometimes be flexible? Absolutely. Do some things have to be done in a different way? Yes, they do. So I couldn't follow the dream the way that I thought I was going to, but other avenues opened up because my priority was really to know me and to bring my children and my family into that side of me. And one of the most wonderful things was I was able to connect with people who did stage opportunities where I could bring my children along with me to connect with people who did stage opportunities where I can bring my children along with me.
Speaker 3:So things sometimes what we have to understand is when we change in life, when we're looking at who we are, when we're looking at loving ourselves unconditionally, we also want to look at the fact that sometimes it, whatever your it is, may look different, and that's okay.
Speaker 3:What is still feeding you, what is still pouring into you, and remembering that those things do not determine your worth. I had it backwards. If I go out here and if I become this actress or if I fulfill this goal, then I'm important. I had it backwards. I was important the day I was conceived. I was important and so understanding that importance, understanding that worth, understanding that identity is through that confidence that I'm able to do and follow any and what determines who I am, and that was a huge lesson for me to learn. Whether you get the part, whether you don't, this happens, whether it doesn't, whether you get the promotion, whether you don't get the promotion, whether you get the job, whether you don't get the job none of these things determine who you are and your purpose, your identity, your confidence, your value, your worth those things were determined before any title was ever given.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, oh, it's so funny. I've had an incredible amount of amazing people in the season two of my podcast, against All Odds, and I want to work with every one of them. I want to work with every one of them. I want to work with all of my guests. This is so good. I'm over here like, yeah, give it to me all. I love it. I it just. It's so amazing to just remember that.
Speaker 2:And there's so many things that that try to deter us from remembering that true self that we were perfectly made when we were made.
Speaker 3:Yes, when we were made.
Speaker 2:And it was just goodness, the things that we have all gone through, that has tried to hold us back, and it's a shift. It's that identity shift that we need to go back to remembering the amazing human that we are yes, absolutely Amazing soul, because I feel like this is just a vessel. This is just a vessel, but we, who we are deep in our soul is incredible just how they are. Which means that it doesn't matter the size you are, the color hair you have, if a gray comes out or not, if like girl.
Speaker 3:I can show you a couple of.
Speaker 2:I know me too If there's wrinkles like.
Speaker 3:I.
Speaker 2:I have a different appreciation, I think, for aging, because I didn't know if I was going to be here past 32 years old and so having that reality, I think, shifts a lot in your life in like. I woke up this morning, God, I'm so grateful.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's a different and I don't want anyone to have to go through any of the things that I've went through or deal with illnesses that I've gone through, but I think that it comes with a different appreciation for life.
Speaker 3:I agree. I agree with you. Early, I think my oldest I don't even know if she was two yet and I was in a terrible, terrible car accident. I was almost hit head on by an 18 wheeler. It just so happens that they were driving on the wrong side of the. It was only two lanes and they were driving on the wrong side and literally, I literally thought okay, this is the end of my life, this is the process that I was going through. And as the truck began to get closer and closer, the one thing I thought this is the process that I was going through. And as the truck began to get closer and closer, the one thing I thought which is really funny when I think about it now I was like wow, it's good that I have nice teeth, cause that's all they're going to be able to identify.
Speaker 3:And that was my thought. As I said, that was like it's really nice that you have nice teeth and someone behind me. I slammed on my brake, not knowing I don't know why I slammed on my brake, but I slammed on the brake and I blew the horn. I'm like maybe he's asleep, I don't know.
Speaker 3:But, when I slammed on the brake, the car behind me slammed into me, but it slammed into me just enough to shift my car over to where I had blacked out, and it shifted my car over just enough to, when I opened up my eyes, the truck had literally was next to me. I don't know if you could see, but he was next to me like, like this, and he had literally just missed me.
Speaker 3:My windows were up and I felt all the air from him, him missing me. And so when you say the appreciation for just getting up and, like I said, I don't even think my daughter was two at that time, and so the the fact that I left her that morning in daycare and may not have ever seen her again, waking up with her every day, being able to see her, even while I was going through that depression and those suicidal thoughts, it was still there, was still this little appreciation in there, like wow, I still get to see your face and it's really her little face that really helped to pull me through. So I totally understand when you say things are different. You appreciate things in a different way when you've gone through so so many things. And that was, that's another, against all odds.
Speaker 2:Yes, oh, my God, that's so scary we were it was very scary road on a road trip.
Speaker 2:I was 17. So I had just gotten my driver's license and we went on this road trip, and so it was me, my mom and my dad rotating, and my sister was in their car, but she's younger, we're rotating the driving. We live in the Orlando area and we drove up to Maine and when we were driving back down, we were on our way back and I had just given the car over to my mom and I remember we were going on this highway and next to us was this 18 wheeler and there was traffic. Right, it was still flowing, but there was traffic and this van comes like up in front of us and like minutes later, I guess the 18 wheeler that was to our right had fallen asleep and he was like slowly going into the other lane that the van that was in front of us was had to, like parallel with him going towards like the middle of the of between the two ways.
Speaker 2:It was just crazy and it could have been us and we were literally watching it as it unfolded, and I remember the 18 wheeler crossed over to the other side of the oncoming traffic and the van got stuck in the median, in the middle and at the end it hit the top of the van and you could see the van like moving side to side and I was like, oh my.
Speaker 3:God Wow.
Speaker 2:It's just so scary. I, to this day, I just I hate driving anywhere near any 18 wheeler. Me too.
Speaker 3:I can only imagine I try to get away from it really quickly yeah, like I will slow down.
Speaker 2:You know, if I'm like, if they're like behind me, I will speed, speed up a little bit and get away.
Speaker 3:All of these years later, 18 Wheeler, it still freaks me out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yep, yep, I mean it makes sense. So how did you go from like you went back to acting? I want to hear a little bit about Disney. What happened there? Where can we find?
Speaker 3:you. Oh, my goodness, it was so exciting. Yes, I had an opportunity, like I said, to do plays, and so that feeling of wanting to act and be in front of an audience, I had the chance to do that. I think there was a part of me that just was like this is good, I'm fine. I get to still act. The dream is different, I'm fine.
Speaker 3:But over the years I have met different people in the industry, different casting directors, different producers, and my daughter and I ended up meeting a producer wonderful producer, cashmere Jasmine ended up meeting her and she was working on a project. A few years later, she ended up working on a project with Disney called Launchpad. They have Launchpad season one and we did season two. But when she ended up getting on that project, the casting director, she and the casting director I don't know if they knew each other before or if they had just met at that time, but our producer friend said to the casting director hey, I know someone who I think should audition for this part, and I think they were still open auditions, I didn't even know about it. So I tell you, god, just put some things together.
Speaker 3:But ended up calling my daughter and said to her hey, do you think your mom will be interested in auditioning for this Disney part? And I was like, would I be interested? I literally used to work for Disney and so it was really a serene moment because I left Disney 20 years prior. I left to be at home to take care of my children, and so for it to come full circle and I ended up auditioning. But again, this is after doing the work and building the confidence, because at first, when she said it, I think I got overwhelmed and I was like, oh no, I can't audition for Disney. And I'm like, girl step out of it.
Speaker 2:Yes, you can. You self-coached? That is the best.
Speaker 3:Yes, you can Look at what you've done, look at what you've accomplished, look at and I'm always telling, you're always telling your clients, once you prepare for this to go, you better take that on yourself. Had an opportunity to audition, I think it may have been maybe, maybe close to a month later, when I got the, the email that I had gotten the part and.
Speaker 3:I was just like I couldn't believe it. I just couldn't believe it, and so something that was so dear to my heart, and now it's still streaming on Disney plus the launch pad series, and our particular project is called project CC.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I love that To see myself. Yes, that is so awesome. I love that. I love that. It's funny how your story wasn't over with that.
Speaker 3:It wasn't over. It wasn't over, and the thing that I love is because I know who I am now. Maria, I don't think my story ever has the end. I don't think there's an ending to it. I think there's something new. I'm open to new opportunities. I'm open to learning more about myself in six months a year. Who knows? I may never want to act again and that's okay, because I'm not identified by title.
Speaker 2:Yes, I love that. Oh my gosh, I love that so much. Yeah, I feel like it's. It's our continuing series.
Speaker 3:Yes, yeah, I love that. I love that it's our continuing series and I'm open to another season and I'm open to a different project. Exactly, I'm just open to it. And if this particular season of life gets canceled, then hey, what's the new one?
Speaker 2:Exactly, I love it so very much. It just it speaks to my soul. What limiting beliefs do you feel like you needed to overcome in order for for all of this to be in your life?
Speaker 3:One of the limited beliefs that I think that I really needed to overcome is that my, my age determines success. So, if you're 30, if you're 40, especially if you're 50, it's like it's too late. Well, you can't do this. Well, you might as well just sit down. Well, you're a grandmother now, and so just really understanding that until I take my last breath, I can, and I get to add that. I get to add that. I get to add that.
Speaker 3:Another limiting belief was because I'm a mom, this is what you do. Other things have to go on the back burner or you don't get to pursue those things. I learned that I can still fulfill goals and be a great mom too. I don't have to be either or, and it's okay to be flexible. It's okay for it to look different. I was so determined that it has to look like this for you to be successful, and that was limiting for me because it had to be like this and because it wasn't like that, I didn't see another way. But the thing is, I wasn't allowing myself to see another way. When I began to look at other things, when I began to go well, what are some meetup groups? When I began to go well, what can you start? You're sitting here going oh, it doesn't look like this, it's not like that. Well, how come you don't create something? Why don't you do something? Why don't you make it something? We limit ourselves by thinking we have to.
Speaker 2:We have to connect with how someone else is doing it, when you can actually create a way to do it. Absolutely yes, yes, yes. Oh my gosh, I listen to you all the time. What daily habits do you feel like have helped you get to your level of success?
Speaker 3:I am a list maker, like literally I love lists and I get excited, y'all. Now, this is the nerd in me. Okay, when I get my list and I start checking stuff off, I started getting excited. I'm like, oh, you did this, oh you did that, okay, girl, I love it.
Speaker 3:So for me, I like to be able to see my productivity, and so I make daily lists, I make weekly lists, I make monthly goals and I'm very much of an ABC person, so I have to have a step for everything. What is your step for this? And so if I can see, even if I didn't reach that goal today, if I can see two steps that I made, then I feel like, oh, this is wonderful. So that has become a habit of mine that I must have for my own sanity. I must have order the things. What does it look like? I am a person who I'm very much a planner, and my husband laughs at me because he's like well, let's just spontaneously get up and go, and I'm like great, just let me know, me know what time he's like you're missing it again you're missing it again.
Speaker 2:Yes, I love. That's hilarious and.
Speaker 3:I'm like sure we could be. Yeah, we could spontaneously go. What? On Tuesday you want to spontaneously head over?
Speaker 2:you can semi disrupt my way of being semi. You have to give me some context here.
Speaker 3:I'm trying but that one is kind of like, oh, I'm trying to be okay, we're just gonna go, and I'm like, oh, at what time?
Speaker 2:so I so I could prepare that one.
Speaker 3:I'm having a hard time with guys oh, that's so funny.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have become and this is, I feel like I'm pretty good about like flying by the seat of my pants. That I'm good with. However, I do feel like I've been sitting in the mornings before the craziness starts and going on my trusty little phone and going into the calendar and then time blocking the things that I have to do.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Because, especially with the amount of guest interviews that I've had in the last like two weeks, I'm sure I'm like, okay, I need to figure out when I'm going to get my business done, when I'm going to get like help people get healthy, and that's what the passion that I found because it saved my life and the fact that I get to do that now I have to also a time block for that. Yes so that I can dedicate it to those clients and yes those team members and so forth.
Speaker 2:So it really so as much as I can just up and go. I also have found a lot of serenity in my brain when I'm like, okay, this is how much time it's going to take me to take the kid to school, come back be, prepared, have my breakfast. I have it all in my calendar.
Speaker 3:It is so funny that you say that, because most of the clients that I work with that's one of the first exercises because I work with, that's one of the first exercises. Because I work with busy moms, helping them to balance or what I like to call harmonize motherhood with life goals and dreams. And so most of the time they're again. They're busy, ambitious moms and they just don't see where they have any time throughout their day especially for self-care.
Speaker 3:They're feeling overwhelmed and one of the first things I say to them is I want you to keep just a daily calendar of just one day, from six to six, five to five, whatever it is, and I want you to write down every single thing that you're doing throughout that day If you're up at 5.30, if you have breakfast by 5.20, if the kids are up at 6.20 and from 6.20 to 6.45, you get them ready. If from 7 to 7.30, it takes you to get to their school, so just give a breakdown of every single thing you do. And usually there's one of two things that happen they either look at that day and they understand why they're overwhelmed, because we only have a 100% bandwidth, that's it, nothing more, and they're trying to put 200% into that 100%, and so they're able to understand. I see why I'm overwhelmed. I see why I feel like I'm going to just choke somebody around three o'clock every day.
Speaker 3:Either their eyes are opened in that way or else they look on the other side and they go oh well, actually I do have a couple of hours here that maybe I could do this, or I didn't realize that I was spending time not doing this, or I see where I can batch, because, for me, I began to learn batching when I would take my children to sports and things like that. I would watch them for maybe like an hour and then I'd go to the car for that next hour to answer emails or just get some me time, so they're able to see where they can begin batching their tasks. And so it's usually one or the other. Sometimes I have something different, but usually it's oh, I see the overwhelm, or oh, I see where I can get some things done. So what?
Speaker 3:I tell people that understanding when I let my clients know if you just break down your day, you really will see this is going to blow your mind and this is going to be the beginning of you releasing chaos in your day, of you releasing overwhelm. This is really the beginning of you understanding boundaries and how to set boundaries, understanding priorities and what means most to you in this particular season. It all starts with being able to see what does my day look like, and you can't see that until you can do exactly what you're doing. Maria, getting up and going. This is the amount of time that I spend here. This is what I'm going to do there. I'm going to take a couple of minutes to sit back over here and then we actually. That's when we begin to take better control of our day and our life.
Speaker 2:Yes, love it. Oh my gosh, I could literally sit here and talk to you all day long. But seriously, thank you so much.
Speaker 1:You gave so much amazing insight.
Speaker 2:I really truly appreciate it. I love your confidence. It just exudes from the screen.
Speaker 3:Thank, you girl.
Speaker 2:It was a lot of work. Yes, it was. I love that and I just I really appreciate everything that you said. I second and third all of it. So thank you again. Listeners, I hope you got so much out of this like I did. I know that my dog out there got a lot out of it too, because I could hear him. I like, I like your dog. Yes, he is on it. He knows something good when he hears it. But thank you so very much. I hope you have all an amazing day. Thank you, peace out guys. Love your life. Bye, bye.
