Happy Friday! I have a busy but fun weekend ahead of me and hope to take advantage of the gorgeous weather we’ve been having in Florida. A friend invited a bunch of us over to her new house for a pool day and I’ll be doing game night with the fam on Saturday night. I can’t wait!
I have some more questions to answer from the “Community Questions” portion of the Real Talk Radio podcast. It’s been so much fun answering these! Let’s get into it:
1) What’s one change you made in your life that was really tough for you at the time but totally worth it in the end?
It was really hard to leave my previous job, even though I was supremely unhappy there. But it was comfortable and easy and I loved my coworkers, and it was really hard to leave that. I don’t even think I told my boss I was leaving. I just told her I needed to talk to her and then started crying, and she guessed it. Ha. Super professional of me.
The first few weeks months of my new job were terrifying. My social anxiety was at its peak since I was in an entirely different environment. I went from a 10-person company to a 50-person company! It was so scary to even go into the break room. And I was doing completely different work, from marketing to copywriting, so I always felt on edge.
Ultimately, though, it was the best decision I could have made because I’m five-and-a-half years into my current job and I still love it just as much as I did when I started. I don’t suffer from Sunday Scaries as I did at my old job, and I get to do work that is more suited to my skills and personality.
2) What helps you to stick with a long-term project or goal you’re working on?
I can’t focus on the long-term aspect of the goal, I have to break it into week-by-week stages. I think about what I need to do this week to get me closer to my overall goal. For my novel, it’s writing and editing one chapter a week. For my goal of working out 150 times this year, I plan out the three days I want to work out during the week (and consider if there are one or two other days I can add in to build a buffer). Breaking down a big goal into the tiniest chunks gives me the forward progress I need.
3) What’s something that a lot of people seem to do that you don’t do on purpose?
I don’t watch a lot of TV. I watch an episode (or two, if it’s a sitcom like Friends) a few times a week, which is why it takes me forever to watch one season of a show. It took me nearly five years to watch the entire Gilmore Girls series, an entire month to watch thirteen episodes of Grace & Frankie.
It’s really funny, though, because a few years ago when I had cable, my DVR was full of shows to watch. I had at least a few shows recording every day. And now that I don’t have cable and only rely on Netflix, I find myself less inclined to turn on the TV.
4) What advice would you give yourself five years ago?
I would have told myself that I needed to stand up for myself in my relationship. He was the first guy I ever loved and I thought we were meant to be, but he also wasn’t very kind to me. He moved the relationship much faster than I was comfortable with, but I figured *I* was the problem. I was new at this relationship thing, so maybe it was me that needed to change. I was also terrified of losing him if I spoke up. Oh, darling little Steph. I want to give her the biggest hug and tell her she’s deserving of so much more. And that, “more,” may not look like another relationship but of standing on my own two feet and being my full independent self.
5) How do you typically spend your evenings?
Typically, I come home, play with my cats for a little while, take a bubble bath, make dinner, watch something on Netflix while eating dinner, and then do my nighttime routine while listening to a podcast. (My nighttime routine involves washing the dishes, tidying my apartment, cleaning out the litter boxes, brushing my teeth, washing my face, and preparing my lunch for the next day.) It’s a simple evening routine, and I love it. 🙂
Tell me: what’s something a lot of people do that you don’t do on purpose?
I’m with in not watching much tv. We also don’t have cable. Phil has never had it since buying his house 5 years ago. We don’t miss it. At times I wish I could DVR certain shows but overall, it’s not necessary for us and it’s kind of expensive! I read a lot more as a result of not watching tv. We have netflix and amazon prime and will sometimes watch one episode of something together after dinner but that’s about it for tv watching during the week.
You have a fun weekend on tap. A pool day sounds AMAZING! Take me there! It’s still so cold here! It rained a lot the last couple of days and it’s below freezing again so we have a thin, dangerous layer of ice on everything. I’m so ready for winter to be over!!!
I don’t do social media. I technically HAVE a Facebook account and a twitter account (two, actually – one under my real name and one under my blog name). But I can’t remember the last time I tweeted anything and I don’t even have my Facebook password anymore. You can forget about any of the other social media platforms! I find them so terrifying – to me, they are as stressful as public speaking or walking up to a group of people at a party. And they can be so all-consuming, for me, that the stress plus the time commitment means they are not good for my mental health. Sometimes I wish I could get over my anxiety about it; it’s sad that I miss out on people’s baby photos and important announcements… and I think a big chunk of the bloggers I used to interact with years ago have all moved to social media. But alas, it’s not for me.
I don’t listen to much music, honestly, now that I’m into podcasts, & I also rarely watch movies, even though I have the TV on a lot. I also almost never paint my nails.
Before we had cable, I was the same and hardly watched anything. Now that we have cable, my DVR is always full and I watch it a lot more. Sigh. Such a conundrum for me. I love my shows, but I know that ultimately, I love reading more. It’s just so easy to turn on the TV when I’m tired though.
Even though recent history might suggest otherwise (Canadian winters are BRUTAL), I actually don’t watch a lot of TV either! I am very much a one or two episode person, generally – I just get too bored! Notable exception: hockey games. But even in that scenario, I think part of why I like watching is it’s broken into pieces (20 mins of play, a break, etc.). You are right, though, about it being something a lot of people do – friends find it so unusual when I tell them this.
My other thing…I don’t really do podcasts. I want to be a person who is into podcasts, I do, but I…just am not. It seems like something I should like since I loooooove audiobooks but I just have not been able to get into them. Maybe someday!
I don’t watch a lot of TV either… we still have cable (mostly for news and J enjoys it) but I rarely watch anything and when hear other people talk about all the latest shows that they’re watching, I usually “tune out”because I can’t join.