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5-MINUTE FRIDAY: The Magic of the Mundane · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Hey, everybody. Emily Abadi here. You are listening to 5-Minute
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Friday on Hurdle. And if you're watching on YouTube, I'm back.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: I'm back exactly where I belong in the studio, and
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  Speaker 1: I could not be more elated. This week, When I
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  Speaker 1: tell you that the smallest things have made me so
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  Speaker 1: unbelievably happy, that would be such an understatement. I got
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  Speaker 1: back on Monday evening from 35 days away and I
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  Speaker 1: was smiling at everyone. I walked out of Atlantic Terminal
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  Speaker 1: after taking the air train to the Long Island Railroad
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  Speaker 1: to get back toward my neck of the woods. If
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  Speaker 1: you live in New York and you're constantly Ubering to
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  Speaker 1: and from JFK, I would say you're doing it wrong
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  Speaker 1: because 30 minutes door to door is unrivaled, especially depending
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  Speaker 1: on what time of day you are going to or
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  Speaker 1: from the airport.
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  Speaker 2: I digress.
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  Speaker 1: I walked out of Atlantic City, Atlantic City, Atlantic Terminal,
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  Speaker 1: and I was elated, just like smiling at everyone. I
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  Speaker 1: was stoked to see the empanada truck and the Apple
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  Speaker 1: store and I walked into my building and the first
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  Speaker 1: person I saw actually before I even got in to
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  Speaker 1: the front door was my doorman and we hugged and.
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  Speaker 2: It was so good to see him. So good to
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  Speaker 2: see him.
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  Speaker 1: And yeah, I mean, mundane things this week have brought
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  Speaker 1: me so much joy. The grin that was on my
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  Speaker 1: face from ear to ear walking to the gym on Tuesday,
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  Speaker 1: not having to do anything before I arrived.
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  Speaker 2: Like I didn't have to book a slot.
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  Speaker 1: I didn't have to do research to see if the
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  Speaker 1: gym would have the equipment that I wanted. I could
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  Speaker 1: just walk in and scan my card and they'd say, hey, Emily,
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  Speaker 1: it's great to see you. Just like I never left.
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  Speaker 1: And then walking around the gym and knowing where everything
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  Speaker 1: was and then going to my favorite cafe and getting
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  Speaker 1: iced coffee. Like the little things, such an unrivaled and
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  Speaker 1: joyful experience. 10 out of 10 would recommend. It's been
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  Speaker 1: such a reminder for me this week that I really
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  Speaker 1: don't need much. I am so grateful for the neighborhood
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  Speaker 1: that I live in and the people that are in
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  Speaker 1: my life and to come back home from a month
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  Speaker 1: away and have so much to look forward to makes
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  Speaker 1: me feel really grateful.
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  Speaker 2: And there's a lot to look forward to right now.
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  Speaker 1: I have a very good friend and my stepsister getting
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  Speaker 1: married this month. We have New York Marathon at the
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  Speaker 1: end of the month and I'll have lots of event announcements.
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  Speaker 2: For you on that and the week leading up to
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  Speaker 2: that very soon.
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  Speaker 1: And it's just my favorite time of year to be
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  Speaker 1: here in New York City.
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  Speaker 2: Fall is unrivaled. It's unrivaled here. And my best friend's
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  Speaker 2: going to have a baby soon. There's a lot of
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  Speaker 2: moving parts.
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes when there are so many moving parts, it feels
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  Speaker 1: even easier than normal for me to get overwhelmed. So
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  Speaker 1: if you can relate to that, if that is something
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  Speaker 1: that you two go through, then I'll offer you my suggestion,
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  Speaker 1: which is when I am feeling beyond myself, like I
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  Speaker 1: just can't mentally organize that there are too many irons
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  Speaker 1: in the fire, I do one of two things.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I usually do both.
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  Speaker 1: The first is I'll take a big, deep breath, and
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  Speaker 1: then I'll go into box breath. So that's when you
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  Speaker 1: inhale for four, hold for four, exhale for four, hold
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  Speaker 1: for four. And I'll do like between, let's say, five
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  Speaker 1: and 10 rounds of that. And that really just helps
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  Speaker 1: the nervous system calm down a little bit for me
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  Speaker 1: to come back into my body and to regulate my breathing.
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  Speaker 1: And then if I have the bandwidth, if I don't
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  Speaker 1: need to jump right into something else, I am a
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  Speaker 1: big fan of an emotional lap around the block. I
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  Speaker 1: know that my good friend Adrian Williams does this on
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  Speaker 1: Peloton often during his classes, but I will get up,
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  Speaker 1: and I will just remove myself from one environment, put
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  Speaker 1: myself into another environment briefly. That light movement, that time
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  Speaker 1: to continue breathing, to continue to come back into self,
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  Speaker 1: rule number one of the emotional lap around the block,
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  Speaker 1: do not be looking at your phone during the emotional
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  Speaker 1: lap around the block. But yeah, that is what really
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  Speaker 1: helps me reset, especially when it feels like there are a.
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  Speaker 2: Thousand things going on at once. I digress.
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  Speaker 1: Again, I am just so happy to be back. And
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  Speaker 1: I'm so excited about everything that's to come in the
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  Speaker 1: coming month. And I hope that you too can really
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  Speaker 1: take a deep breath and pause and look around you
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  Speaker 1: and be cognizant of just how much goodness there is everywhere.
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  Speaker 1: This brings me back to last Sunday night when I
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  Speaker 1: was in Sydney, Australia. I was cheering on the 7,500
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  Speaker 1: plus women that were running the After Dark Tour there.
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  Speaker 1: That stop was a half marathon. standing at the 19
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  Speaker 1: kilometer mark and seeing the dedication, the grit, the excitement,
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  Speaker 1: these women being so dialed in on a goal. I
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  Speaker 1: stood there from when the first person went by me
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  Speaker 1: to when the last person went by me, AKA for
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  Speaker 1: the entire half marathon. And what a privilege it was
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  Speaker 1: to look at all of these women, to cheer them on,
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  Speaker 1: to support them in the thing that excites them We
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  Speaker 1: all have this opportunity to be where our feet are,
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  Speaker 1: to be present, to do the thing. And so to
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  Speaker 1: be able to be there to support them last week,
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  Speaker 1: to now be back in Brooklyn and be excited about
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  Speaker 1: the momentum to come, I feel grateful.
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  Speaker 2: I feel amped. And yeah, I'm.
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  Speaker 1: Excited to do it with all of you. Listener question
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  Speaker 1: for this week. Let's talk about what's going on in October.
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  Speaker 1: Can you believe that it's October 2nd today? What is
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  Speaker 1: one thing you're looking forward to this month? And it
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  Speaker 1: can be a little generic. Like you are a big
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  Speaker 1: fan of pumpkin coffee. They just started selling. I saw
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  Speaker 1: a sign for this like fall themed matcha latte at
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  Speaker 1: the blank street down the street, blank street down the street,
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  Speaker 1: which I am so ready to get. So that's an option.
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  Speaker 1: But what excites you right now? It can be a thing, generic.
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  Speaker 1: It can be a specific moment or date or whatnot.
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  Speaker 2: I want to know. about what makes you giddy.
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  Speaker 1: You can comment on the YouTube, leave a comment wherever
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  Speaker 1: you're listening to this on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, and
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  Speaker 1: let me get excited for what you have going on.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: And now let's see here. I do have a listener question. Hey, Emily,
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  Speaker 1: what's the hardest part about being gone for an entire month?
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  Speaker 1: How do you actually maintain your sanity when your regular
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  Speaker 1: life is on pause?
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  Speaker 2: This is a good question. because it's funny.
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  Speaker 1: When you tell people that you're traveling for an entire month,
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  Speaker 1: there's this assumption of like, oh my God, so much freedom,
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  Speaker 1: so much play.
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  Speaker 2: For me, I love a vacation. That time that I
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: had in Fiji was excellent.
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  Speaker 1: But then once I got back to Australia, it was
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  Speaker 1: meant to be a balance of working from wherever I
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  Speaker 1: was and also exploring a bit. So it was more
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  Speaker 1: like I was just working from Australia and less like
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  Speaker 1: I was constantly playing tourist day in and day out.
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  Speaker 1: What I would typically do is just do one thing
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  Speaker 1: every day that really excited me. So whether that was
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  Speaker 1: like going to a museum in the afternoon or booking
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  Speaker 1: a really cool dinner reservation, that was the MO. But
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  Speaker 1: outside of that, when it comes to the most difficult part,
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  Speaker 1: I would say it's the losing the ability to have
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  Speaker 1: frictionless routines.
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  Speaker 2: So the influx of decision fatigue.
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  Speaker 1: So for me, it was like, I just said earlier,
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  Speaker 1: I got to wake up the other day and I
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  Speaker 1: journaled where I always journal. And then I walked to
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  Speaker 1: the gym and I scanned my card and I went
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  Speaker 1: right in.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And when you're traveling, like you don't have that luxury.
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  Speaker 1: So I had to do research regularly, like, all right,
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  Speaker 1: where do I want to move my body tomorrow? How
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  Speaker 1: much does it cost to go there? Am I going
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  Speaker 1: to go to a gym? Am I going to go
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  Speaker 1: to a class? Am I going to like, who knows what, right?
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  Speaker 1: And so every day, just making different decisions that help
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  Speaker 1: set you up to feel like your best self can
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  Speaker 1: get a little tiring. And those decisions are not constantly
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  Speaker 1: a part of my everyday at home. So I would say,
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  Speaker 1: The hardest part was that basically every single basic human
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  Speaker 1: function requires a micro decision when you're out of your element.
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  Speaker 1: And that can be really exhausting. For me, when I'm
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  Speaker 1: traveling for a long time, I can't treat this like
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  Speaker 1: one long trip.
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  Speaker 2: Vacation.
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  Speaker 1: I can't be in the mindset that I've got to
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  Speaker 1: make every second count. And this is the same when
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  Speaker 1: I'm specifically just traveling for work. The amount of times
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  Speaker 1: that I have gotten somewhere where maybe I am doing
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  Speaker 1: an event, I'm hosting something, I'm giving a keynote, and
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  Speaker 1: I make the time to go sit in a sauna
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  Speaker 1: or go get a massage. Life is going to keep
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  Speaker 1: life in regardless of where you are in the world.
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  Speaker 1: So for me, it's just asking myself genuinely, what is
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  Speaker 1: it that you need now? And dealing with the fatigue
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  Speaker 1: that can come with that. So that was definitely the
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  Speaker 1: hardest part, just constantly making decisions. And it makes me again,
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  Speaker 1: so grateful for the setup that I have here, for
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  Speaker 1: the people that I have here, the community that I
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  Speaker 1: have here.
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  Speaker 2: And again, just like so.
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  Speaker 1: elated to be back in the studio, to be back here,
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  Speaker 1: and to get it all done, to get it all
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  Speaker 1: done with all of you.
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  Speaker 2: That's it this week. If you have a listener question,
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: I want to answer it.
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  Speaker 1: Weigh in either in the comments below or email me
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: at hello at hurdle.us. Another hurdle conquered. Catch you guys
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: next time.