Latest / Rooted Thoughts / Intentionally Make Your Life Easier

Transcript

Intentionally Make Your Life Easier · Rooted Thoughts

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Sierra, and welcome to Rooted Thoughts Podcast.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: On today's episode, we're going to be talking about intentionally making your life easier.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that I say this a lot, but that's because it's true.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: But I do feel like this episode is an episode that we all need to really hear.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because maybe you are someone who has been cooking these elaborate five-course meals every night when in reality your family will be perfectly fine eating something more simple.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe every morning it's starting out chaotic because you refuse or just totally bypass preparing anything the night before.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe you keep driving across town trying to save$3 on something where you're still gonna burn the same thing in gas.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe you have been doing something manually for years instead of using what has been created to make the task much easier.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: So my question to you is: how many things in your life are actually hard and how many things have become hard because of the way that you are choosing to do them?
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we associate being busy with being productive.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: We associate sacrifice with being a good parent, a good partner, a good friend, or a good employee.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: And though sometimes sacrifice is necessary, sometimes we just get so accustomed to doing things one way that we don't even stop to ask if there's a better way to do it.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: And as someone with ADHD, we can also become so attached to certain routines that it doesn't even cross our mind to use a different method.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: So after today's episode, I wanted to have a look at our lives and see what we can do differently and what is not necessary for us to handle at all.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: So first we're going to talk about how can we stop automatically choosing the hard way.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we get into the habit of telling ourselves things like nobody else is going to do it, so I have to do it.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: Or it's quicker if I just do it myself, or I've always done it this way.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: But ask yourself, is that actually true?
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Or is that the story that you have gotten used to telling yourself?
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because you may hate grocery shopping, but guess what?
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's 2026.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Grocery pickup and delivery is a thing.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: You may be someone who always forgets appointments.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: So try putting everything onto your calendar immediately.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe cleaning their entire house on a Saturday or Sunday ruins your whole entire weekend, I can relate.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: So try cleaning one room each day so it's not so overwhelming.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe you're like me and you're constantly overwhelmed by deciding what's for dinner every night.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: So try having five easy meals that you can rotate.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: And if the kids have a problem with that, then so be it.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: They better go cook some chicken nuggets in the air fryer or something.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: And you don't have to follow these specific solutions.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: The point is to develop the habit of looking for an easier solution.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: And don't think that easier just means lazy.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes easier just means more efficient.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Next, we're going to talk about reducing the number of decisions that you had to make.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: When I say this episode, it has to help at least one person because it's speaking to my entire life.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that I can't be the only one.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because everyday decisions can be the most exhausting thing.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Where are we going to eat tonight?
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: When am I going to go grocery shopping?
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: When am I cleaning?
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: When am I exercising?
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: When am I going to do something for myself?
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Have I done anything with the kids this week?
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: You can spend half of your mental energy repeatedly solving problems that you already have solved before.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: So instead of doing that, let's try to make some of these decisions only once.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: So, like I stated, have a few go-to meals, have certain days for certain chores, have a default morning routine, create a basic grocery list, have a set day and even time that you do something for yourself.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes what brings us a sense of peace is already having some day-to-day stressors already figured out.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: Now we are going to talk about making your relationships easier too.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Because making your life easier goes far beyond just organizing things around the home.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes that also means that you have to stop participating in unnecessary, complicated relationships.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: And that means relationships where you had to constantly guess what someone means, try not to upset them, overexplain yourself, chase people, or carry the entire relationship.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: And just to be clear, healthy relationships don't mean that it's always going to be effortless and without challenges.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: But a healthy relationship shouldn't require you to be on a constant emotional roller coaster.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: But there are also ways in which you can make the relationship easier yourself, because like I always say, everything is always a two-way street.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Some of those ways are you can say what you actually mean, you can set expectations.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Act instead of assuming.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Let people help.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Stop yourself from trying to manage everyone's feelings and accept that no is the complete answer.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Another thing that will help us to make our life easier is to stop creating problems before they even actually exist.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the actual situation is manageable, but then we start thinking, what if I made the wrong choice?
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: What am I going to do in six months?
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: What if they don't like me?
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: What if it don't work?
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: All these what-ifs, now don't get me wrong because sometimes it is necessary to think ahead.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: But sometimes we create a handful of imaginary problems that do not require our attention in the moment.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we just have to ask ourselves, is this a problem that I have right now?
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: And if the answer is yes, then deal with it.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: If no, then don't take yourself on an emotional roller coaster that hasn't even happened.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to be able to recognize the difference between preparation and worry.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: And lastly, I want you to learn to ask, what would make this easier?
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: If your mornings are terrible, ask what would make my mornings easier.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: If you're exhausted at the work, ask yourself, what would make my evenings easier?
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: If you never have time for yourself, ask what will make finding an hour for myself easier.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: If you are having a difficult time maintaining a friendship, ask yourself, what will make staying connected easier?
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: And that's something that I personally struggle with because my friends aren't local.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Well, my best friends aren't local.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: And if I'm being honest, like I do think about them like literally every single day.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I miss them probably every single day.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: And if I could have it my way, I would have them to move where I'm at.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: But at the same time, we all recognize that we're adults, we have families and everything else.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: So we aren't gonna see each other all the time.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Our kids have things going on, and sometimes time just gets away from us.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: Every single time that we get together, it's like we never missed a B.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, it's like we just talked yesterday, I swear.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: But, anyways, sometimes the answer that we are looking for is small.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: It could be as simple as setting an alarm, saying no, asking for help, lowering the expectation, or paying for the convenience when and if you can afford it.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: Making your life easier doesn't necessarily mean removing every challenge because some difficult things are worth doing.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: For example, exercise can be hard, parenting can be hard, building something meaningful can be hard, having difficult conversations can be hard.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Hell, even it's podcasts is hard sometimes, if I'm being completely honest.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: But the goal isn't to avoid difficult situations when it's worthwhile, it's to stop wasting your time and energy on unnecessary difficulties so that you can have the time for things that actually matter.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to leave you with this.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Life is going to life, which means that it's going to give us hard things without us asking for them.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't think or feel like we need to make the parts that we can control unnecessarily difficult.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: So create shortcuts, ask for help, change your routine, and make your life easier on purpose.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Tierra, and this is a Rudy Thoughts Podcast.