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Transcript

Retreat with Stacey Funt · Lean Out Podcast

• 0:01
  Welcome to the lean out podcast.
• 0:03
  I'm your host, Dr.
• 0:04
  Don baker.
• 0:05
  Are you looking for a new approach to finding authentic and sustainable work-life balance?
• 0:10
  You've come to the right.
• 0:11
  Place.
• 0:11
  For inspiration.
• 0:12
  information.
• 0:13
  and a community.
• 0:14
  community.
• 0:14
  of like-minded.
• 0:15
  Professionals.
• 0:16
  Let's get to the show.
• 0:23
  Hello?
• 0:23
  Hello.
• 0:23
  Thanks for being here.
• 0:25
  2024 is more than halfway over now, which is crazy.
• 0:29
  Given that milestone I've really got to get going on my lean out confidence course, so I can get it out to you by the end of this year.
• 0:37
  I'm looking for a couple people who would like to look at the course material when it's finished and provide some feedback for me.
• 0:44
  If this interests you, please send me a message through the form on my website at www dot practice, balanced.com/get in touch.
• 0:54
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• 1:01
  If you're already subscribed, then in the most recent newsletter, you saw some fun picks of my chickens and our new rooster, whose name is hunter in addition to getting some direct links to all the newest podcast, episodes and articles and recommendations for products that I often share.
• 1:17
  So go check that out.
• 1:20
  Today.
• 1:20
  I have a guest who's living a dream for many I'm intrigued by her work-life balance, which involves part-time radiology, travel to exotic locations and creating community and fostering wellness with other women professionals.
• 1:33
  Her name is Stacy font.
• 1:36
  As the founder of LH adventure travel, she curated global wellness travel adventures for women focusing on moderate movement, healthy eating stress management and community building through all inspiring, shared experiences in stunning natural environments.
• 1:52
  We discuss Stacy's journey from full-time to part-time radiology.
• 1:56
  And how she crafted a business as a wellness tour operator for trips.
• 2:00
  She specially designs.
• 2:02
  I hope you enjoy our conversation.
• 2:06
  SF-Dawn: Stacey Funt, welcome to the Lean Out podcast.
• 2:09
  SF-Dawn: Thank you for being on.
• 2:10
  SF-Dawn: Can you please describe yourself and your current work life balance?
• 2:15
  SF-Stacey: Hi Dawn, thanks so much for inviting me.
• 2:17
  SF-Stacey: I'm happy to be here.
• 2:18
  SF-Stacey: I am a part time radiologist.
• 2:20
  SF-Stacey: I work two days a week in the Hospital of the Imaging Center and now that my kids are in college a little bit of extra hours from home and I am a tour operator I curate and host global adventure wellness travels for women.
• 2:36
  SF-Dawn: That's awesome.
• 2:36
  SF-Dawn: So you've obviously been a radiologist for a while, because you talked about doing it when your children were younger and now they're older.
• 2:43
  SF-Dawn: So how long have you been doing the travel arm of your work life balance?
• 2:48
  SF-Stacey: Well, you know, about 10 years ago, I realized I needed to bring something else into my life besides radiology that, um, I had different facets of my personality.
• 2:58
  SF-Stacey: I really wasn't utilizing in radiology.
• 3:01
  SF-Stacey: So I went back originally for health coaching.
• 3:04
  SF-Stacey: And then that morphed into education.
• 3:07
  SF-Stacey: And, I was doing wellness kind of work.
• 3:09
  SF-Stacey: On the side, I have been a global adventure traveler my entire adult life.
• 3:14
  SF-Stacey: I was the one who got the lonely planet guide and went to Africa by myself before the internet.
• 3:18
  SF-Stacey: Like that was me.
• 3:19
  SF-Stacey: I have just been and gone everywhere.
• 3:21
  SF-Stacey: That's been a main passion of mine.
• 3:23
  SF-Stacey: So I started to have the idea like around five or six years ago of combining them.
• 3:29
  SF-Stacey: And doing these wellness adventure travels based on facets of lifestyle medicine with movement and building community and stress management and whole foods and, you know, and so I put together a trip in 2020, a trip to Zion National Park for women physicians, and then we were going to end in a spa, and the trip sold out.
• 3:48
  SF-Stacey: I was so excited about it.
• 3:49
  SF-Stacey: That was in May of 2020.
• 3:51
  SF-Stacey: We were supposed to go, I don't know.
• 3:53
  SF-Stacey: But COVID hit, you know, so we had to cancel that trip.
• 3:56
  SF-Stacey: So things were on the back burner during COVID and then my twins were applying to college.
• 4:01
  SF-Stacey: And so everything was just kind of percolating.
• 4:04
  SF-Stacey: And then they went off to college and the timing was right.
• 4:07
  SF-Stacey: So
• 4:08
  SF-Dawn: so it was a little while in the making for you to figure out this other part that was missing from your life when you were doing radiology.
• 4:17
  SF-Dawn: I
• 4:17
  SF-Stacey: you know, some people get an idea, they know what they want, and they do it.
• 4:20
  SF-Stacey: That was not my process at all.
• 4:22
  SF-Stacey: Okay, this took me seriously, like, nine years to just try different things and experiment and, and wait until it really hit me.
• 4:31
  SF-Stacey: came together where inside I felt a solid yes.
• 4:34
  SF-Stacey: Before that, I was like, maybe, you know, I'll try this.
• 4:37
  SF-Stacey: I'll try that.
• 4:39
  SF-Stacey: But then when it came together, it was a, it was a really big yes.
• 4:42
  SF-Stacey: But that was definitely a process for me.
• 4:45
  SF-Stacey: And it wouldn't have been right when my kids were younger anyway, you know, so as I look back, somebody once said, one day you'll get to the top of the mountain, not the top of the mountain yet, but they say one day you get to the top of the mountain and you look back and you can see the journey that brought you there and it all makes sense.
• 5:00
  SF-Stacey: And, and I can see that a lot more now than I could 10 years ago.
• 5:05
  SF-Dawn: love that analogy because a lot of times people say everything happens for a reason, but it just sounds trite and it doesn't always resonate with everyone, and yet what you're saying I think is a better, a better way to capture that feeling.
• 5:19
  SF-Stacey: Yeah.
• 5:20
  SF-Dawn: that's wonderful.
• 5:22
  SF-Dawn: Was there something about radiology a thing that happened or, you know, some sort of an exciting event that, that led you to say, 10 years ago, I need to bring other aspects of my personality into my life more?
• 5:38
  SF-Stacey: Well, I think there were a few things that led up to it.
• 5:41
  SF-Stacey: Have you ever heard of a black swan, that expression?
• 5:44
  SF-Dawn: Yeah.
• 5:45
  SF-Stacey: Yeah.
• 5:45
  SF-Stacey: A black swan is like something nobody saw coming and it changes everything.
• 5:48
  SF-Stacey: Right.
• 5:49
  SF-Stacey: So, you know, I chose radiology.
• 5:50
  SF-Stacey: I was very young.
• 5:51
  SF-Stacey: There was no real internet when I chose radiology.
• 5:54
  SF-Stacey: The radiologist was an active part of a team, you know, really an integral part of a medical team and a consultant.
• 6:00
  SF-Stacey: And I thought I would enjoy that role.
• 6:01
  SF-Stacey: And when PAX came out, it put me in a basement all by myself, you know, not like nine hour shifts.
• 6:08
  SF-Stacey: I would see no one and I ended up going into academics and teaching and some research, but it really was the antithesis of my personality at that point.
• 6:18
  SF-Stacey: So I saw that a long time ago.
• 6:21
  SF-Stacey: And I went part time and I had my kids and my kids were my creative outlet and I was very, very grateful for that balance.
• 6:29
  SF-Stacey: Um, you know, I did mommy and knees and I was a Girl Scout leader.
• 6:32
  SF-Stacey: And so I filled all those roles that I knew needed filling, in other ways.
• 6:38
  SF-Stacey: But then about 10 years ago was another black swan, the corporatization of healthcare and all the things that I was doing in my medical center that I really enjoyed, were no longer reimbursable events my hospital outsourced our department, you know, long story short, I shifted jobs.
• 6:54
  SF-Stacey: it was in my late forties.
• 6:55
  SF-Stacey: My mom died young.
• 6:57
  SF-Stacey: I was so unhappy.
• 6:58
  SF-Stacey: I was so, so unhappy and I ended up getting sick, which knock wood, I'm the ever ready bunny.
• 7:03
  SF-Stacey: Like I don't get sick.
• 7:04
  SF-Stacey: I got really sick.
• 7:05
  SF-Stacey: I'm laying in bed with pneumonia and I couldn't even smile anymore.
• 7:09
  SF-Stacey: I wasn't playing my kids and it was like this big epiphany that this is not what I signed up for.
• 7:15
  SF-Stacey: Like my life, it was not going anymore in the direction I wanted it to.
• 7:21
  SF-Stacey: I felt like I worked so hard to not end up like this, like this.
• 7:25
  SF-Stacey: There was something very wrong with this picture.
• 7:28
  SF-Stacey: And it was laying in that bed, approaching the age that my mom died, that I realized I was really ready to risk whatever I had to risk and make a change.
• 7:38
  SF-Stacey: And that's when I went back for health coaching, not knowing I even wanted to do that, just the act of taking steps to do something else brought about tremendous like freedom and relief from how I was feeling.
• 7:52
  SF-Dawn: just taking the step led to that feeling of
• 7:56
  SF-Stacey: Yes.
• 7:56
  SF-Stacey: Yes.
• 7:57
  SF-Dawn: That is such a very important point for people who are listening to understand because in coaching, I come across this all the time.
• 8:05
  SF-Dawn: It's not actually the thing.
• 8:06
  SF-Dawn: It's not the destination to where you're going or knowing exactly.
• 8:10
  SF-Dawn: It's that actually just taking the next step that can really relieve some of that suffering and the tension.
• 8:17
  SF-Stacey: Yes.
• 8:18
  SF-Dawn: And the things that you're describing in medicine, I would say they are some of the parts of medicine that have really led to a lot of frustrations and a lot of contributing to burnout for many people in, in many different specialties.
• 8:33
  SF-Dawn: And yet it's interesting because now you're still practicing in a similar, setting, but just less and somehow it's more sustainable.
• 8:44
  SF-Dawn: Can you talk about that?
• 8:46
  SF-Stacey: I can.
• 8:46
  SF-Stacey: So one of my favorite, quotes I've ever heard, I think it was Marianne Williamson or someone said, a miracle is a shift in perception.
• 8:54
  SF-Stacey: And that has rung so true for me in my life.
• 8:58
  SF-Stacey: You know, I remember driving to work, crying in tears.
• 9:01
  SF-Stacey: I hate this.
• 9:02
  SF-Stacey: I hate this.
• 9:02
  SF-Stacey: I don't want to do that.
• 9:03
  SF-Stacey: You know, just, I was so unhappy.
• 9:05
  SF-Stacey: And then, um, When I created more space for things that I really wanted to do that uplifted me, that excited me, the narrative started to change to like, I'm so grateful.
• 9:16
  SF-Stacey: I'm so grateful I can work part time because I was the main income, in my, my family.
• 9:20
  SF-Stacey: And so grateful that I got to do this job and then open up space to do something else.
• 9:27
  SF-Stacey: And, you know, just saying those different things to myself changed my entire experience of my life.
• 9:33
  SF-Stacey: You know, it really did.
• 9:36
  SF-Dawn: Yeah.
• 9:36
  SF-Dawn: And I've experienced this as an anesthesiologist where you see a lot of frustrating things.
• 9:43
  SF-Dawn: You see people that are getting surgeries that, you know, sometimes you're like, what led to you getting here to get this surgery or, just inconsistencies in the system and things like that that are frustrating.
• 9:54
  SF-Dawn: But when I'm doing it on a part time basis, there's something about it that just makes it more tolerable.
• 10:00
  SF-Dawn: The things that are negative about your job become not as much of a headache.
• 10:06
  SF-Dawn: I don't know.
• 10:06
  SF-Dawn: And I've seen this with coaching clients
• 10:08
  SF-Stacey: Absolutely.
• 10:09
  SF-Stacey: Because it, it's not my whole work life anymore.
• 10:13
  SF-Stacey: Now I have other facets.
• 10:16
  SF-Stacey: It just, um, opens up space me to feel joy in other areas.
• 10:20
  SF-Stacey: It really does.
• 10:21
  SF-Stacey: I am very grateful to have a field.
• 10:23
  SF-Stacey: I can work part time.
• 10:23
  SF-Stacey: I know not everybody gets that privilege.
• 10:26
  SF-Stacey: And, for me, it was a lifesaver.
• 10:30
  SF-Dawn: Yeah.
• 10:30
  SF-Dawn: Talk a little bit more about this other arm of the things that you do, wellness trips, because I would love to hear about how you decide on them, how you plan them.
• 10:41
  SF-Dawn: What is involved?
• 10:42
  SF-Dawn: I'm sure each one is a little bit different, and that's probably part of the fun.
• 10:45
  SF-Stacey: Yeah, yeah, they're, they're very different.
• 10:48
  SF-Stacey: I said to somebody recently, this may sound a little hokey, but I don't feel like a trip.
• 10:53
  SF-Stacey: I don't feel like I pick a trip.
• 10:54
  SF-Stacey: I feel like a trip picks me, you know, I've been a huge travel.
• 10:58
  SF-Stacey: I've been all over the globe many times a lot by myself and, it's just one of the things that, that really excites me.
• 11:04
  SF-Stacey: But after my kids left for college, um, my father in law passed away.
• 11:09
  SF-Stacey: My twins left for college and my father passed away all within two months.
• 11:12
  SF-Stacey: And there was just so much loss.
• 11:14
  SF-Stacey: And I just felt a calling to go to Nepal.
• 11:17
  SF-Stacey: I just, I, I told my husband, I'm like, do you want to go trekking in Nepal?
• 11:21
  SF-Stacey: He's like, yeah.
• 11:22
  SF-Stacey: So, you know, this was like nine months preparing for that.
• 11:25
  SF-Stacey: And, it was such a healing, transformative journey.
• 11:27
  SF-Stacey: And I came back from there.
• 11:29
  SF-Stacey: Knowing it was time to get the insurance, get the education I needed, like to really put in the energy to do this idea I'd been thinking for so long.
• 11:38
  SF-Stacey: So, um, the first trip I decided on was Morocco.
• 11:41
  SF-Stacey: I, I just knew I had to go to Morocco.
• 11:43
  SF-Stacey: I'm about to take a group of women again in October.
• 11:46
  SF-Stacey: I'm so excited to go back, but, um, so I've done Morocco.
• 11:50
  SF-Stacey: I've done Guatemala.
• 11:52
  SF-Stacey: I've done Zion.
• 11:53
  SF-Stacey: I just released Peru today.
• 11:55
  SF-Stacey: Each one, as I said, has four different aspects of lifestyle medicine.
• 11:59
  SF-Stacey: So that's kind of my framework.
• 12:01
  SF-Stacey: I'm like, for me, mountains are my sanctuary.
• 12:03
  SF-Stacey: So I need a place that Like I pick, I plan the trips that I'd be really excited to go on.
• 12:10
  SF-Stacey: That's what I do.
• 12:11
  SF-Stacey: Right.
• 12:11
  SF-Stacey: And so most of these places I've been and I pick my favorite things.
• 12:15
  SF-Stacey: And then, so I include movement.
• 12:17
  SF-Stacey: So usually that's hiking now, moderate hiking.
• 12:20
  SF-Stacey: I'm, you know, I went to Nepal.
• 12:21
  SF-Stacey: I didn't climb Everest, is like moderate and I have different level guides usually, but anyway, so usually there's hiking.
• 12:27
  SF-Stacey: Some have kayaking, like in Guatemala, we go to Lake Atitlan, stuff like that.
• 12:31
  SF-Stacey: And then there's whole foods.
• 12:33
  SF-Stacey: First of all, just leaving America, you're pretty much going to eat better.
• 12:36
  SF-Stacey: You know, so all of these countries have fabulous whole foods.
• 12:39
  SF-Stacey: So every trip usually has a cooking lesson or some kind of, tours, and there's a big emphasis on food.
• 12:46
  SF-Stacey: And then there's stress management.
• 12:47
  SF-Stacey: So we always stay in a spa at some part, you have the option for massage.
• 12:51
  SF-Stacey: We're doing the hammam and.
• 12:53
  SF-Stacey: Morocco and Peru or, Cusco.
• 12:55
  SF-Stacey: We're going to stay in a beautiful spa resort at the end after our trekking on the Inca Trail.
• 13:01
  SF-Stacey: Things like that.
• 13:02
  SF-Stacey: And then the biggest thing to me is, um, community.
• 13:06
  SF-Stacey: So we form sisterhood, you know, I, I have trained as a coach.
• 13:10
  SF-Stacey: So the evenings we have conversation and I have like sometimes a little fun prompts I offer, but, I don't even have to do much.
• 13:18
  SF-Stacey: I mean, the women who choose to go on my trips, they're pretty adventurous.
• 13:22
  SF-Stacey: And, if the trip resonates with them, they're excited to be there and they're really.
• 13:27
  SF-Stacey: really remarkable women.
• 13:29
  SF-Stacey: It's such a, it's such a treat for me to be with them.
• 13:31
  SF-Stacey: So I, I just like whatever country comes to me is my favorite that I know we can have this like soulful in nature experience of another culture, you know, together, because I, it's very experiential.
• 13:45
  SF-Stacey: You know, like it just comes.
• 13:46
  SF-Stacey: And so then I plan it.
• 13:49
  SF-Dawn: I love how you're pointing out that when you choose the places that are places that you are gravitating toward, that places that you love, that you would want to go, then the people that are attracted to those are also people that you're going to mesh with, and so you get this great community.
• 14:05
  SF-Dawn: That is just beautiful.
• 14:07
  SF-Dawn: I love the idea of these trips.
• 14:09
  SF-Dawn: Um, so you've talked a lot about some awesome things that are related to your work life balance.
• 14:14
  SF-Dawn: Is there anything that is just the hardest part of doing something unique like this?
• 14:19
  SF-Dawn: Of having the work and then this aspect of travel.
• 14:23
  SF-Dawn: Is there any downside to it?
• 14:24
  SF-Stacey: of course, there's always there's always there's always a downside, right?
• 14:28
  SF-Stacey: But, you know, because life just we're all human, and there are downsides.
• 14:33
  SF-Stacey: But if I had to pick what the hardest part is, You know, I feel like for me there's no like real balance.
• 14:40
  SF-Stacey: It's not like it's a scale.
• 14:41
  SF-Stacey: It's more like juggling.
• 14:43
  SF-Stacey: They're all these balls and they're all in the air.
• 14:46
  SF-Stacey: And it's great when they're all flying.
• 14:47
  SF-Stacey: If one of them starts to fall down, that's the one that makes it hard.
• 14:51
  SF-Stacey: And that's the one that needs attention for me, you know, so Like if I'm away for a long time, you know, I'm married and my husband's awesome and we have a great relationship and it's tough to be so consumed with something else.
• 15:03
  SF-Stacey: That's a women's trip, you know, eventually we'll do some couples as well.
• 15:07
  SF-Stacey: But when I get back from a trip, the hardest part then is now like refocusing with my husband and giving our relationship the time it needs, I'm not a techie person.
• 15:17
  SF-Stacey: So personally, the hardest part is I'm doing every aspect from learning Instagram and Facebook and SEOs and email, you know, and all that could be the hardest part.
• 15:28
  SF-Stacey: So, so it all depends.
• 15:30
  SF-Stacey: Um, what, what's up at that point?
• 15:32
  SF-Stacey: What becomes the hardest part?
• 15:34
  SF-Stacey: I think,
• 15:35
  SF-Dawn: So it changes and that's pretty natural too.
• 15:39
  SF-Dawn: It seems organic.
• 15:40
  SF-Dawn: So,
• 15:41
  SF-Stacey: Yeah,
• 15:41
  SF-Dawn: Is there anything that you wish you knew 10 years ago in that position of the radiology and just not really feeling like things were exactly the way you wanted
• 15:54
  SF-Stacey: um, yes.
• 15:57
  SF-Stacey: There are a bunch of things I wish I knew, you know, back then.
• 16:00
  SF-Stacey: I'm gonna be honest.
• 16:01
  SF-Stacey: I think like the biggest one for me, Was that it's okay to not be the best.
• 16:07
  SF-Stacey: Not that I ever was the best, but I felt like I had to be the best, you know?
• 16:12
  SF-Stacey: And when I switched jobs 10 years ago, like I'm solid, I'm solid.
• 16:17
  SF-Stacey: I've been in great place, but I always look at the people who I think are stellar.
• 16:20
  SF-Stacey: You know, I used to look at the people who are stellar and I always felt like, yeah, I'm good, but they're like, wow.
• 16:25
  SF-Stacey: And always feeling like I wasn't good enough in what I did, which would again, cause.
• 16:31
  SF-Stacey: me stress in the process of doing it.
• 16:33
  SF-Stacey: Like I had such an amazing career and I was so smart in college.
• 16:37
  SF-Stacey: How could my life look like X, Y, Z, you know, I haven't accomplished X, Y, Z.
• 16:41
  SF-Stacey: And um, I wish I realized back then that like, there's There's no game.
• 16:50
  SF-Stacey: There's no winner and there's no loser.
• 16:52
  SF-Stacey: There's no ladder, like, it really doesn't matter at all, you know, and, and good enough is so beautiful.
• 17:00
  SF-Stacey: And the idea of good enough, again, is the most freeing thing in the whole world because when you don't have to be the best, it's so much less pressure.
• 17:11
  SF-Stacey: Imagine you have to be the best.
• 17:12
  SF-Stacey: I'm not saying I ever was the best, you know, but even just letting that go and, you know, my life is just for me as I, as I want it.
• 17:22
  SF-Stacey: And, and that's, that's great.
• 17:26
  SF-Dawn: Good enough is so beautiful.
• 17:27
  SF-Dawn: I love it.
• 17:27
  SF-Dawn: So quotable
• 17:29
  SF-Stacey: Yeah.
• 17:30
  SF-Dawn: and it's perfect.
• 17:30
  SF-Dawn: And it applies to so many of us as well, because a lot of the people that are listening are people that are used to being on that treadmill of achievement.
• 17:41
  SF-Dawn: People that always got the great grades and that were rewarded for all of their academic achievements and now are saying, well, is this it Is this all there is to life or are there some other things that I could be doing?
• 17:57
  SF-Dawn: And the relief of not having to be the best.
• 18:01
  SF-Dawn: I think that is such a good knowledge piece.
• 18:04
  SF-Stacey: You know, I, I, I feel like when I stopped trying so hard, it opened up space to really get in touch with my desires.
• 18:13
  SF-Stacey: to really get in touch with, okay, what do I really want and then it became so much clearer.
• 18:19
  SF-Stacey: Like I want to travel.
• 18:21
  SF-Stacey: That's what I love to do.
• 18:22
  SF-Stacey: And my favorite things are creating and connecting.
• 18:25
  SF-Stacey: I'm a creator and a connector, my favorite things, you know, and I don't have to have back roads.
• 18:31
  SF-Stacey: I can have LH adventure travel and whoever wants to join me.
• 18:35
  SF-Stacey: will go.
• 18:35
  SF-Stacey: And it's been wonderful.
• 18:38
  SF-Stacey: And, um, that's been my biggest gift from all this, I think.
• 18:43
  SF-Dawn: Yeah.
• 18:43
  SF-Dawn: I love it.
• 18:44
  SF-Dawn: Well, is there any other advice that you would like to give women that feel like they have to be the best, are stuck on the treadmill of achievement and would like to figure out what they want?
• 18:54
  SF-Dawn: Because a lot of people that I interact with and that hire me for coaching, they don't know, they don't know what they want.
• 19:02
  SF-Stacey: Uh, you know, it's so funny.
• 19:04
  SF-Stacey: I went to coaches and I read books and I kept saying I would do something else if I only knew what I wanted to do.
• 19:09
  SF-Stacey: I didn't know.
• 19:09
  SF-Stacey: In the meanwhile, I'm like planning trips to Thailand.
• 19:13
  SF-Stacey: I'm like doing all these things, not even realizing.
• 19:17
  SF-Stacey: Like it didn't even dawn on me, I can put all that together.
• 19:21
  SF-Stacey: And so I, do I have advice?
• 19:23
  SF-Stacey: I'm no Sage, you know, I don't know, but I know for me again, when I stopped trying so hard.
• 19:30
  SF-Stacey: And I just left breathing space to, you know, Oh, this, yeah, my favorite thing.
• 19:35
  SF-Stacey: Somebody said to me, cause this is what happened.
• 19:37
  SF-Stacey: Somebody said, follow the energy.
• 19:40
  SF-Stacey: If something lifts you up, follow that energy.
• 19:43
  SF-Stacey: If it's a drag and a drain, don't walk down that path.
• 19:47
  SF-Stacey: And so when I stopped trying and I just started to say what lifts my energy, it led me there.
• 19:54
  SF-Stacey: everybody keep telling me trust.
• 19:56
  SF-Stacey: I'm like, you know, but I'm, but it does happen.
• 19:59
  SF-Stacey: Just don't give up,
• 20:01
  SF-Dawn: Yeah.
• 20:01
  SF-Dawn: And it's not immediate necessarily either.
• 20:03
  SF-Stacey: it's not immediate.
• 20:04
  SF-Stacey: And again, it doesn't have to be huge.
• 20:05
  SF-Stacey: I mean, maybe some people it'll be huge, but as I said to you before, it's the act of doing that is my expression of my light in the world.
• 20:15
  SF-Stacey: It's the act of doing it, the results and the end game and the rewards well, that I, I don't really have control over, but it's me shining my little light that makes me feel alive.
• 20:28
  SF-Dawn: Wonderful.
• 20:30
  SF-Dawn: Well, if people are resonating with these kind of trips you're planning and they're listening to you talk about these and saying, Oh my gosh, that's exactly what I need.
• 20:38
  SF-Dawn: Or maybe they just have a question for you.
• 20:40
  SF-Dawn: Where can they find you?
• 20:42
  SF-Dawn: What's the best place to get in touch?
• 20:44
  SF-Stacey: the best thing is to go to LH Adventure Travel.
• 20:47
  SF-Stacey: Either lh adventure travel.com or LH Adventure travel@gmail.com.
• 20:52
  SF-Stacey: I have a whole list of all my upcoming trips, the events, the activities and, and I'm so happy to talk to anyone.
• 20:59
  SF-Stacey: No one can just click a button and, and join.
• 21:02
  SF-Stacey: We, have a conversation to sign up, so I can share more about it and make sure, you know, they understand what it is and it feels like a great fit.
• 21:10
  SF-Stacey: And then we just go and we explore together.
• 21:12
  SF-Stacey: So, um, we'd love to have anybody contact me, LH Adventure Travel, and if it resonates with you.
• 21:19
  SF-Stacey: Come join me on the next journey.
• 21:21
  SF-Dawn: Sounds great.
• 21:23
  SF-Dawn: Thank you so much for sharing the way that you plan your trips and for sharing a little bit about your work life balance today, Stacey, it was really a pleasure to talk to you.
• 21:31
  SF-Stacey: Thanks for having me, Don.
• 21:34
  Stacy's trips sound exotic and amazing.
• 21:37
  Here are my takeaways from our conversation.
• 21:40
  Number one, follow the energy.
• 21:43
  I love having people do an exercise when I coach them of identifying their energy gains and energy drains and Stacey's discussion reminded me of that.
• 21:52
  The list of your energy gains and drains.
• 21:55
  Can contain things that are more vast like travel.
• 21:58
  As Stacy described for herself and it can also contain more specific things like the daily commute.
• 22:04
  When you make this list, you can then figure out ways to either get more of the things that give you energy into your life and eliminate the things that drain energy.
• 22:13
  And for those things that you can't always eliminate, you can also use the gains as a list of ways to combat those requisite dreams.
• 22:23
  Number two.
• 22:24
  Slow down to figure out what you really want.
• 22:27
  There is no race.
• 22:29
  Stacy knew she wanted to incorporate more aspects of her personality into her work-life balance, but she didn't know quite how so first she studied health coaching.
• 22:39
  Some education on wellness, and then she landed on making her tours.
• 22:45
  We're conditioned to want quick and drastic change, but the transformation is in the journey and it doesn't have to be immediate.
• 22:52
  Sometimes it requires some experimentation.
• 22:55
  You might try out something and if it doesn't work out, then you pivot to something else and that's all fine.
• 23:02
  Number three.
• 23:03
  This is my favorite one.
• 23:05
  It's okay.
• 23:06
  To not be the best as Stacy puts it.
• 23:09
  Stopping the strive to be the golden child in your group or the perfect parent, et cetera, doesn't mean that you don't care or that you're not good at what you do.
• 23:18
  Another thing Stacey said is good enough is so beautiful.
• 23:22
  Work on being your best, you, which is not the same as being the favorite one, the most prolific, the most productive, et cetera.
• 23:30
  My question to you today goes back to take away.
• 23:33
  Number one.
• 23:34
  Can you identify one thing that gives you tremendous energy and one thing that greatly drains you.
• 23:40
  Share these with me by leaving a comment on the blog post for this episode@practicebalanced.com or just send me a DM.
• 23:47
  Thanks for listening to the lean out podcast.
• 23:50
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• 24:02
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• 24:19
  You can also support my work by buying my book, lean out a professional woman's guide to finding authentic work-life balance for yourself, a friend, family member, or coworker.
• 24:31
  Have a great day and we'll see you next time