Latest / The Pressing Play Podcast / Ep13 Pressing Play on Yourself: Permission was yours all along
Transcript
- Joanne Fiddy: Hello and welcome back to Pressing Play. As you can see, I am not in the podcast studio. I'm actually recording this from a little guest lodge overlooking the mountains and the lake in Bavaria. And you know what's wild? I've lived here for eight years. This place is only an hour from my home, and this is the first time I've ever done this for myself here on my own for two days. And I'm sitting on a balcony looking at the mountains in the water. Keep thinking, why haven't I done this sooner? And I think that's the question so many women are asking themselves now. Because somewhere along the way, ⁓ many of us learn to pause ourselves, especially ⁓ ⁓ the perimenopausal menopausal years. And that's what talk in episode one. Do you go back and have a listen if you haven't already? Because we've learned. To pause ourselves, but not only that, I realize is we've learnt to put ourselves at the bottom of the list. Do you feel that too? Like that somewhere we've learnt that being a a good woman growing up means being responsible, available, accommodating, always thinking about everyone else's needs first. And quite frankly, it's exhausting. It is exhausting. And what if that's exactly why so many women, feel flat, disconnected, and stuck. Especially ⁓ when ⁓ perimenopause hits, which makes us even more exhausted. what's brilliant about perimenopause ⁓ is those people pleaser ⁓ neurons ⁓ start to go. And ⁓ I'm not sure about you, but it's like having that wake-up call where it's like, hang on a second, what's going on? Do you get that too? Do you feel that as at the same time as me? and I think what's happening is ⁓ we've stopped play on ourselves. ⁓ And what happens when we do press play? What happens when we do do something? Like I've only been here 24 hours, and I'm telling you, we get that novelty feeling of doing something new. We get that space to get some perspective. We start to feel more creative as our parasymphatic nervous system starts to relax and we get that part of our brain back. We get that dopamine hit. Play is all about dopamine. We get that dopamine feel-good factor back. It helps wake our brains up. We feel more motivated. We feel more happy. We feel more creative. And when we step away from our usual environment and our usual responsibilities, our brains suddenly have space to ask. To ask those important questions. And I'm going to ask you this, my love. What do you want? What lights you up? Because it's fast-paced this life. There is so much going on. And taking a moment and pressing plate on ourselves can help us unlock that part of ourselves ⁓ that's maybe feeling exhausted and resentful. ⁓ And sitting here looking these mountains right now, and I you can see a peek of it. ⁓ I don't feel selfish. ⁓ I feel alive. ⁓ I feel creative, I thought I'd just jump on the pod now. I feel like I'm getting a part of myself back in the in the wave of what's been going on. And maybe that's the lesson. Dressing play doesn't have to be a huge reinvention. Sometimes it looks like booking a night away, sitting on a balcony, drinking a coffee slowly, because you can. Taking a walk. Maybe if the podcast is out there, it's recording a podcast. Listening to your own thoughts. Giving yourself a little space to breathe and realising you've been waiting for permission that was yours to give ⁓ all along. And as I'm sitting here, these are the I'm genuinely reflecting on myself, and I just thought as a collective, let's just have a little little session together and ask ourselves the same. And maybe as a collective, we can all press play in this moment. If you can, grab a journal, piece of paper, the notes app, or you can even pause the episode. know some of you listen to this while you're driving. ⁓ If you're on my mailing list, and I suggest you do, ⁓ I will also put the questions ⁓ there as well. And if you'd like to email me your answers because I genuinely read ⁓ everything ⁓ and I respond. So do me ⁓ So here's some questions that I'm asking and I think will help you as well, press play. What is something that lights you up that you have been putting off? And why haven't you done it yet? What are you telling yourself? What's the reasoning behind you why you haven't done it? And when was the last time you did something simply because it made you feel alive? And what have you been waiting for permission to do? And if nobody else's opinions mattered, what would you press play on right now? And maybe the biggest question of all if you don't do it now, then when? Because that's the question I'm asking myself as I sit here today. I've lived here for eight years, and this is the first time I've come away on my own and done something like this. And all I keep asking myself is why haven't I done this sooner? so maybe today isn't about having all the answers. Maybe it's simply About giving ourselves permission to ask the questions. Maybe it's about creating enough pause in our lives to hear ourselves again so we can press play. And maybe, just maybe, one answer will be enough to help us press play on our lives a little more. Because I don't think we're here to spend our lives paused. we're here to feel alive. I think we're here to create, to explore, to rest, to laugh, to surprise ourselves, and to remember who we are beyond our responsibilities. My loves, you don't need permission to feel alive. Press play on the thing that's been quietly calling your name. Let's do this together as a collective. Let's remind each that it's never too to press play on ourselves. Until next time, keep pressing play.