Episode 172: The Cozy Episode
Join me for a super casual, random, cozy conversation about setting the pace of your life, melting into things that bring you joy, and finding the sensory things that make you feel cozy at home.
Helpful Resources:
Hot Cinnamon Spice Tea I was drinking during episode
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Transcript:
Hello, everyone. You are listening to episode 172 of the Mindful Productivity Podcast. I'm your host, Sarah Steckler, and this episode, as you might already be able to tell, is going to be very soft spoken and super cozy. I've never done an episode like this, but with Fall on the Way and it's raining here in the background, hopefully you can hear it. I wanted to do something cozy.
I also wanted to create an episode that maybe can help you relax a little bit. I've been feeling stressed lately. The past two years have felt stressful, and every now and then it can be super nice to pour a cup of hot tea and just listen to someone listen to someone reminding you to relax and be present and be mindful. So we're going to go ahead and get right into today's episode. We'll be talking about some cozy things.
I'll be sharing some updates in my business and life and just sharing some reminders with you around mindset around productivity, all of that. So while there isn't a consistent theme to the conversation itself, my goal and my hope is that this episode feels cozy, and I'm not going to play the intro to the podcast this week if this is your first time listening. Most of the podcast isn't like this at all, but I just want to paint a picture of what's currently happening in my office right now.
So I've got a wonderful hot cup of tea. It's a hot cinnamon spice, and it is maybe the best tea I've ever had.
I'll share a link to what I'm drinking in the show notes, and I've got my window cracked open and it's been raining all day. It's actually been pretty stormy. The powers went out a couple of times. I haven't been able to get a whole lot done today, and I even had a call scheduled with someone and it just didn't work out. She actually lost her Internet connection.
My power was going in and out, so we're like, let's just pick another day. And I've been really thinking a lot lately about the pace of things and when we allow ourselves to slow down and some of the judgment that we have around how productive we are or how much we get done in a given day. And I was actually talking with a friend today, and she said, I didn't really get anything done today. And then about a few minutes later because we talked over a boxer.
She sent another message and she said, Well, actually, she's listed off all these things, right.
All these things that she did in both her business and her personal life. And I said, wow, you actually did quite a bit today, and she said I did. But in comparison to what my life used to be like, it doesn't feel like I'm being productive enough. And I wanted to chew on that for a little bit because we have so many different seasons in our life, and sometimes we have fewer responsibilities or more energy or the world just looks different or the work that we're doing in the world looks different.
And so because of that, our productivity and our energy management and our time is also going to look very different.
And while there's always things that have to get done in terms of moving the needle forward towards whatever you're working on or what you're working for, I think it's also important to realize that we don't have to constantly work hard in order to be successful. And here's what I've been thinking about. I went on a super windy solo walk this morning. I was really thinking about this. I was thinking about how growing up right.
You're always at least I was always praised for hard work. The harder you would work, the more effort you'd put in, the more tired you were. Those were always signs that you were doing the right thing. And so that always kind of stuck with me. If I can work harder, if I can work longer hours, if I can work harder than people around me really prove myself, if things are a struggle, then it must mean that it's working.
It must mean that I'm doing the right thing, and I'm paving the way forward for ultimate success and happiness in my life. And while I think there still are obviously places for that, I'm not saying that we should avoid struggle. I think that there is a mindset shift when it comes to realizing that getting what you want in life doesn't always have to mean that there is a struggle. You can work towards things that you really enjoy the process of, for instance, working on your physical health or improving your flexibility or your mobility in your body doesn't mean that you have to torture yourself with daily workouts that you dread doing or going to a fitness center that has you doing really high intensity, heavy weight lifting.
That only makes you so tired and sore.
You feel like you got hit by a truck. You can actually do things like taking daily walks or lifting a lighter amount of weight and still improve your body's functionality and your mobility and how you feel in your body, this idea that in order to make it, whether it's in your business, whether it's in your relationships, that there has to be struggle, I think, is something that I'm just exploring more. So I love to hear your thoughts on that as well. But I mean, even in, like, marriage and stuff, for example, right.
I've been with my husband since 2011. We got married in 2014, coming up on 2022. So you can do the math there. But I remember when we first got engaged. Everyone said the first thing that everyone told us was marriage is so hard.
It's so hard. Get ready for the hardest thing you'll ever do. And that's all we ever heard and while it has been, it does have come with its challenges and our different perspectives and the nuances in between. There. And I won't say that it hasn't been difficult at times.
It's definitely not felt extremely difficult. I've been in so many relationships in the past where it constantly did feel like a struggle, like everything was like pulling teeth right. Every time there was a disagreement, it was hard or just navigating anything. It didn't work. And with my husband, that wasn't a thing.
It felt very effortless, and it's very easy for us to communicate and admit when we're both wrong and plan things and talk about things. And again, there's still occasional disagreements. But I always remember those people, so many real people in real life and other people online and whatnot always saying it's going to be hard. And I just have been thinking about that a lot lately about how our perception of what struggle needs to look like or that it needs to exist in order for us to enjoy something in our life.
So it's just kind of the first little anecdote of today's episode that was kind of on my mind.
This tea, this hot cinnamon spice tea, it's so flavorful. I don't know that I've ever had a tea quite like this. Like it's almost hold on one more second.
Wow. Just so, so good. It definitely has that Christmas feel to it. Speaking of Christmas, we are coming up on Halloween, and I haven't really been feeling Halloween this year. Like, I love fall.
I've been all like about the coziness in the fall and the rain, but I haven't been getting so much into the spooky side of things. I definitely think this weekend on Halloween, I will watch some spooky movies. I'm not a big fan of, like, horror or Gore or super extreme stuff. I get scared very easily. Like, for example, when I was little, maybe a teenager, I can't remember what year it came out.
I watched the movie signs with the aliens, and it scared me so much I couldn't sleep for weeks. So that's just an example of how little it takes for me to get really upset. So maybe there's some spooky movies. But I was thinking about how excited I am for Christmas. And for me, Christmas isn't tied to religion or anything like that.
For me, it's a cozy season. So we put up a Christmas tree. We do presents, but that's kind of our version of what it is. And it's about making home cozy. And last year, the past couple of years, I put up our multiple fake Christmas trees for those people in November.
And this year I definitely think that I'm going to put up my Christmas tree maybe even a few days after Halloween. And the thing is, it's so funny. I always think it's so funny how people judge each other for these things. Like, who are these people doing this? And it's always like, Why does it matter?
Why do people get upset when other people love doing something in their own home? Right. So I will probably be decorating. I have a I think it's like five or six foot white Christmas tree that's going to go in my office and very excited about that. And I think for me it's more of like a Hugo thing, like a coziness thing, because the glowing light from the Christmas tree lights, it just makes me feel so relaxed.
And I've really been thinking about some of the more, like, wholesome and cozy things that I'm into. And as we move into fall and now winter or getting close to winter, I've been thinking about all the things I really want to make time and space and room for. And again, these are things I do every year. I've done them for decades now, right? Almost.
But there's something different about it. When you really get intentional and you make a list, you make a list of things that you really want to do, and then you tie them to maybe some of your other needs, like your sensory needs, for example, which is something that I've been exploring more didn't have a whole lot of self awareness around that in past years. And I've really been thinking about why I love fall so much. And it has a lot to do with the fact that my sensory needs feel really met because it's cooler outside.
And I love cooler temperatures.
I love taking long walks when it's crisp and cool outside, and you can feel the wind, like hitting your face. And this chill is in the air. And my body is just like, yes, that is for me. I'm not a fan of the heat. So cozy, colder days.
Yes. And I'm currently in the Pacific Northwest, so this time of year is perfect for that. So that's one of them. And then just the feeling of, like, cozy blankets and cozy socks. We have so many blankets, and my excuse is that we need them, and we do rotate them out quite a bit.
But we have a Bulldog, and Bella loves to have something we call leggies. So if we put a blanket over our lap, she has to sit, like in our lap. And that's how she sleeps with us, too. She rotates between who she sleeps with. But anytime she's needy or something, we just ask her.
We say, do you want to get leggies? And she runs into either the living room or the bedroom and immediately plops down in your lap. And it's like, one of the best feelings in the world. And she like, looks back at you with her big Bulldog guys. And it's just like, the cutest thing.
We have a lot of blankets because as you can imagine, when you have a Bulldog, they're stinky, and the blankets get stinky. So we have a lot of them. And I love the way they feel that's a big sensory thing for me. So I love just like the tactileness of this season, the weather, the temperature of the air. I love having a cup of hot coffee in the morning and the way that feels and the mug in my hands and same with tea in the afternoon or the evening, right?
Just the aroma it gives off or the temperature right before you take a sip. And some of the air, like, reflects back off of the water, the hot tea and like, hits your nose. And it's that whole moment. And I'm sure, as you can guess right now. Also, what I'm describing are all these lovely moments of mindfulness, all these moments where you're aware of your senses and how lovely and amazing it is to be alive and to be a human and to be able to experience all these things.
I love that. And it also just feels like this time of year to really nest. And I get excited when we get, like, storms or power outages because it just feels like we get this big permission slip to stay home and read or watch movies.
So again, it's coming back to these hobbies that you might have that are season specific. So that's journaling for me listening to podcasts, sometimes true crime stuff. It can also be reading, getting into coloring books. And another cozy wholesomething thing I'm totally into is just like, cozy gaming. And so what I mean by that?
And if you follow cozy gamers on TikTok or anything, you'll know what I mean. But really, just finding games that you like that are super relaxing and cozy. And I think this is it's not a new thing. But I feel like it's gaining momentum in popularity because for the longest time, if you heard the term gamer, you would typically think of like, guys, right? Like a teenage guy or a dude playing active shooter games or more violent games, games that are, like, very loud.
And that's one of the reasons why my husband now has really nice headphones because I cannot stand hearing, like, shooting noises for hours on end if he's playing like, Halo or something. So I really love cozy gaming because it's kind of like reclaiming the gaming space, but with games that don't have those components. So my biggest, most favorite game of all time is Animal Crossing. I have a switch light and I have it with me everywhere. I play almost every day, and they're releasing if you're an Animal Crossing fan, you already know.
But they're releasing a big update on November 5 of this year, and I'm actually going to take the day off and play the entire day like, I'm redoing my island. If you don't know what Animal Crossing is, it's basically this lovely, cute wholesome game where you get to move to this island and you have all these different villagers that are different animal characters, and you get to build your house and collect fruits and plant trees, pumpkins. You get to water flowers and create different hybrids of flowers.
And then you get to TerraForm your land, which means you can make water and Rivers and waterfalls and up to three different levels of land. And there's all these little magical hidden things throughout and in between.
Right. And I've just found it's Super Super. Nourishing, it was something that really saved me mental health wise. During the height of the pandemic, I was playing the game all the time. And for those of you that don't know, my husband was still in Italy during most of the pandemic, and we'd already been apart for a long time.
And so I was completely alone in my house. Thank goodness I had my animals, Bella, and my cat, Dublin. I think that's what really saved me. But to be alone for that long without any physical interaction with people or physical touch was really hard. There were some low moments there, and I'm sure I know I'm not the only one that experienced that.
And so this game, it was something that just allowed me to almost feel like I had connection like to have these silly conversations with villagers every day and to know that every day, even though the world felt so chaotic, there was something constant. And I think there's something nice about that about obviously finding a balance, but about finding forms of escapism that allow your mind and your brain to have a break. Because when I'm playing that game, I get so absorbed and everything and the music that they have the background music.
I feel like it was probably designed this way. It's subtle, but it somehow helps me just focus on the game and be really present.
And I'm able to stop thinking about my business. And I'm able to stop thinking about all the things I have to do or the metrics I want to track or the things I'm stressed about or the things I wish were different. I'm able to just completely let go and just focus on watering pumpkins. And there's something really lovely about that. So I'd be really curious to know if you have a game or a podcast you listen to or a movie you watch things that you come back to, and that's another thing.
I think there's something really lovely about when you do feel stressed and you do feel anxious about coming back to things that are very predictable. So like having comfort movies or comfort films where you know exactly what's going to happen. You've watched it multiple times. Maybe you can even totally recite the whole script and you're not watching it for novelty, right? You're not watching it because you don't know what happens or it's new.
You're actually watching it because you know exactly what happened. And because of that, there isn't any stress because you know what the outcome is. And I think right now that can be, especially just so, so nice to know that there's one thing that you can count on that won't change. And one of my favorite movies I love to watch to unplug is Sweetheart, Alabama. I really like that movie.
We also have some Christmas movies we love watching every year. One of them is National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. Hands down. I think one of the best movies ever with Chevy Chase and everything like that movie is so funny. I love it so much.
Me and my husband quote it all the time and just coming back to these things, right? Traditions, moments. But as we approach the holidays, also realizing that the things that you may do, no matter what holidays, you celebrate those traditions, you can also create in different ways throughout the year, right? Like, you don't have to wait for Christmas, for example, to put up a specific decoration or to watch a specific movie. You could totally make rituals for things you do in the spring or the summer, or if you get seasonal depression and you can't stand the winter, maybe there's other things you do.
I just really think that our environment and how we feel in our own homes and how safe and nourished we feel is so important. And it's why I take a lot of time to feel organized in my home. I love having my office be tidy and having cozy things.
We have two little fake fireplaces someday. I hope to have home with, like, a really nice fireplace. But for now we have these two little fake ones, and I love it because you can turn them on. They have a heater. But you can also just turn on the fake flames and something about just watching that in the background.
Like every time I'm reading and I look up to see that, or if I'm doing some work in the evening in my office to be able to have that on just feels extra cozy. So obviously this podcast episode was a lot of rambling and not really talking about much of anything. But if you're still here, I'm so glad you are. And I just want to remind you that your existence is enough. And there's so much going on, always that we really have to really carve out space for ourselves because no one else is going to fight for the moments that you can take off from work.
Besides, you, no one else is going to. And if you do have someone that does all this for you, wonderful. It's wonderful to have advocates in their life, but at the end of the day, the only person that's really going to know when you need a break or when you might need a break soon, or if you're stressed or if you have tension in your chest or your back. The only person that's truly going to know that is you. So you have to become the person that advocates for yourself.
You have to use that self agency to stand up for your time and make your decisions in life that help you feel at ease because you deserve that. Everyone deserves to feel at ease. You don't constantly need to feel stressed in order to make a difference in order to create a successful life. Whatever that looks like for you, there's a balance here, right? There's a balance between really doing stuff for the world and then really coming back to ourselves.
And I hope that makes sense. So I hope you enjoyed this cozy episode. Definitely a random in between episode. And yeah, I'm going to just go ahead and hit publish on this one. And if you're ever thinking about starting a podcast, this is just an example of how having conversations with people can be powerful.
And if you're a content creator, not everything you create has to be this huge, well planned out thing. Sometimes it can just be really lovely to listen to someone else on the other end of your headphones. Someone maybe you've been listening to for a while. So whether you're a new listener to the podcast or you've been here for a long time, thank you so much for listening. Truly, truly appreciate all of you so much.
And I hope you have a wonderful week ahead, so that's the end of the episode. And I hope to see you back here next week and make sure to go check out all of the past episodes because there's already over 170 of them, and I think most of them are pretty decent. Alright, talk soon. Bye.
