[Transcript starts at 0:39]
Hello, hello, hello, my podcast people, and thank you for joining me for yet another episode of my favorite podcast. Happy March. If you're listening, tuning in, watching on the day that it drops, it is Monday, March 3rd, where the fuck did February go? If you're watching, you see I got different glasses on.
I'm in my dad era, I think. I have another pair coming in a little bit smaller, but I actually really like these because I could see everything there's no blind spots And I'm just like this is nice. So let's let's do a little life updates and then we'll hop into the episode today we're talking about inconvenience and we're talking about the Consequences of convenience but before that a few life to life updates number one.
I finished the the parable series I'll call them the parable series books from Octavia Butler That's Powerball of the Sower, Powerball, uh, Powerball of the Talents. Fifteen out of ten, recommend. They're long as fuck. Uh, I listen to them. I don't like, really like to read the book. It's just easier because I can be doing other things.
Um, usually cleaning the house, which we're going to talk about later. Uh, but fifteen out of ten, recommend. Fifteen out of ten, recommend. Um, this next update, I have to whisper because Lex is in the next room. But I'm taking her on a surprise trip to Santa Barbara. For her birthday. When this drops, when you're listening, watching, we will have already gone, we'll be coming back home on Monday.
Um, but, I'll let you know how that goes. I'm big excited about it. Um, but, I went through VRBO, V R B O. Because fuck Airbnb, that owner, that guy, he doing too much. Um, and the lady seems so nice. I will report back, but she seems so nice. And I will say, this ties into the episode and just what I've been feeling in general.
Representation matters. We all fucking know this, but I'm going to say it. Representation matters. Diversity fucking matters. I actually wrote this to her. I didn't say diversity fucking matters, but I wrote this to her. And, um, when I was looking at the pictures, there's a bunch of people in the pictures, um, of the, the place.
And they all look different. There's like older people, younger people, clearly gay people, just um, black people. And it was great. And I wrote to her and said, thank you. All right, traveling for me is not, it's not a willy nilly thing. Um, and I, I think there's plenty of you that listen to this that think the same, but I will just, elucidate my experience, which is first, I got to think about where I'm going and is it safe for gay people?
How do they feel about gay people? And then I got to think about how they feel about black people. And then I got to think about how they feel about interracial couples. And then I got to think about the safety of two women. Like, you know, so even a step before that, something as simple as like what my picture.
was on the profile for A, B, and B. I absolutely thought about that, um, in past years and, like, having someone else book things, like, yeah, these are all well felt, you know, it's very, this is reality of living in the United States and we can fucking do better. But this lady passed the test with flying colors and I, I wrote her to say thank you about that and she was, the conversation back was, she was just great.
Um, so I'll report back, but, um, I'm excited to surprise Lex. There's a hot tub and a pool, probably be too cool, too cold for the pool, but hot tub. And an ocean view, and I'll let you know how it goes. Okay, so, I can speak louder now, um The weather's been nice in LA. I've been playing volleyball. Body's holding up.
We moved up classes to Saturdays, which has been fucking great. I'm doing work outside more. I actually outlined this episode sitting outside. Just taking advantage of living in, living in LA, living in a warm place and using that to fill, you know, fill my cup and re energize me in between the things.
Because besides that I am having Pretty, I have a really hard time doing much of anything besides trying to understand and learn more about everything and being very in everything that is going on right now. And I said, I'm having a hard time perhaps for effect, but I'm not over here struggling by any means.
I'm very much just like, this is all that my brain wants to do. And I'm not going to run from it. I don't know where you are at with things, how you feel about things. This is very, you know, unidirectional platform, though I always welcome. Message me. If you leave a message on YouTube, I'm not gonna lie, it takes me a very long time to get back.
So, I'm sorry. Um, if you, like, wanna have a conversation, DM me on Instagram. I will get back to you in, like, 5 seconds. Um, but, I don't know how you're feeling about things, but as it relates to this episode, if you are feeling like, Fuck! This is annoying and inconvenient, and I just wanna live my life. You're right.
I feel that. I hear you. I commiserate. I empathize.
My brain is very much stuck on reading all the things, consuming the things, trying to understand the things, trying to connect the dots with things, and trying to provide myself with a sense of certainty. Calmness is probably a better word, but either way, that's where I'm at all the time. Maybe your brain is not doing that.
I am not here to judge. For those of you that do feel like that, you are not alone, please, by all means, reach out to me because then I feel less alone. But I am here with this episode to encourage those of you who are feeling like, fuck, this is inconvenient and it's annoying, I'm encouraging you to keep going.
I believe that right now we are truly being asked to take responsibility for our happiness. We're being asked to take responsibility for our well being, for our health, for our relationships, for everything. And it feels fucking annoying. It feels inconvenient. Like, yeah, I just want to sit outside and like be on my back balcony and like just be yelling at Rupert to not jump over the edge.
Like, I'd rather be doing that. Yes. Absolutely. I think that we have gotten really used to and accustomed to outsourcing a lot of things in life. We really champion it. Decision making, dealing with the impact of our actions, conveniences, upholding of rights, we've outsourced it. And I have no judgment with that statement, I just think it's a fact.
And now we're being asked To think about all of these things, to defend these things, to understand these things. And it's just like, fuck man. I just want to chill and watch love is blind. I want to chill and go snowshoeing and listening to the silence. I just want to run my business and serve my customers.
I get it. But right now. We are seeing just how truly, truly connected and intertwined we are with everyone, everyone else on this planet, and it feels inconvenient. And I'm not here to throw any shade. I'm here to say I'm right there with you. The flip side of this is understanding, recognizing, digging into the fact that convenience has consequences.
An escalator? They only exist in certain locations. There's the danger factor. My guy, Steven, he just actually cut his hand open. Less exercise by taking them. There's no single speed. You're just going. Sometimes you're stuck there. A manual transmission on a car. Have y'all ever seen the inside of an automatic transmission?
Jesus Christ. That's brilliant. The consequence of it is that they're expensive. The repairs are expensive. More things can go wrong. Cell phones, smart phones, they're fucking great, they're so convenient, and also we are always available, which means we're never fully present. Technology in and of itself, fucking amazing, has created so much convenience.
Something like, uh, DoorDash, and just being able to look things up right from here, you don't have to go to the library or anything like that. Run your business right from home. Creates isolation. You don't have to leave your house for shit. You don't have to interact with people. You don't have to leave your bed to have an audience.
Convenience has consequences. Same day shipping. What's the consequence of that? Well, we've created billionaires. And we also probably have a bunch of shit that we don't need. So the action items, right, cause you know, you already know, I'm never here to just complain. I will commiserate with you, like, it feels inconvenient now, right?
We're like, ah, fuck! But, we're being faced with the consequences of convenience, and now we can do something. So, for me, what I'm doing is It's a start leaning into that inconvenience. And when I was outlining this, and I've brought this up in past episodes, that Lex and I, one weekend of the month, we clean the house.
We have a big place, right? It's basically 2, 500 square feet. It's big. It's a lot to clean. And it's a temptation to be like, outsource it. I don't mind, I don't love it, but I don't mind it and I do love the outcome and there is something about it that makes me, it makes me appreciate all that we have. It makes me take care of it more.
It's right. And this is just for me. I'm not putting this on you. I'm not saying you have to go clean your house. I'm just giving examples in my own personal life. So leaning into that inconvenience, uh, I am actually trying to avoid Amazon. I haven't ordered anything. Um, for those of you listening that maybe you're like, yeah, I, I'm trying to do that too, or I, maybe I would do that.
A start is do you really need that same day shipping? And I get that if you don't live like where I live in busy places and, um, that may not be a thing, but like literally in LA, like I can get things this afternoon. Right. It's, it's insane. It's insane. Um, but I'm trying to avoid it. I haven't had to use it.
And like, you know, yes, that means I have to like go somewhere and like, you know. There's an inconvenience factor. Sometimes I'm like, I don't actually fucking need that thing. I'm trying to find salt. I will say that's been annoying. Uh, there's diamond kosher salt. I don't fucking have it anywhere. They have it on Amazon.
They don't have it anywhere, so going to search for that. Um, but I'm leaning into the inconvenience. I, I need something valuable. There's just Something incredibly valuable to what we perceive as inconvenient, because we have been afforded so many conveniences and the value of doing things that we may not see at first, but in not doing them, they've come, it's come at a cost and there's been consequences.
And so, you know, back to some more action items. Whatever you are doing in this fucking time to build a world that you want to live in, keep doing it. I believe in you. I want to start off with that and just The whole episode is about like, yeah, it feels inconvenient. It feels like fuck. Or maybe for you, you're like, I love doing it.
Great. But if any part of you is just like, I can't believe we have to fucking do this. I have to fight for this. I hear you. I fucking hear you. And whatever you're doing, thank you for doing it. Keep doing it. If you're not doing anything at all, you're not doing anything to build a world that you want to live in, you're not doing anything, maybe perhaps consider starting.
What that looks like, I cannot say. It's got to matter to you. I've been talking about this in episodes. It's got to matter to you. Hopefully you listened to last week's episode with Dr. J Pop. She talked about pressing pause, right? Stopping and identifying your own values. What matters to you and starting there.
Which brings me to another point. Be mindful of what I'm going to call not like that ism. Which is understanding the fact that different things are important to different people. And if we are like, you only care about me if you do it, and you fight in X way, and you do it in this exact, you know, for X thing, you do it in this exact way.
That's less than ideal. I definitely don't talk, I definitely don't go to social media with that take. I'm just like, if you don't do it this way, you don't believe in this. There is nuance. with everything, and it's best, in my opinion, handled via discussion. Absolutely call out fascism, absolutely call out fuckin being a fuckin Nazi.
But when people are showing up, and they're trying to combat these things, be mindful of not like that ism. Again, my answer will always be curiosity and conversation. Take time, this is inconvenient, it's fuckin inconvenient. Take time to have conversations with people. And you're curious, right? It's likely not going to be convenient and it may not be pleasant.
Of note, get comfortable with the uncomfortable. Be okay with the discomfort. Be okay with difference. It is okay if people disagree with you. It is okay. It is okay if people are upset with you. Let them have their experience. Let them have their emotions. It's convenient to avoid discomfort, but now what consequence, what's the consequence, what's the cost?
I say this about, you know, it could be uncomfortable, you know, people could disagree. I say this to manage expectations, but I also want to remind you that it's very difficult to be like legit shower mad with somebody in person. I, like, you have all the fucking answers and you're fucking mad in the shower by yourself and then you see them and you're like, well, that holds, the same holds true for them.
I can't speak to social media because there's like a fucking, you know, barrier between and those are the conversations I'm telling you to go have.
Something to think about is having conversations in person. It's inconvenient. I get it. But oftentimes thinking about the thing, thinking about the conversation is far worse than the actual experience. We've seen this across the board, right? Many things. Ideally, you know, I'm going to. Uh, reference last week's episode with Dr.
J Pop. Ideally, before you're doing all this stuff, you have taken time to sit with yourself and identify your values, your biases, and unpack your shit. And then you can have these conversations that are founded in curiosity. Again, my resources, Laura Jean, she's Dietitian Values, James Olivia, Chu Hillman.
They are inquisitive underscore human. We will link the episodes and their, their, um, social handles and things like that. Thank you, Courtney. But the conversations, there's value in that, we can have nuance founded in curiosity. The reality is that there are, there are eleventy billion things that you could care about right now.
There is intentional overwhelm being sown here, uh, but not by me, but by the powers that be. It's intentional, right? To keep people like, ah! And the flip side of that is that, or the continuation of that is that it feels pretty fucking inconvenient. Cause you're like, I can't care about all the things, I'm like, I just want to like, fucking just relax.
I get it. Keep going. Do it anyway. We are being tasked with being responsible for our health, and our happiness, and our safety, and our well being, and our understanding of the interconnected nature of our species. Start small, start simple, understand that every single action does count. I know that a bunch of you listening to this, watching this, your healthcare providers, your PTs, your movement specialists, movement providers, you tell your clients this, someone that's trying to lose weight, eating one less fry counts.
It matters. It makes a difference. There's a ripple effect. Suddenly you eat one less fry and you're like, you know what? I could maybe have two next time. I could do something else that maybe feels inconvenient or difficult. It all matters. I watch as people don't practice what they preach. And they're like, but nothing's gonna matter then.
I can't fucking overhaul everything. I can't make the biggest difference. I can't, you know, cause a tsunami of, of change. So I'm not gonna do anything. Come on. Don't be that person. Do not be that person. Don't be that client that you don't like having. Start Small, start simple. Every action does count.
Every action does make a difference. Share the post, speak up, have the conversation, read about the topic. Maybe that's what you have to do. You have to go educate yourself, call your reps, say hi to your neighbor, go to the town hall meeting, donate money, donate your time, anything, which one? Again, literally anything.
Start with what matters to you, and please stop hiding behind worrying about getting it wrong. Take action. Do something. Get started. Keep going. I know, I know, I know, I know it feels inconvenient. Do it anyway. Alright, that's all I got for you. Look at the time, looking at my notes. That's all that I got.
Loving this background today. We got the blue lights going, got a whole blue hue. We'll see how it ends up and looks in post production, but as always, super, super grateful that you tune in. You listen to me. You want to chat. You know where to find me. Shoot me a DM. Would love to hear from you. I know it feels inconvenient, all the things.
Do it anyway. All right. Until next time, friends, maestro.
Watch this episode on YouTube!
MOTM #653: Pressing Pause with Dr. JPop
Connect with James-Olivia Chu Hillman: @inquisitive_human
Connect with Laura Jean: @dietitianvalues
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