Christine: You are listening to the Your Empty Nest Coach podcast, with Coach Christine, episode number 22: Thursday Thoughts About. … You may or may not know this, but I have a “Thursday Thoughts About” e-mail list. Each Thursday, I send out random thoughts about what is on my mind. A bit of encouragement and I note my most recent podcast episodes in the PS. section of the e-mail.
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Christine: You are listening to the Your Empty Nest Coach podcast, with Coach Christine, episode number 22: Thursday Thoughts About. This podcast is for you, a mother who years ago walked away from a career to raise your child. Sure, you’ve been busy volunteering, car pools, maybe part-time work and taking care of everyone. But your main gig, that has been your child. Now, that they are in their later years of high school, the empty nest looms ahead for you and it is freaking you out. I’ve been there and I get it. Together, we’ll turn our freaking out energy into freaking awesome energy.
00:00:36
Hello, my empty nest friend! Thanks for listening today. My wish for you is that you are able to find the thoughts to improve your life and be kind to yourself, one small thought improvement at a time, will make a tremendous impact in your life down the road. You’ve totally got this. You may or may not know this, but I have a “Thursday Thoughts About” e-mail list. Each Thursday, I send out random thoughts about what is on my mind. A bit of encouragement and I note my most recent podcast episodes in the PS. section of the e-mail.
00:01:09
I’ll be honest, there are some weeks that I wonder why I do it. It’s just one more thing on my list of things that I do to get my Your Empty Nest Coach business up and running. But I found three things that keep me going with these Thursday Thoughts emails. Number one, it’s a bit more real-time for me reaching you. While not quite Insta Story real-time, I typically write it the week I send it out. For contrast, my podcast is recorded weeks in advance. I’m as far as five or six weeks out at times. Number two, each week I begin wondering what I’ll write about and I’ve found so far, that they pretty much write themselves, because, you know, life gives you topics. Number three, sometimes the act of writing one of these triggers and entire podcast episode, and that is always helpful. I thought for this episode, I would look back, share a few of my favorite “Thursday Thoughts About” emails, and maybe share new thoughts about the original content as well.
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The first one I’m going to share was sent out in early November of last year, 2018. It was titled, “Thursday Thoughts About Being Brave.” Happy Thursday, my empty nest friend. I’m leaving my day job early today, to go to a workshop in New York City. Four hours plus of driving, total, for a two-hour workshop. My initial thoughts when I received the email were, I can’t go to New York City on a Thursday evening, that is way too much. Then I thought about it. Wait, why not? I changed my thought to I could go to New York City next Thursday. I played it out and decided to go for it. This evening, I will be networking in New York City with the vendor who created the software that I use for my online classroom, and we’ll get to meet 30 plus others who use the platform and want to include online coaching in their portfolio.
00:02:56
This is not the easy choice. The easy choice is to stay home and do what I always do. How often do we dismiss thoughts that might possibly change our lives? Check your thoughts and see what changes. Here’s my follow-up thought on that one, oh, my goodness, I got chills reading this, because it did change my life. Just last week, I attended a Philadelphia event for Teachable, which is the vendor that I was speaking about, where I not only attended, but I am their Philadelphia partner. We have another event next month. See the episode show notes for details.
00:03:30
How did that partnership happen? You guessed it. I attended their event in New York City in November, and they just happened to be looking for partners in different areas. My friend, definitely check all those thoughts that you quickly dismiss in your life, while there definitely is some garbage that needs to be thrown out, you want to make sure that is all you’re throwing away.
00:03:55
Next up is my “Thursday Thoughts About Imposter Syndrome.” This one is from early December 2018. Imposter Syndrome, it has always been a problem in my life. It is something that almost stopped me from creating this business. It hit me again, this week. I created my very first podcast episode over the weekend. The planets aligned, I figured out the editing, the music, the provider to host my podcast and all of that work that goes along with the short phrase, created my very first podcast episode.
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Once I had it uploaded to my host, I then did the next logical thing, as I read online, and submitted it to iTunes and other places. Spotify was handled automatically through my provider. By the end of the day, I found it on Spotify. It’s now there for anyone, everyone, or noone to find. Excited? Nope. Anxiety? Yes. I coached myself through it. One of the thoughts that kept popping up was, there are so many more qualified people than me, that should be doing this. This could be a real thing, but what does it serve me, in my life, to have this thought? When I think this thought, it makes me feel scared and moves me to inaction. That is not going to work. Going forward, when I notice the thought above, I will change it to I am qualified to share my story and journey with the world. This new thought brings me to action through the feeling of qualification. Is qualification a feeling? I’m making it one. I’m telling you, my empty nest friend, this works. My follow-up thoughts on that one, this was one of those emails that prompted an entire episode. Listen to episode 8 to see where it landed. I also have a link to that episode in my show notes.
00:05:37
Next up, sometimes my emails are short and have the purpose of letting you know I’m thinking of you. “Thursday Thoughts About Winter Break.” Happy Thursday! After a holiday party at my day job tomorrow, I am thrilled that I will be heading out of state to pick up my daughter for her winter break. How is it that another semester is over already? Time goes crazy fast. Podcasts keep me company on my journey to my destination, and the beautiful chatter of catching up brings me home. May you enjoy the chatter of your loved ones this weekend. All I have to add to this one, is I hope you enjoy the chatter of your loved ones this weekend, too.
00:06:12
Finally, sometimes I fill the emails with a tiny bit of tough love. This one’s “Thursday Thoughts About Consistency.” Consistency, I wrote it on the whiteboard in my day job’s office. Consistency is the creator and killer of dreams. Someone said, “Hmm? The killer?” Yes. Here is what I mean, a consistent thing doesn’t mean it’s always a good thing. Does it? Consistently choosing to eat dessert, even between meals, not to leave your house to go to the gym, not to put your phone down when your child or partner is talking to you, or to spend hours on social media. What are you doing consistently? Are you aware that you are making those choices? Do they lead to the dreams you have in store for your life? You consistently choose to do things all of the time. I challenge you to be conscious of your choices, and this is important, to be kind to yourself if you identify a consistency in your life that needs to be changed.
00:07:09
Dreaming big and choosing the right things to do consistently is worth it. What do you think? Is there a type of “Thursday Thoughts About” that you like best? Do you already receive them, and how do you like them? If you don’t already receive the email, I invite you to sign up today. The best part is, if after reading one of my emails, you have a question, all you need to do is hit reply to reach out to me. I answer all of those emails. Don’t hesitate to let me know how you’re doing. If you are ready to dig in and create a change in your own life that impacts both you and those around you, I invite you to join my upcoming coaching program. Be sure to get on my waitlist as space is always limited.
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The questions I have for you in this episode are:
1) Are you on my “Thursday Thoughts About” email, yet?
2) If yes, what is your favorite type of email? If no, why the heck not?
Fly on over to our Facebook group. Our name is the Green Popsicle Sticks. Want to know why? Listen to episode 17, or head to my website, youremptynestcoach.com/community for links to join our flock.
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Why should you join our group? The adjustment to not having your kiddos at home full time isn’t always easy, but it sure can be a ton more fun with a flock of friends. We look forward to seeing you there. As always, I provide content to make you think, my empty nest friend. My hope is that I’m able to provide you with thoughts that positively impact your life. You’ll also find show notes for this and every episode on my website.
00:08:39
If you are a first time listener, or even if you have listened before, and you’ve enjoyed this podcast, I have a favor to ask. If you could take the time to subscribe to this podcast, that would be fantastic! It is free, after all. If you have an extra moment to give this podcast a five-star rating, it will help other future empty nest mothers to find it when they need it. Thanks for your time and energy with that, and thanks so much for listening, my empty nest friend. Remember, you are amazing!
