Summary: This week's podcast started off with a shout out to a Facebook Fan of the I Simply Am Page. I then shared a very personal and tragic story of a close friend of mine who died this past week. While it was difficult for me to share, my hope is through this podcast and blog that I'm able to help others who may feel overwhelmed and unwanted. This is the first week I started answering listener/reader questions and Paula from www.TheWayofTheMommy.com wrote to us on Facebook with 3 questions that I answered. I then introduced the topic of this weeks podcast which is "7 Ways To Get Hours Back in Your Day". Finally, I went over this weeks ISA Challenge! Below, find the show notes from the podcast but I highly encourage you to listen to it yourself for this and much more! ISA Community Shout Out Paula Lundquist: Paula has been a contributing member to the ISA Facebook page for some time now. I really appreciate how honest, vulnerable, and courageous she is. She shares openly and does an amazing job modeling what it looks like to truly want life change. She contributes often and I appreciate and celebrate you Paula. If you'd like to get an appreciation and a shout out join us on FB, Facebook.com/isimplyam and let me hear from you. I'll be happy to mention your business or site here on the show. Losing A Friend One of my best friends for the last 15 years died this week. While we're still awaiting the autopsy results it appears to be that he took his own life. He had everything on the outside but something was still eating away at him on the inside. He wound up coping and isolating as a means to get some relief. The problem with coping and isolating is that while it temporarily takes the pain away it's never resolving any of it. At some point, it's just too much for even the coping mechanisms to be able to bear. He left behind a beautiful wife and 3 small beautiful children. If you feel like something is missing from you. If you ever feel that you are not worthwhile or that you don't matter please reach out. I realize the first instinct is to retract and claim that others don't care, don't have time, or you don't want to bother them consider those red flags. Consider that the natural and appropriate thing to do is reach out. I realize that the norm in our society is to pull away or cope but I'm inviting you to consider this is a red flag that you're going down the wrong path. I'll likely dedicate another show to this topic but wanted you to know I am grieving now for the loss of my friend and in addition to reaching out for support I'm also looking to the gifts that my friend left me along the way. ISA Community Questions Paula from TheWayofTheMommy.com wrote in on Facebook with the following questions: 1. How do I get into the zone so that time freezes? When I hear this question it reminds me of what being in the present looks like. There are some tips and suggestions I have here. First, forget about the notion of multi-tasking. It used to be the thing to do and we had this idea that we could do more things at once. The problem is, you may be doing multiple things but you're not doing any one of them very well. Even worse, you're not in the present when you're multi-tasking because there's part of you that's focused on what's next and that's spread out across multiple different things. So the key here is to set aside some time to do just one thing. Another important thing to put in place is an intentional transition between tasks. If you were playing with the kids but have now set aside 30 minutes to focus on writing make sure you transition. It could include some deep breaths or even some light brushing off. Finally, if you find yourself focusing on the "what's next" just gently bring yourself back to the present task at hand. 2. What kind of tips do you have so that I can experience more time or enoughness of time during the day and week? Everyone has the exact same amount of time every week.
