A Side of Syrup Podcast - EP003: Eat the Cookie - Designing and Living a Life You Love NOW
What are you waiting for?
It shouldn’t be a shocking or unexpected moment that makes you change. You’ve got it all within your power and your means to live a life you love now. Curious on how to do that? Listen in to this week’s episode.
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Show Notes:
Diving into the “Eat the Cookie” philosophy and how you can incorporate it into your life.
Think about what you could be putting off in your life and the reasons why you are doing it.
How to take action and start living, doing, being everything you want in this life!
Resources:
Connect with Shannon:
Website: thisissyrup.com
Instagram: @syrupcoaching
Facebook: www.facebook.com/syrupcoaching
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/syrupcoaching
Syrup free resources: thisissyrup.com/resource-library
Full episode transcript:
Hi! My name is Shannon Pfeffer. I'm obsessed with understanding the how and the why behind feeling good and translating that knowledge into strategies that help you live better.
Each week we'll dive into conversations about food, fitness, stress, career, and family. We'll learn from each other, feel more connected, and we'll explore ways to design a life you love.
So what are you waiting for? Keep listening for tips, tricks, and fun facts about feeling good, looking good, and living better. And don't forget to bring a snack. This is the A Side of Syrup Podcast.
Admittedly, this episode is a little bit different. No online, no script. Speaking from the heart about something that happened, actually a lot of things that happened kind of all at once, I woke up yesterday morning, refreshed after a holiday weekend, and I woke up yesterday morning. I woke up yesterday morning, refreshed after holiday weekend and unexpectedly... I woke up yesterday morning, refreshed after a holiday weekend, and unexpectedly got some sad news...
I woke up yesterday morning, refreshed after a long holiday weekend, immediately checked my phone to see what time it was, went on social media and unexpectedly got some sad news, a doctor and my OB-GYN practice passed away, not only 53, a father, a husband. And from the stories pouring out on social media this week, an incredible friend... On the flip side of this, this morning, we have a CPR and choking specialist come over from a company called Save a Little Life, all about protecting those around you and those you love. Oftentimes, when we're met with these duality of life, we get to thinking about the larger things, whether it's love or loss, or life, you think about a bucket list, the things you want to do, the things you need to do before you feel your life is complete, whatever your list is... And we've all got a list, why does it have to happen? Why don't we revisit that list and a moment of sadness, moment of crisis, or a moment of extreme joy... Why can it be something that we work on every day? A list that we're checking off, like we do our to-do list, or a list that we use to live from...
In my former life, I moderated many focus groups, and regardless of the brand or the topic, there's one exercise that always seemed to get the juices flowing, and this one, a little more bit here, was of the tombstone, and you had to write the obituary of someone, whether it be the founder or company or an iconic character that represented a brand and what they... At the end of their life, at bend, their being... Who were they? And then everyone went around the room and talked about that, and it really kind of dove in from there into what's his personality, what are the good and the bad, and how do we really succinctly say who this person is, so... I am asking you to do this. You don't have to literally have a tombstone in front of you, but I have a piece of paper and rate your obituary doesn't have to be word for word, just a couple of highlights that would be on your tombstone and see what it means to see what it says, is that the person you were at right now, you're writing this for...
Is that who you want to be on your tombstone? Do you want more... Do you want to do bigger things, you once... I don't know what's on your list, write it down and take a moment then to process it and then to read it. Most often, when people do this exercise with me, they write about this future state person, the person they aspire to be, and they want this to be remembered by, and they wanna do all these amazing things, but that's so far from where they are... From where they're starting right now, and I just... In moments like these were kind of life and love all come to a head, I just can't help but to spend a moment to get everyone started here and just hit go in your life. Whether it is this aspirational person you want to be, or this person who you are now and you want to change, like take the action, do it now so many people... Also then get to this point then. Like, Yes, I'm gonna do that, I'm gonna be that. This is who I will be. But then we hear this, I'd love to do that.
It's on my bucket list. Next time, next year, when I have X, when I make X, when I'm with X, I can't fit it in. I'm too busy. I'll get to that. Yes, don't let this be... Just hit, go, hit, play, cross one foot over the other and live this life that you want... There's a concept in improv that you may or may not be familiar with, but it's called Yes. And when actors get on stage, they wanna build on a sketch, they use sort of get on stage, I'm like, I'm a girl, I'm a 15-foot gorilla, and then someone has to respond to that and may throw out a line and you kinda give them permission and it's yes, and... And you build upon it, or you pull somebody else in, and that's what keeps it funny and interesting and keeps the comedy going, but... Is the key word here? Someone could say no to something, and that's why I don't know, that's a negative. They can say Yes, but... And that actually is just as bad as no, because it contradicts the... Yes, the meanings and actually shot together person down, so the scene is done and likely...
So it was the conversation, and we've seen an improper where someone's done that, like comedy stops and everyone's kind of scanners on stage, they don't know what to do until the funny person comes on stage and just starts making the crowd feel like again... Alright, so the point of this is, when you hit go, it's yes, and you are building upon everything big or small that you want to do and you want to achieve, and you want on your freaking tombstone. Don't let yourself... Yes. By you, or say no to yourself, there's always a million reasons why we stop doing anything, we stop ourselves from getting something that we want, the most often it's nothing to do with the world, it's nothing to do with anything in your life, it's the walls you put up the guidelines you set for yourself, just this sort of imaginary field, imaginary fence, that's there... There's another story that I'll bring up, and I actually heard this on a different podcast, that a woman on her husband had two kids and life happened, they didn't see their friends as much, they focused on their careers and they're growing family and weren't able to take a ton of vacations, 'cause they were building and building in that stage of their life and grow and build, and for their anniversary, they were able to sneak away for days...
Just four days, I believe they live in Colorado. But then they really wanted to go to Paris where they went on their honeymoon. And they did it for four days, although leading up to the trip, the capping like, Yes, we should do this, but the kids... Yes, but the jobs... No, we really shouldn't... We don't have the money to do this right now, we should be using it for our kids or saving up for our dream home or whatever, excuses got in the way, but they took the trip, they said Whatever bunch at leg... Whatever, the kids will be fine. The grandparents were there, you know, all fine. They had amazing, amazing trip, this was in the beginning of November, so before in the holiday craziness or rush or anything, and they made one from memories, and I think the quote an interview was, you know, she realized they're still so much, so deeply and so much in love with each other, which for those of you who have been married or with someone a long time and have kids, it's hard to have that time together that is not about the kids, or your jobs or life.
Anyway, so got back from a trip, relish-ing in... It got to be the end of November. Thanksgiving Day was around the corner. I think human day was actually the next day... Woman gets up, gets out of bed when her husband doesn't get out of bed, faction, moved in, he died in a sleep, and thankfully, it was Thanksgiving and family was there and they were actually supposed to host it, but he wasn't sick, he wasn't injured. Absolutely nothing, you just died of natural causes. And... And the woman actually started a company and a business from this called Take the damn trip. We don't do it. And what if it's your last shot, what if it was your last time to take your favorite... I take to surprise your best friend, the case love of your life. So I think that, you know, with everything that sort of happened in the peak in particular for me and in the world the past couple of weeks, what is holding you back and what's stopping you from living this incredible, incredible life that you can control, and that is rate at your fingertips. For my whole life, I've had this mantra to myself, eat the cookie, which is kind of like, take the damn trip.
Enjoy it, savor it. Habits, don't restrain yourself from it, don't have it, an excess, just eat the cookie and enjoy it, but I think that that's so much about life, especially now, especially since we are exposed to so much more news and things happening in the world than we ever have been before, do what you want, eat the cookie, do the work out, don't feel bad about doing what you love with who you love, it's more than... Okay, that's what you should be doing. You've got this one life to live, be more impressive than who you even envision yourself to be on your tombstone. I gave you full permission to do it... I'm doing it right now. Emotional episode today. But thank you for being here, and if you can do me a favor. Tell that person you love them. Kiss your kids head and smell their wonderful smells. I had two babies at home. So they smell wonderful. My older son also smells wonderful, but mostly like strawberries, call your parents make up with a friend, living in a fantasy world about your job and do something you love. Surprise me. Surprise yourself.
And eat that cookie.
I hope you enjoy this episode of A Side of Syrup. If you love this episode as much as I did, head on over and reader you and subscribe so you never miss the next one. Also, if you love someone who would love this episode or podcast in general, send it to them to... Thank you. New episodes go up on Tuesdays. Thanks for tuning in. I can't wait to hang out with you again, too.