← Dream Life Club
Dream Life Club
5 things helping me stay grounded, inspired and creative during these chaotic times!
00:15:39
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Okay. Hi, guys. It is January 16, 2026, and I think a lot of us are feeling really worn out, exhausted, overwhelmed, and anxious about where we are right now as a country, especially after what we're seeing in Minnesota with the ICE raids, which aren't like anything we've ever seen before in recent history, with the violent abduction of people, of course, shooting of protesters, which we talked about last week. And. Yeah, just. Yeah, it's crazy, the. It's crazy what they're doing there, and it's completely un American, and we need to do something about it. And so in this episode, and everyone needs to be raging angry over this, and especially if you are a white woman or white man in this time, like, it's more on you than anyone else to take the baton and speak up for those less privileged. Because, you know, like I said last week, like, we're rebranding this. This podcast, Creating in Chaos. Right? Because that is my core belief. The principle is that whatever chaos is going on in the world, that we have to center ourselves and keep creating, keep making art, keep doing our thing and being creative, whatever that outlet is. But also, we can't ignore what's going on outside, right? So we have to find that balance of paying attention, making a difference, and then running our lives. Right? Making our art or continuing to create in the way that fulfills our soul. But if we just keep creating and block everything else out, that, in my opinion, is not the right way to be or the right way to live in this moment. It's critical moment right now. It's a critical moment in this country for our freedoms, for our. For our freedoms, for our human rights. And it's really heartening to. To see all the protesters in Minnesota, specifically, still going strong and putting their bodies on the line and their lives on the line to protect their communities, to protect their neighbors. It's so heartening to see that. And also what we're seeing is a complete public narrative shift, public opinion shift, excuse me, where the majority of Americans now disapprove of ICE and almost 50% of Americans support defunding ICE completely, which is a huge swing, huge swing since before this got really bad. So anyways, that part to say that there's hope, and definitely hope is not lost, but it's not a moment to check out. So what I wanted to talk about today is how do we think. Well, how do we keep creating in chaos? That's the theme throughout. But then specifically, like, some things that are helping me, some things that are helping me cope, process and understand the moment. So first of all, it's really loud if we keep scrolling, right? Like, we've got to put down our. Our news feeds. We've got to put down social media and actually just contain it to certain times of the day. And I know, easier said than done, but if you're hearing me now, like, this is the year, you really need to get that going, get that practice going for you, because we won't be able to survive. We won't be effective. They want us overwhelmed, exhausted, and unable to do anything, right? We have got to take care of our mental health. We cannot needlessly, endlessly scroll and see violent video after traumatic event, after horrific situation over and over again and expect to function normally, right? That robs us of any ability we have to make real impact and any ability we have to maintain our emotional regulation so that we can actually clear, clearly think and make a difference and create what we actually want, which is a more beautiful world, right? So one thing that's really helping me and is I've installed this program called Opal on my phone, which actually, like, literally turns off social media at. For certain periods whenever I ask it to. And yes, I find myself still clicking to open Instagram. That's my main platform of choice. But it'll pop up saying, you know, not available. And then I can bypass it, but I try really hard not to bypass it, and it really helps. And if, like, if you don't have to be on social media, like, for work, why, like, I think now's the time to literally say to yourself, like, go on, like, once a day maybe, or find journalists that you actually respect. I'll give you the historian Heather Cox Richardson is one to follow. That puts things in context. So we're not just constantly freaking out, but we're seeing where we are now in American history in context of the broader timeline of our country. And she does do some political analysis as well. So that's a really good follow. But follow select accounts that'll help you be informed but not make you overwhelmed. Another thing is double down, triple down, quadruple down on your physical fitness. Like, I really think that, you know, 1. Taking out emotions through, like, intense workouts helps a ton. But also more than that, really just, like, you know, pushing our bodies, moving our bodies helps our mental health so much. And if you, like, every time this happens to me, like, I'll. If I fall out of my physical routine, then, like, I notice that I'm just so much more mentally stressed. Like, it's such an Obvious difference. So if you don't have a routine yet of moving your body, at least start going on walks. I mean, walks are like, transformative. Like, walks are freaking transformative. Start there. Like, they will really, really help. So pick. So step number one, pick times that you're gonna scroll and that you're gonna check social media. Two, pick certain historians or journalists that you're going to decide to follow. And then don't clutter your mind with every single traumatic video outside of that. Thirdly, decide. There are some people that help us take action during this time. Okay? For example, Brian Derek is one talking about how to flip Congress, right? Because Congress has a lot to do with what's going on right now. Unfortunately, everything is political right now, like electing in the right members of Congress who don't support funding. What ICE is doing right now will innately change the situation we're in, right? So we have a lot of power if we focus on getting people in the right elected offices. We have more power than we think if we work to flip Congress. We also need to be, you know, calling our senators, calling our congressmen, because public pressure really works too. Participating in boycotts. Participating in, like the Spotify boycott was blowing my mind. Like Spotify, you used to be running ads, recruitment ads for people to join ice. But then so many people were so appalled by that that they canceled their Spotify memberships and now Spotify pulled ICE ads from their platform. Because money talks, right? So participate in boycotts when you can, like, do those things. Call your congressperson, participate in boycotts. But how do you get aware of these things in the first place? I would really recommend joining your local indivisible group. Again, it's called indivisible, and they focus on local community action. And so you can really be part of community, feel not alone when you join a group like that. So, okay, so move, like, right? Pick your, narrow down your social media time. Pick your journalists and news sources. Move. Focus on moving your body, pushing your body, lifting heavy weights, whatever feels good for you. But really double down, triple down on that practice during this time time. It's so important, right? And then I really think that we all need to be focusing on creating, like, create, create something every day, right? Like, create something, whatever it is that is in your mode of the creative universe, right? Like, like my gymnastics coach, she was like, I've, I've. I've scheduled in creative time in my week and I' like, oh, cool. Like, I was thinking, like, what does creative time look like for her? Like, I was, like, wondering what her outlet was, and she was like, well, I know. I mean, like. Like, physically, like, she wants to play in the gym. She wants to play with her body and do cool things and see what she can do on the rings and the bars and with her handstands. And, like, that's so rad, right? So when I say create something, I just mean because we're overwhelmed with consuming all the time, time. And like, this little mantra like, create before you consume. Create before you consume. Create before you consume can really be life changing. It actually was life changing for me. In 2018, I first heard someone say that, and I was like, holy shit. Like, I don't know why, but just sometimes, you know, certain phrases just stick with you. And that was one of them that year. Like, create before you consume. And I realized that I was spending so much time consuming, and not even at that point. It wasn't even at that time. It wasn't even scrolling. It was me, like, signing up for various courses and doing various programs. I was constantly consuming information, information, information on how to do what I wanted to do instead of actually doing it right. And so. And now I think it's like, newsfeed, newsfeed, newsfeed, horrendous event, tragic story, like, blah, blah, blah. And it's just. It's overwhelming. Our nervous systems weren't designed to, like, handle this much information and input. Like, this is crazy. So, you know, somebody asked me the other day who I, like, admire and trust, and he was like, well, how come you're not speaking up about what's going on in Iran? Because what's going on in Iran is horrendous right there. I don't know. I know as of a few days ago, it was, like, complete blackout. They were kidnapping and killing tens of protesters on the street. And I, you know, and I thought. And I said, because there's so much trauma to go around, I literally cannot speak up about everything, otherwise I would, like, die of anxiety. Like, there's just no way we can pay such close attention to every horror that's happening in the world right now. But it's very necessary to pay attention to the horrors that are happening in our backyard, I. E. This country, right? Because we think we live in a. We think we live, and we want to live in a free society. We want to be able to walk outside, do what we want, not have people come up, question us, kidnap us, throw us in black unmarked vehicles, and take us to God knows where. Like, these are things that affect everyone. In this country. And by the way, they're not just coming for brown people or black people. They've showed us now they're coming for anyone who dares to exercise our First Amendment rights, even, you know. So, like, there's no. There's no world in which we can go on and create our businesses and create our projects and be writers and be thinkers and be leaders without tapping into what's going on right now. But we have to do it smart and we have to do it strategically. So those are the things that are helping me. I'm doubling down on my physical workouts. I'm literally going to the gym five times a week, lifting heavy weights, focusing on my gymnastics. I have Opal on my phone to protect that. I'm not to turn off my Instagram, so I'm not scrolling all day long. I have select journalists that I follow and listen to every day. And I focus on creating before I consume. So if you can do those four things, I think you'll be able to be much more powerful. You'll be more effective. You'll be the leader that we all need you to be in this moment. Like, we need you. We need you in this moment to step into your full potential. Right? Like, this is what this podcast has always been about. Whether I was talking about growing a business or, you know, designing your dream life. Like, however I have framed this, throughout the year or two that this podcast has been going on, the message has been the same. Like, we need you, I need you to step into your full potential as good human thought, good, thoughtful human beings. Right? On the other end of this podcast conversation that I'm talking to right now, whether you're, like, whether you're on a walk or driving right now or doing dishes or whatever it is, however you're listening to this right now, like, know that you and your specific talent, creativity, ideas, genius is needed in the world, like, now more than ever, right? And I want to see you develop that and offer that to the world so we can fight back on all the horrendous things that are happening while putting out into the world beautiful things. And we can be examples of what it could really look like to be able to live in joy and live in beauty and live in creativity and live in acceptance and love. Like, these are things that we always will need to. Will need to fight harder for when things are going wrong, right? Like, they're not things we need to shy away from when things are going wrong. They're things that we need to fight harder for. Put more momentum in that direction when things, when people are trying to take those things away from us. Right. So I love you. I love your art. We need your art. Keep creating, keep creating amid chaos and we will get through this. But we need your voice. We need your voice in this moment. We need you to decide how you're going to impact change. We need you to be paying attention to what's going on, figuring out what, how you're going to be calling your congress people. Right. I'll put in the show notes here. Like certain people who help us figure out what to do. Like there's a, there's a guy who wrote a book on the Constitution. His name is Ben Sheehan. Young guy, I mean, like my age, like, I don't know, like in his 30s or something. And he wrote a book and he has action items like on his social media profile of what to actually do to make a difference. Same with Brian Derek, who I already mentioned. Same with Elizabeth, Elizabeth McLaughlin. She is one who also talks about like taking action. Right. There's so much that we can be doing and then or join your local indivisible group. So those are my four tips there. And I will put them in the show notes. And I'm sending you so much love. And I'm going to try to do this more often. Like next episode is for sure coming out next Friday. But also I think I may try to increase the frequency of these episodes to two to three to maybe five times a week. Let's see. Okay, lots of love talk soon.