Consuelo [INTRO]
Welcome to the Life Lnxx podcast, where we share how the past influences the current day so you can choose a future based on a true identity because we are not blending in.
I’m your host, Consuelo Crosby, and also the creator of this content. If you want to chat more about what we talk about on this show please reach out to me on whatever platform you enjoy on social media. We’re available @lifelnxx or on our website at TheLnxx.com, that’s L N Double X. I’d love to engage with you more in these topics and hear more of what you have to say about them.
Hola Chicas!
Welcome back after a very joyous weekend for so many people across multiple faiths. I don’t know how often that has happened, where on the same weekend, variable, different faiths really hit the core celebration of their beliefs.
So, I hope you had a good one. I hope you gathered with family and friends and you celebrated with lots of joy and, of course, goodies! For me, it was Easter. A very powerful celebration, followed by an Easter candy hunt because I did not get any kind of goodies in advance. So, I had to go hunt on my own, which was really fun. It took us through our neighborhoods to search out those fabulous candy stores.
Big shoutout to all the Latino countries that grow the chocolate and make the most delicious chocolate candies. There was one candy store where it was Venezuela, Peru, Cuba, Brazil, Mexico. You name it. We should really thank the Mayans, Aztecs and Incas. Hellooo!
This weekend also brought a lot of relaxation. The day when most people really strive to relax and enjoy the sun. I noticed a lot of small businesses even taking a break from a typical Sunday work. So, hopefully, they were at home lounging, having fun and taking that relief from the daily grind. Because it really is a day of renewal.
Why A Sense of Renewal is Valuable
And, that’s what we are talking about today. We are talking about the idea of renewal and what that means for us. Also, how to make some tiny shifts in our thinking to create a sense of renewal.
Today, let’s discover how to make little changes, small mind shifts that may help you feel like things really have changed.They have moved. I say ‘feesl like’ change because really, nothing is new here except a new perspective. And, because nothing is new, there is no fear of the unknown, and therefore, no hesitation to begin.
So, take a moment and think about what it is that you want to feel different about. What is it that feels heavy to you right now? What feels like it’s the same old, same old and you just want to walk away from it or it’s causing you anxiety.
You can mull it over with your cafecito for a minute. Which reminds me, did you guess right on our IG stories last week for the woman owned coffee business? For those who didn’t get a chance to see them, you can go to our Instagram @LifeLnxx and click through the Cafecito highlights on the profile to see all the coffee businesses that I visit and give a shout out to on these episodes.
Last week’s was so fun and totally fortunate that it’s here in Oakland, California. Ayesha Curry’s ‘Sweet July’ store is filled with products from women, especially black women-owned businesses. Take a look at the article on our website at TheLnxx.com for more info and pictures. If you need gifts for weddings, or Mother’s Day or yourself!, take a look at her online store. Just saying…
Spring Is A Time of Renewal
So, getting through to the episode now, Spring is definitely the literal season for rebirth with longer days, explosion of flowers and sunshine. There’s more daylight after work hours so work doesn’t feel like the entire day is lost. You can go out and enjoy time for yourself in broad daylight and warmth. And feel all the people coming out. It’s like they’re coming out of hibernation.
There’s a reason Nature begins anew in the Spring, to give rebirth a chance of surviving. But we don’t have to wait until Spring to implement change . Any day is a great day to make the change towards a happier you! Now is just a good yearly reminder to prompt you to do it. Encourage you to think about how things are after a long winter.
Winter can be a time when we hunker down and get cozy. We pull out the bulky sweaters and cozy blankets. We don’t want to go out. The short days might have us in bed early or streaming our shows for a tad too long. Besides the end of year holidays, it can feel like hibernation. Like, no need to go out.
But come March, oooh! That glorious sun is with us longer and there is a sense of coming out, breaking out, rebirth. A chance to come back with new ideas for the year. There’s a sense of survival, too, after a long time inside.
Like I say often, we humans need each other. We need interaction and physical contact. If that’s not your style, then thankfully you are the person who shows up for every Zoom meeting and I would love it if you cover for me! I’m done. I’m so done. I need my people.
Check In On How You Are Doing
So, in this season of renewal, we are reminded to take a look at our lives and see how we are in it. It’s like our annual checkup in well-being and spirituality. We are prompted to stop, pause and reassess if things are still working for us or do they need some adjustment? A little tweaking of it all.
This is really helpful with those big life processes, like raising kids or trying to save for a big investment or start your own business. And especially those tough life processes, like adolescence and adulting or long-term relationships.
Things like this need a routine of sorts because you can’t just end them. Well, you can, in a relationship, but you can’t just say, “Hey, I’m done being a teenager. I’m done figuring out how to be an adult.” They’re going to take time. You have to get through the process.
So, you have to have some type of structure to get to the end when these big changes will happen. But after a few years, these things might be getting us in a rut. We get tired of the routine, the save-save-save, or the “oh gosh, I only have one year in and I have 10 more to go”.
So, how do we begin making those little adjustments in these long processes so that they feel fresh again, feel renewed? That’s what we’re talking about here. The first thing we have to think of is to step back from whatever is already fixed in our thoughts about it. Because, after a few years, especially if you have to do it in a routine, you expect to know what’s going to happen, And knowing what’s going to happen sometimes makes us feel really stuck in it.
Some Things Take a Long Time – Stay Enthused!
Remember, we have to retrain our brains to think differently so that our souls light up and take charge. We have to make room for that. Try to see beyond the structure, beyond the routine that you expect is going to happen. You never know, on any given day, what can happen so wake up looking for the newness! Even if it’s your own attitude to it.
OK, now that you have detached your brain from expectation – I know you don’t want to. There’s a sick association there, right? You want to be right in knowing that this is exactly how it’s going to go down. Shake it up a bit, ladies.
Now that you have detached your brain and you have a fresh brain without the automatic thinking, reassess what has already been accomplished. Take some time to reminisce about how far you have come from that first day. Remember how excited you were? Remember all the ideas you had on how you would make it happen?
Well, guess what? They have happened, even if you aren’t done, they are happening. You’re a badass. You are getting things further along. You are not in the same place as day one. You have come so far so be proud of yourself!
Yes, there’s more to do, but that’s growing into it. You’re taking a different version of yourself forward into it the next day. And, you don’t know what she’s going to do. Take a break and celebrate the little wins along the way of this big journey because even the little ones make a big difference.
Sit in them and go, “wow! that just happened!?”. Yea, there might be one looming larger on the horizon but that just happened. Slow it down. Feel the joy back in it and say, “I did this!”
Believe That Things Will Change For the Better
Ultimately, you want to take this clear mind, detaching from everything that you’ve programmed into your head. And add in that beautiful self-appreciation and apply it to creating a different point of view on whatever life action is starting to weigh you down. When you look at it fresh, without the weight of what has happened in the past, it tends to become exciting again. This, this is the point of renewal.
This is when, every year, we get a chance to reboot. This is only the annual prompt to do this. You can do this every day, every week. Any moment when you’re feeling the heaviness of routine or of long journeys, take a moment of renewal.
For example, let’s take something that seems like a burden and it’s difficult to face day to day. Each day feels like forever but then a month goes by or a year zip by and you just can’t believe it. And yet, every single day begins to feel the same.
So, greet each day with gratitude. Tell yourself that regardless of the frustration that might occur, today is not like yesterday. The same thing will not happen today as it did yesterday. This is what you bring to the table. This is what you start tweaking in your mindset. You have the power of view it as different.
Each day we have opportunity for progress, for change, for movement. In order to make that happen, we need faith. You have to believe that things will move forward. You have to believe that things will move, will change.
Now, faith can be the feeling of belonging in a community. It can be faith in your partner or literal faith in something not of this world. Whatever works for you, faith gives you the feeling that you are not alone in the struggle; that someone is with you, all the time, no matter what.
Compassion Makes Space For Renewal
When you are not alone in the struggle, you have compassion from others. That’s what compassion feels like. When you no longer feel alone in what is too heavy to carry. Compassion gives space for forgiveness, forgiveness for ourselves. If we didn’t make the right decision at the time. If we didn’t give our best effort or if we were just tired. We need a break. That’s okay. Forgive yourself, not from doing it, but from feeling that guilt.
Compassion gives space for getting the strength to try again. Because we are not alone, we can get the strength to try again. It gives space for believing that struggle is less about burden and more about opportunity and change. And that’s what we are really talking about here: that little tweak in the mindset, that little moment of renewal. We see the shift from being heavy and bothersome and why won’t it just end? And, instead, we see it as opportunity and movement and change.
None of us choose to struggle for the sake of feeling burdened. We are trying to get somewhere in it. We are trying to get somewhere with it. This is where the renewed excitement comes in to remember the bigger picture, the end goal.
That’s taking a proactive sense to life. That’s putting in action what you want rather than letting life happen to you. Rather than letting other people make the decision for you and you get affected by it and feel miserable, you be the proactive one. You make the choices that are going to get you to where you want to be.
This is where you engage that faith, you engage that support to create this new perspective. This is that renewal that you are going where you want to be.
Faith in Another Day Gets You to Your Goal
I saw this with my mother, and this is true for so many people, whose parents left everything behind. They left their family, their homes, their friends, their way of life, their careers. They left everything behind to come here in the belief that here they would find their dream that they wanted.
They took that step to go after their dream. First of all, just the strength that was necessary to make that leap. The courage it took to go the distance to get here. And then, once here, then the real struggle began. The real struggle to make it happen, against the maybe not supportive environment.
Being a child of an immigrant and seeing that happen firsthand, oh, it’s mesmerizing. Personally, as a child and watching this, I felt responsible to honor that struggle because I saw how much more difficult it was for my mom than for my dad. My dad being an American.
I saw how much harder she had to struggle through and keep her faith in believing that “yes, this will keep manifesting into the dream I want”. I learned how to move through that struggle. I could see that yes, there is this beautiful end game.
I began using it as my tool for anything that I wanted to achieve in life; to honor the struggle but not see it as such. See it as getting to that next point. And that’s why, to see that immigrant journey, even from afar, will renew that sense of awe, that sense of accomplishment. For that, we are really blessed to experience not being sedentary in our sameness.
Results from Changing Your Point of View
So, that shift in your point of view, that is the little tweak that creates actual renewal. Whether it’s done every day, or now in the season of rebirth, the shift makes room to identify progress and accomplishment and to take a moment and sit in that and be really proud of yourself. That shift brings strength to try again and with a different approach.
See it differently and realize, “oh yeah, I can do this. And, it will be okay”. That change adds faith to believe that anything is possible. That little shift in your mindset from “I can’t do this” to anything is possible will light you up, will make you feel invincible.
So, ladies, when life can feel heavy, step back and reassess how you are viewing things. Are you really sick and tired of whatever it is? Or, do you actually really love it? Don’t want to leave it and just need a different perspective on it.
Get back to the original excitement of why you started it to begin with. Engage with your faithful and appreciate what a badass chica you are to have come this far.
Tag us on Instagram or Twitter @LifeLnxx and show us your fab renewed point of view! It’s been so fun seeing some of you already. I really appreciate you being there. I love this!
Show Us Your Coffee Moments!
Remember to tag Life Lnxx in your favorite cafecito moments. I hope you loved the ones that pop up on our Instagram Stories. If you missed them, remember to find them in our highlights on our profile and please honor them with your business if you are in the area.
Or, take a moment and honor the women-owned businesses in your own areas. I see that Peet’s Anniversary blend, which is going to be out there just for a little bit, is actually an all-women processed coffee from start to finish. All women, purple bag. Let’s go after it, ladies!
I would love to give a shout out to your favorite cafecito woman owned business so just DM me @LifeLnxx on Instagram. No matter where in the world it is, I will plan to get there!
Or, if you have any of that luscious chocolate left from Easter, tag us in your pic! I put up one of me going after the solid chocolate bunny ears. It was from Michael’s chocolates of Oakland. Little shout out there. Oh my goodness, that chocolate! You can see the link on our website in the transcripts. Shout out to Oaktown!
Take a look on our website at TheLnxx.com for each episode’s transcripts and the articles linked to what you’ve heard here today.
Really appreciate you sharing this podcast with your friends and leaving a review for us on Apple Podcasts.
Step into your truth, ladies. We love you! Ciao!
[Outro]
