From Burnout to Balance: My Sabbatical Experience (AUDIO)

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Hello and welcome to the inner
workings of the not so genius mind.

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I'm your host, Amanda McCombs, and we're
just going to hang out for a little bit.

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We're gonna.

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Dive deep into the ordinary
mind, the not so genius one.

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That's me.

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Thank you for listening.

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I'm just gonna say hi
and thank you already.

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This has been a really
cool adventure to go on.

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Since the last episode,
I actually quit my job.

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And the first thing that like
anybody says when I tell them

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that I've left my job, because I
was, you know, I guess I still am.

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I'm just not teaching right now
because I have a master's degree

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in curriculum and instruction.

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So, I mean, I worked hard for that and
I don't think I'm done, done teaching.

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But anyway, I was at a work conference.

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It was a charter school conference and
I had signed up for it before I decided

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that I wasn't going to go back and teach
just because I really needed time to heal.

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And Somebody approached me and like,
usually the first thing somebody says

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when I say that I'm not going back to
teaching next school year, which is in

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like a month, um, they'll ask if I'm okay.

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And no, I'm not okay.

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Honestly.

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I've been through a lot and
I taught through it all.

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And I think we've kind of
talked like a little bit.

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about some of the things that have
happened, but my last episode where

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I was talking about the stalker,
that's like uncovered memories

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from years and years and years ago.

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That doesn't even include what I just
went through this last school year,

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and the school year before that, where
I had the shingles go through my face.

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Still can't feel it.

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Just had an MRI.

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I have no idea what's going on.

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Anyway, back to this work conference.

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I have this lady approach
me and she is so sweet.

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She's so nice.

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She comes over and she's like, I
hear you're leaving the profession.

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And I was like, well, no, I don't
know if I'm like done, done.

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I just, I really need time to focus on
other things and I really need to heal.

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And she was like, Oh,
you're on a sabbatical.

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And I was like, what?

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A sabbatical is for fancy people,
and I'm not a fancy people.

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It's for like professors and stuff.

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And then I thought about it and I was
like, yeah, actually I am on a sabbatical.

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And yo, I even looked
it up here on Wikipedia.

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Um, It's a rest or break from work.

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An extended period of time
intentionally spent on something

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that's not your routine job.

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I'm also fostering kittens.

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So if you hear noises in the
background, I have kitties

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running around all over the place.

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Sidebar.

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They're available for adoption at,
um, Caws, C A W S dot com, I believe.

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You can see all their pictures.

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There's so many kitties
available right now.

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It's ridiculous, but yes,
they're, they're running around.

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They were quiet and now
they're wide awake anyway.

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So it's a rest or break from
work, not doing your routine job.

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And here we am, but it
goes back to like Hebrew.

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Agriculture, like in Israel, um,
where you had, according to Leviticus

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25, we're getting all specific here,
Jews in the land of Israel must

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take a year long break from working
in the fields every seven years.

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So, like, you had, you
had to take a break.

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And then later, 1880s, um, a lot
of universities started offering

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their scientists and physicians and
professors and things like that.

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They would get a paid sabbatical so that
they could rest and recover and work on

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other things and do research hopefully.

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Um, but I'm not taking a paid sabbatical.

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But I am taking a sabbatical because
I'm working on resting and healing.

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Um, and taking care of myself
is really what I needed to do.

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Cause I wasn't doing that.

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And sadly, I am a first grade teacher
and, or I was a first grade teacher and

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I didn't realize that I wasn't meeting my
own needs until I was like sitting down

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and doing this program with these kids.

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And we're talking about like
your hierarchy of needs and.

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You know, down here, I'm teaching
this to the first graders.

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Down here at the bottom, um,
you have to make sure all your

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physical needs are being met.

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Are you getting enough sleep?

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Are you drinking enough water?

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Are you eating enough food?

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And if that isn't solid, then
everything else is not going

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to be as good as it could be.

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And I wasn't doing any of those things.

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I wasn't eating.

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Um, I was maybe, I was
drinking water, kinda.

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Um.

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And I really wasn't sleeping.

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I needed medicine and I needed
to go to the doctor to figure

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out what medicine I needed.

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And I didn't have time to do any of that.

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So really, um, no, I'm not okay.

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But, but I'm working hard
on taking care of myself.

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And, you know, after I had that
become a pageant platform for Mrs.

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Daybreak, I kept hearing it everywhere.

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I heard it in TV shows, and I heard
it when people were talking to each

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other, just like, as they would say
goodbye, they would say, you know,

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take care of yourself out there.

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And I, like, my ears would perk up.

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I'd be like, ooh, who's saying
that, and why are they saying that?

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Um, But really like, what am I
doing to take care of myself?

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I left my job so that I could really
have the freedom to make all these

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appointments that I've needed to make.

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So I've started therapy again.

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Um, I'm doing some ketamine
therapy, which is life changing.

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I have several appointments a
week to go to the chiropractor.

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And I started, I
accidentally joined CrossFit.

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That's a story for another
day, but that happened.

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And I actually kind of like it.

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Um, and I'm really just like slowing
down and really looking at what

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is necessary for me in my life.

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And what do I not need?

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Get rid of the stuff I don't need.

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Part of being on sabbatical for
me is going to be finding what I

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enjoy because I kind of lost that.

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I, um, wasn't able, I wasn't able to read
books, and just one of the things I'm

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doing right now is I'm doing audiobooks,
and I'm reading physical books.

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Because believe it or not,
with my shingles, I could not

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focus on text of any kind.

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And um, if I had headphones on,
it was so I could block out sound.

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Because sound was painful.

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So.

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So I'm just so happy that I'm able to
do those things because I love reading.

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I really do.

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Um, you'll usually find me walking
around with my nose in a book or I'll

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have my headphones on or something
because I love, I love stories.

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I really do.

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Um, so yeah, I'm going to the chiropractor
a lot, like two or three times a week

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and I'm just really feeling good.

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About figuring my life out because
I was working so hard to make

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a living that I forgot to live.

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And

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it's, it's just sad.

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It's hard for me because, you know, I
wanted to have this perfect life and I

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wanted to be good at all of the things.

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And on social media, people put
their best foot forward and I

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want to put all the feet forward.

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Why not?

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Our lives are a mess, right?

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Um, but I'm thankful that I
have it because for a while

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there, I didn't have anything.

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I felt like my whole world
was taken away from me.

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Not being able to see or hear for a
while was really, really difficult.

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Um, But I have a lot of emotional
things that I am trying to figure out

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and I have to take care of myself.

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And you guys all have to
take care of yourselves too.

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Like, it doesn't have to be expensive.

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Um, And it doesn't have
to be big and extravagant.

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Like people think, take
care of yourself sometimes.

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And they're like, Oh yeah,
I'll go get a spa day.

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And that isn't necessarily like
I'm talking about self care.

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That's not necessarily
what self care has to be.

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What do you really,
what do you really need?

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You don't need a spa day.

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Maybe you need a body double
to come help clean your house.

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Maybe you need to make that
doctor's appointment to get on.

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The medicine that you
know is going to help you.

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Maybe you need to quit
your job like I did.

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I'm not telling you to quit.

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Please don't.

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It was one of the hardest
things that I had to do, really.

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Um, I cried a lot afterwards because.

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I love teaching so much, but
really, I wasn't at my best self.

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And with how hard teaching,
teaching is hard, you guys.

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Um, and I know people are kind of
ho hum about it, but you have to

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make a lot of decisions all day
long and there's a lot of pressure.

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And if you're not at your best self
and you're trying to do a job that's

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intense, like teaching can be sometimes.

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It's going to be really difficult.

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It's going to be a lot
harder than it needs to be.

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And I think we need to give
ourselves some slack because it

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takes some time to go back to normal.

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And our lives were not
normal for quite some time.

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Anyway, so I'm reading really good books.

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These are the things I'm
doing to take care of myself.

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Oh, I'm reading good books
and I'm snuggling kitties.

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Who's that one?

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Hold on.

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Whoopsies!

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Camera's shy.

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Um, I'm taking care of animals
because that makes me really happy.

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Like, just find the things that
make you happy and do that.

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You don't have to go get a big, huge
massage and spend a bunch of money.

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Like, self care does not mean money.

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It can be therapy.

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Which I needed really, really bad.

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And as a teacher, I was like, sure.

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Um, it's hard to have to make
all those appointments and stuff.

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And on top of that, the light
and sound sensitivity was awful.

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And I really needed some
time to figure all that out.

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So I'm really thankful
that I'm able to do that.

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Um, because.

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Like I'm, I'm acknowledging how lucky
I am because I'm able to do that.

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And I'm able to do a podcast.

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How cool.

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And guess what?

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My friends and others, whoever
you are, if you're not a friend.

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Welcome, I guess.

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Don't be an enemy.

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Um, I have a new podcast in the
works that I think you're gonna love.

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Sensitive, it's gonna be sensitive topic,
but, um, I'm in the middle of talking to

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or figuring out how to talk to a group
of women that are incredible survivors.

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And I think their stories need to be told.

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So stay tuned.

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There will be more information
about that next time.

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Um, please like, subscribe, follow.

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I never thought those words
would ever come out of my mouth.

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That was so weird.

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You can find me at NotSoGenius
on Instagram and some other

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social media platforms.

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I'm also on TikTok and Facebook.

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Um, but in the meantime, I don't know.

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Stay tuned.

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This is kind of fun.

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We'll see where this goes.

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Bye!