Practicing Gratitude: Harder than it looks (#4)

SHOW NOTES

Episode specific links:

Jimmy Fallon: The Tonight Show

Kahn Academy

Mo Willems Lunch Doodles

Transcription:

Scott: [00:00:00] welcome to playing with fire, the podcast that turns challenges into habits, habits, into lifestyles and lifestyles. And to a better you, I am your host Scott Ricans. And here with me today is my astonishingly supportive cohost, Taylor.

[00:00:16] Taylor: [00:00:16] That was sweet.

[00:00:17] Scott: [00:00:17] We are committing to 12 months, 12 challenges, 21 days a piece.

[00:00:21] We're going to test new ways to live better together. It's time to uncouple our self worth from our net worth so we can all live a rich, happy and fulfilled life. And this month we've challenged ourselves with practicing gratitude. As of this recording, we are on day 17 of 21 and if you've been on this challenge with us, you'll know there are three levels to choose from.

[00:00:40] Taylor and I both chose level three, which includes writing in our gratitude journal once a day. Posting on social daily, smiling before every meal, writing a letter to a friend or a loved one, a coworker, whatever, every day, and delivering it. And finally, creating a gratitude station in your home. Level one and two have a descending amount of obligations.

[00:00:59] So we will discuss how things are going as we near the finish line. But we are also going to talk about this past week, how it's affected our lives so deeply. But before we do, I want to give some quick love to our sponsor for making this podcast possible.

[00:01:17] When Taya and I first started out on our fire journey, one of the first goals we set was saving up for a six month emergency fund, six months of expenses, always there when you need it. Once we reached our goal, we were surprised at the immediate sense of freedom that provided and to hold that money over the longterm, we wanted to find a home for our emergency fund that would allow us to combat inflation and make it super easy to access in times of need.

[00:01:39] And that's where ally bank came into our lives. Ally has fantastic savings accounts with very competitive AP wise and no monthly maintenance fees. Ally bank has been voted the best online bank by money, NerdWallet and bank rate, and they've been around for nearly 20 years. Their customer service is awesome and it's super easy to set up an account.

[00:01:56] Ally bank is a perfect fit for us and have also helped us make this podcast. We think they'd be a great fit for you too. So if you're saving up for an emergency fund, saving for a new home, whatever it is, consider opening an ally account today.

[00:02:15] so one heck of a

[00:02:16] Taylor: [00:02:16] week.

[00:02:19] Scott: [00:02:19] Yeah, it's been pretty wild. Yeah, it's been really, for us, it's been two and a half weeks or so when we kind of caught wind of the Corona virus, the coven, and that it was going to be serious and that we should start looking at it seriously. And when did we decide to socially distance ourselves?

[00:02:35] Taylor: [00:02:35] Last Thursday. So it's been a week and two days. I mean, let's just be honest. This doing this podcast on a Saturday. We're supposed to do it on Tuesdays. Yeah. And we both have just not been in a space to do it. And I said, when we sat down here, are we really doing this?

[00:02:53] Scott: [00:02:53] Yeah. I forced myself to hit record today.

[00:02:56] Taylor: [00:02:56] Yeah. I think, I think it's just, it's a really emotional. Right. And I, I feel like everyone's going through it in a different way or the same way.

[00:03:05] Scott: [00:03:05] Yeah. I mean, as I'm sure everyone has, we immediately had to figure out our situation, understand what we had for supplies, you know, in case we were in some kind of lockdown.

[00:03:18] We needed to act as if there was an emergency and we needed to be able to live in this house for months on end. And that was kind of a sh, a shocking, jarring realization. And so that was step one. And then step two and these steps were concurrent, was what are our parents doing? What are our loved ones doing?

[00:03:36] What are our family doing? What are our friends doing? And the social dynamics of people figuring out, no one wants to hear. That they need to plan for a global pandemic. No one ever wants to hear that. And if you weren't up to speed on it in any way, shape, or form, and someone just started saying that to you, you'd be, you would also feel like a, what?

[00:03:56] Yo...