10. Empowered Living: Milestone Check & Goal Setting For A Thriving Life - Part 2

Ever wondered how to balance a thriving career and personal growth while maintaining health and wellness? Join me, Sarah, as I unravel my dual life as a yoga teacher and business intelligence manager, sharing insights about financial stability, futuristic mindsets, and lifelong learning. You'll also hear why I believe the digital nomad lifestyle isn't always sustainable and how having a stable home base can provide the security and flexibility needed to thrive remotely.

In this heartfelt episode, we discuss the necessity of investing in both mental and physical health, especially as responsibilities grow with age. Simple habits, such as maintaining physical activity, can make a significant impact on overall well-being.

Finally, we explore practical tips for achieving a healthy lifestyle by balancing desires with nutritional needs. Think of your body as a well-maintained machine that requires the right fuel. We also delve into the power of positive thinking and the importance of mental health. As we wrap up, I'll guide you through setting actionable steps for personal growth, encouraging you to track progress and realize your boundless potential.

 Don't forget to subscribe and share this podcast to inspire others on their journey to empowerment.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hi, welcome to the podcast between heart and brain. I'm Sarah, and I'm here to be with you in your personal growth and self-improvement journey, and I'm here to share my own life experiences with you. I'm a yoga teacher, a business intelligence manager with a master's degree in IT, and Nobel Queen International 2023 with health and wellness advocacy. I'm so excited to start this journey with you, to uplift you with positivity, the power of mindfulness and yoga and the freedom of conscious living. So let's start together and take a moment for yourself. Take a moment for yourself. Hello, hello, welcome back to the podcast, or welcome to the podcast if this is your first time listening. I'm Sarah and we're going to talk about the rest of the things we talked about in the previous episode.

Speaker 1: 1:01

I know that it's been a while since I published my last episode. I wanted to be able to publish an episode weekly, but I also know that it's not doable all the time, and I would like to give myself time and give myself the option to decide if I want to publish or not, so that when I show up for you, I want it to show up and I do it wholeheartedly. I've been dealing with new things in life recently and I'm allowing myself to be open to opportunities and listen to my intuition, listen to my heart and evaluate it with my brain and find a place between heart and brain, and that's why I wasn't able to publish an episode. So here I am with another one here, and I hope that you enjoyed. One thing I want to discuss before continuing with the list of what we need to do or have if you are in our late 20s or starting our early 30s. I just want to emphasize that this list, or the things that I'm discussing, are the things that has worked for me or works for me as of the moment, but the things that I've learned, and some of it might change in the future or it might not. But I want to also emphasize that this comes from a financial stability-focused mindset. That's the mindset that I have.

Speaker 1: 2:44

I'm not much of a happy-go-lucky person. I value my freedom, but it's probably a little bit different than how freedom is generally described, especially by people who YOLO a lot, who think that they only live once and they just have to do whatever they feel like. I'm not like that. I want to have a freedom, that I have my own personal space that I can choose if I want to work here or there, and I don't have to work just because I really need to survive, or I don't have to stay in a city or in a country because I don't have any more options. And for me to get there, I have to have financial stability, I have to feel good in my body and in my mind, I have to develop a set of skills and I have to be a little bit futuristic. So if that's something that resonates with you, I believe that you will enjoy what I'm going to discuss and what I've discussed in the previous episodes, and if not, that's fine as well. You might want to listen to it and see if this adds a little bit to your knowledge or not. It's totally up to you. You know, I saw this post, I read this post in threads of Instagram and I stumbled upon this totally coincidentally, and I don't even follow this person. I have no idea what they preach in their Instagram account, but I like the post, so I'm going to read it for you guys.

Speaker 1: 4:26

After four years of being a digital nomad, I quit. I still work remotely, but I'm not constantly on the road, living out of the suitcase and without a home. Got a home base, focused more on my career. Being a digital nomad is not a lifestyle that's sustainable forever. Reading this kind of validated my feelings. That's really how I felt throughout the years. I usually had a business-oriented mindset and it wasn't the same, especially in the early 20s, and people are a little bit more happy-go-lucky. I did enjoy my early 20s, however, but I always wanted to be a little bit more futuristic and goal-oriented, and reading this validated my feeling. Why? Because this person who now believes that being a digital nomad is not always sustainable probably has to start now and focus on this new approach to her life and start probably from zero. I didn't want to start from zero in my late 20s. I didn't want to start from zero in my early 30s. I wanted to be prepared because I want to be able to enjoy my youth. I wanted to have some skills when I reach this age and I wanted to have some money saved up. As I said in the previous episode, I believe financial stability is very important. Financial freedom is really, really important. I just didn't want to start when I'm in my late 20s. So again, whatever I said in the previous episode and in the next one is based on this mindset.

Speaker 1: 6:12

If you didn't know, I studied IT for my bachelor and for my master's and a lot of people ask like, oh, do you want to be a digital nomad? And my answer was, and still is, I studied IT because I like logical thinking and I wanted to have the option to be able to work at any country that I wanted to, and I wanted my office to be in my laptop, which I can put in my bag and go to a cafe or go to another city. But I still like to have that place which I call my home, which is designed the way or decorated the way that I want to decorate it, and the sheets are the sheets that I chose or I bought. They feel comfortable. I still want to have that. I want to have that security of something of my own, and being a nomad does not give me that kind of feeling. So, yeah, we're going to continue the list and I hope that you enjoy it.

Speaker 1: 7:17

I want to focus on a lifelong learning journey. When I was younger in high probably I thought that when I finished college, and that's it, I'm done with studying and I can just apply what I've learned and yeah, that's it. But oh God, I was so wrong. I was so wrong and I feel like even now I'm a lot more curious about gaining knowledge in different aspects and different scopes than I was that time, not just because I have to, because you know, the curiosity is sweet. I know people who are even more curious than me, or at least for the field that they're interested. They're very curious and they keep themselves updated and they keep themselves knowledgeable, and I can see how these people are winning, how these people are always ahead of situations.

Speaker 1: 8:17

Our CEO for the company that I worked for before, he was a pretty young man and what I realized is that, even though it's not what I was doing is not necessarily his scope of work, of course, but he still has. He still uses terms and he still has an idea of what I'm doing, which is like business intelligence. He understands different kinds of charts and it just shows that this person reads and that's why he's the CEO, that's why he's the owner of this company, and I like people who are curious, people who invest in their knowledge because they know that their knowledge affects their mindset and their mindset is important for them. So what I suggest is to be open to a lifelong learning journey. Allow yourself, allow your brain to get in new information that is controlled, not uncontrolled like just like a zombie going through reels of Facebook, instagram or TikTok and getting some random information Facebook, instagram or TikTok and getting some random information. Try to have it control the information that you consume and hopefully, actually I assure you it works for the best.

Speaker 1: 9:33

No knowledge is ever bad. There are times that we might think that, okay, I'm going to learn this new language and I'm not even going to this country. Was it going to be useful for me? Probably not. No knowledge is ever useless. Was it going to be useful for me? Probably not. No knowledge is ever useless.

Speaker 1: 9:45

I strongly believe that when we learn a new language, we're kind of adding an extension to our personality because people of different countries, because of their history or their location, the geographical location, they kind of do things different from other countries and you get to understand that and it also opens your mind, which brings us to cultural awareness how important it is to be open-minded, to be open to differences. We cannot just decide that, starting today, I'm going to be open-minded. Okay, maybe a bit of it is deciding that, but then the rest of it is doing is putting ourselves in situations that are different from how we usually do things or the people that we usually hang out with, so that we realize differences are not necessarily a threat. So we don't become bullies in life, so we don't become close-minded in life. So there is not a lot of gap or misunderstanding between us and the next generation, which is something that I believe we experienced a lot with our parents because of the internet only Not only, but a big part of it is the internet. During that time we had access to people from around the world they didn't. And time we had access to people from around the world they didn't. We had access to so much information they didn't, and that made the gap really big. So parents who were able to adjust to the best of their ability it was also a lot of pressure on them too. Probably they were able to communicate better with their kids and parents who didn't. Probably they went through phases, or still going through phases, that they don't understand their kids or their kids don't understand them. Their children, I would say, is a better word than kids, because a lot of them could be actually adults now. It's important to have an open mind.

Speaker 1: 11:37

I studied at University of Santo Tomas for my bachelor degree. It was a really nice experience. Of Santo Tomas for my bachelor degree. It was a really nice experience. We had this organization for international students where we got to meet people from different countries, different continents. It was amazing and there I was able to see that people of the same country kind of bring themselves similarly. So it shows that even though it might feel different that one person, but that person is not different from their countrymen. And that allowed me and the other people to have a more open mind towards other people, towards their culture, towards their food, because we also had to, like, wear our national costumes sometimes and cook our own food and share it with other people. It was a beautiful experience. I am forever thankful to the University of San Domingo for that and it allowed me to see the difference of having this openness to people of different countries Later on in my 20s, in my 20s after 25, when I got to meet people same age as mine who were absolutely close-minded towards it, probably because they didn't expose themselves to people that are different from them.

Speaker 1: 12:58

They just stuck with their own culture, their own school, their own group of friends, without realizing that they are just a very, very big sorry, a very, very small population of a very, very big population and it hurts us. If we are not open-minded, we will lose a lot of opportunities and we will be seen as a closed-minded person, but people who actually might want the best for us and they're going to be good for us in the future. So I'm really glad that I had that opportunity and I kept on putting myself in situations that makes me feel a little uncomfortable, just for me to learn that it's okay a lot of time. Feeling uncomfortable is just because we're not used to. It doesn't mean that it's necessarily bad. And, oh my God, I'm mind blown to know this concept is still not understood by so many in 2024. I'm absolutely mind blown by that. I know a lot of people who are very much open minded, love them, absolutely love them, and know a lot of people who are really not, and it makes me question why someone wouldn't try to develop that skill for themselves, for their own sake. If you really love yourself, why wouldn't you help yourself to be more open-minded?

Speaker 1: 14:32

I got invited to go to this Hindu temple and I didn't know it's a Hindu temple. I thought it's something different and when I got there I realized that it's actually a Hindu temple and a ceremony and at first it was very foreign and alien to me. I had no idea what's the right thing to do or if something is expected of me which wasn't Very beautiful place or environment, kind. People didn't expect anything from you, the fact that you were there, they were just happy with it, unlike some other religions or sub-religions that they really push. Can I get your email address? Can I get your number? And they really push it like no, I don't want to give my email address because you're not going to leave me alone.

Speaker 1: 15:17

I made that mistake before and it kind of feels like you know a cult. I'm sorry but that's what it is. I'm not into cults, but other people who practice their religious stuff and they just allow other people to watch without forcing them to be like them. That's really nice, because if you're not that open-minded, we're going to force other people to think like us and it just makes us look very controlling. And who likes a controlling person? I assure you no one does, unless that person cannot think for themselves and you know they really need someone else to think for them and talk for them and decide for them. Probably they would enjoy. But I'm not part of that and if you're listening to my podcast, I assure you that you're not part of that, or I assure myself that you're not like that. Because you're eager to grow and know more, so great to have you here.

Speaker 1: 16:13

So start hanging out with people who are not necessarily like you, especially from different parts of the world, and realize that just going outside the country and taking a few pictures with the monuments doesn't make you open-minded. Yes, you see how the city is developed and you taste their food, but you actually become open-minded if you mingle with the people of that place, people who are not in pretentious environments. Not if you go to a fine club or a fine restaurant. No, just like hang out and deal with the regular people of that place, and that allows you to see their true self, to see what they really care about. It might be a little harder when you're just traveling. It's a little easier if you stay there for a longer while than just like one, two, three weeks. If you can stay longer, then that would be great, but even if not, just try to talk to people. That's why when I travel me and my husband now we travel together. When we travel, we try to use the public transport, try to use the bus. We want to be part of those people and see how they do things, rather than always, you know. Especially we take into account safety, but still we would like to live just like regular people there, because why spend that much money and time to go somewhere else and actually not feed your brain too? Some of it is for your heart to feel refreshed, to have some fun, and some of it is for your brain, right? You have to always find that sweet spot between heart and brain.

Speaker 1: 17:58

Going to the next item in the list, I believe everyone should know basic legal knowledge. During the bachelor, during the college time or when I was studying for my bachelor degree, we had this course that taught us a little bit about law and rules and regulations and our rights as citizens. Taught us a little bit about law and rules and regulations and our rights as citizens. It was absolutely amazing to know that, because it's very much useful for you. I'm not saying it's fun, or it might be, if you like that kind of thing, but it's really perspective. I guess what's fun? If you're curious, it becomes fun and it's really helpful.

Speaker 1: 18:44

Know your rights as a citizen, as a member of a family and as an employee. Know your rights Because you can only protect and defend yourself if you know your rights. You can only act sane if you know what's your right. Only act sane if you know what's your right and request things that are not out of this world, if you know what's your right and you will not allow people to take you for granted or take advantage of you because you don't know better. Come on, why should we even put ourselves in that situation that people think, oh, she just doesn't know that much, so let's just make her do this or do that? No, we don't want that. We have to know our basic rights and it's very important. Sometimes I even think like I search in the internet where I can find a course that teaches me about my legal rights a little bit deeper than what I learned in school, but also as not deep and not as deep as people who really study law, but I wasn't able to find I learned in school. But also as not deep and not as deep as people who really study law, but I wasn't able to find. I don't know. Maybe there is, maybe I have to search more, but I wasn't able to. But there are ways to do that by books, by the internet and videos. So, yeah, know your rights, because when you become an adult want it or not, especially if you're doing adulting in a more responsible way you'll be signing contracts, and contracts are either your way to heaven or hell, so make sure it's the first one. Okay, good.

Speaker 1: 20:18

Last but not least, let's talk about health and wellness, one of my favorite topics. We have to invest in our health and wellness more than we did in our early 20s and as teens and as kids, because we start to feel differences in our body and because we have a lot more responsibility and we don't maybe get to move that much. Especially if you work remotely, like I do, you have to still have some control over your mental and physical health. So let's talk about the physical health part. You know, one of my friends told me she's in her late 40s or early 50s. One of my friends told me she's in her late 40s or early 50s and she told me that her friends of the same age are having problems with some disease or illnesses, and usually the ones that didn't invest in their health or took their health for granted when they were younger, like in their 20s, and did a lot of drugs. Now they're dealing with really bad sicknesses. So her friend was asking help, I think from her and things like that. We were together and she had to answer a call and she seemed a little bit stressed. So yeah, she was just basically telling me while you're younger, be careful about what you consume, mentally and physically. And that time I thought that I want to share it in my podcast because I feel like a lot more people need to hear it, especially if they're not at that age yet, because there's still time.

Speaker 1: 21:53

Sometimes we tend to take things for granted and then we have to go through something to learn. But no, it shouldn't always be like that. So let us be careful about what we consume. Let us not be solely guided by our heart. Let us be practical too and listen to our brain too, and don't only eat things that are delicious to you like. Eat things that are healthy healthy also.

Speaker 1: 22:20

A lot of people who don't like vegetables, I hear from them oh, because they just taste really bad. I don't personally understand that, because to me, vegetables taste a lot better than meat. That's what I think, unless it's kebab. Sorry, I'm, you know, persian, so I love kebab. But yeah, for me vegetables taste awesome, but, okay, for other people it's not like that. But my argument is that, as an adult, you don't eat because it's delicious anymore. You eat because you need it. Your body needs it, just like how to maintain your car, the gas that you put in it, like how you get the tires checked, and things like that. Your body is the same and so care for it. Care for it.

Speaker 1: 22:59

Add movements also to your routine, to your schedule, even as simple as walking. Go outside, see the sky, see the green trees, see some new faces and when you walk outside, you know, look at people's faces. It helps with your peace of mind. Take some slow steps, eventually, walk faster. If you want to sweat a little bit more, if not, go on a treadmill, run a little bit, find a sport that you enjoy.

Speaker 1: 23:23

Do something for yourself, because when you stay active at first, if you're not active in general at first, it's going to feel really bad. I'm going to be honest, I'm going to be frank with you. It's going to feel really bad because you feel weak and you feel like you cannot catch your breath. And oh, why am I even putting myself through this? But even though you're feeling weak, you're actually getting strong. So after two, three weeks or four weeks, you don't feel like that anymore.

Speaker 1: 23:50

In whatever you're doing or however, you're keeping yourself active, and not just while you're practicing. At other times you also feel better. You feel more awake, you feel more energetic, and that's a nice feeling. You know, it's a nice feeling. These little things help our happiness and we cannot just expect to be like oh, I want to be like happier in life generally, without doing anything. The idea of being completely happy is also delusional, I would say. We cannot always be happy and we cannot be 100% happy. No, that's a lot of pressure to put on ourselves and it's not even realistic. But we can do things to feel better in general, and being physically active is one of those. Being careful of what we consume is also one of those.

Speaker 1: 24:41

Now let's talk about our mental health. You know how your diet affects your physical health and your body, how it feels, how it looks, the things that you consume. Your mind consumes the thoughts. The information also affects your mental health, affects your mental health. So the more you spend energy on thinking about things that don't serve you and don't make you feel better, of course, the worse you feel. Think about the things that make you feel better in general, for example, being productive, or what are the good qualities that you have that you can improve, or something nice that you heard from someone.

Speaker 1: 25:21

If you want to think about the past, try to think about the past. Try to think about good things, and if it's something that's not good, it should be with a purpose. With a purpose to maybe acknowledge that thought once or twice, or to try to learn from it or remember something you learned from that, but not to go over the same thing many times a day or many times a week or many times a month for nothing. I don't want to sound dismissing, but if you find yourself like even deep down I'm also guilty of that whining about one thing for a long time, maybe it's time to acknowledge that happened to you and probably you didn't deserve that, but it's okay. Maybe it was for the best. Sometimes things that happen to us are actually for the best. They're really blessing in disguise. I truly believe that. So feed your mind what's good for it and also learn to when look for professional help If you didn't know and if you're as shocked as I am.

Speaker 1: 26:31

A lot of people still think if you go see a psychologist or a therapist, it means you're crazy. Come on, it's 2024. It's not like that. Just like how we consume multivitamins or when we get sick we go to doctor, we buy antibiotics and things like that. Our brain or our mental health also needs maintenance and we have to care for it. We shouldn't take it for granted and we have to care for it. We shouldn't take it for granted. We have to see a therapist.

Speaker 1: 27:10

Sometimes, if we are dealing with an emotion that's been prolonging and it's been with us for like two, three, four weeks, for example, you feel like you're not in a good mood or you're kind of stressed about something, and two weeks has passed, four weeks has passed, six weeks and you're still stressed every day, that's time to seek professional help. You know, the best thing that you can get from professional help is sometimes the validation of your feeling or clarity. Sometimes we try to define and experience the way that we know with our knowledge. But when you talk to someone who has studied this for a long time and understand the structure and the chemicals in your brain, in your body, the hormones and everything. They can describe it to you in much simpler ways and you realize it wasn't as complicated as you thought and at least you have clarity on what might be or is happening to you. And also if you felt like, oh, am I normal? Because a lot of people they have this question like is this normal? What am I going through? Are a lot of people going through this? Most people, yes, you know a lot of people go through a lot of things and your feelings will get validated because the doctor will explain to you the sequence of events that has caused you to feel or act a certain way.

Speaker 1: 28:25

And remember that seeing a therapist or a psychologist is something personal. So if, deep down, you're also judging yourself for seeing a therapist, or you think that you need and you don't feel comfortable about it, then learn to keep it a secret and maybe don't share it with the world or whoever you don't want to share it with. It's your secret. It's just like any anything that's personal, like, let's say, you're dealing with a sickness or even you have a cold. You don't always have to tell everyone that I'm dealing with a flu if you want to, or you have a more serious illness that you're dealing with. This one too, even if it's not an illness, just for you to see a therapist, like every two months, every three months. You can also keep it a secret and not share it with other people if it makes you feel better about what you're experiencing.

Speaker 1: 29:19

I was diagnosed with anxiety before, and seeing a doctor who can explain things to me science-based was really helpful to me, because I count on science, I believe in science, I'm science-oriented and I know there are a lot of areas of improvements for science, but it's the most logical answer to me most of the time. So when I hear the science-based answers, they're kind of reassuring. Then, sometimes seeking advice from regular people who base their answer on their personal experience, I'd rather talk to a professional, just like when you want to do marketing, probably you talk with people who are specialized in that scope or in that knowledge. To be frank, being able to see a therapist needs a good amount of money. It's not cheap. It's not cheap. That's why in the previous episode, I suggested that you look for an HMO. You put aside money for an HMO that covers this kind of appointments, like seeing a therapist or a psychologist, because a lot of them don't, and I think that means that the world still has to develop understanding about mental health, especially in countries who are not first world or very much advanced. So, yeah, that way being futuristic can help you, because that different parts of our life, we can deal with different emotions, from anxiety to prolonged sadness, to grief or lack of clarity, and being able to talk to someone who is a professional is, and can be, really helpful. Last but not least, let us remember that preventing is always better than curing.

Speaker 1: 31:17

I get shocked sometimes when I hear people don't know their own blood type and I've heard it many times more than I assumed I would Because it's really important for us to know our blood type for so many reasons. God forbid, if we get into an accident, the amount of time that the doctors or nurses have to take to know your blood type, you know. If they can just know it, if you, you know it and then decide what to do next, it's really important to know that. So, if you don't, please take some time to get some blood tests and realize what's your blood type. Maybe use your health app on the phone, track things there. If you're a woman, maybe track your menstruation. Have some control over understanding of your health over a period of time or throughout the years, and once in a while at least once a year go get yourself checked Again blood test, x-ray, so you know what's happening with your body.

Speaker 1: 32:24

Some people who are pretty slim might have fatty liver, for whatever reason, and if you can see a doctor can help you with that condition before or any condition before it's too late. Care for yourself. Love yourself that much. If you are a pet owner and you take care of your pets, like I or a lot of people, most people that I know do you bring them to doctors or to pet to the clinics. Pet clinics often so. Do the same thing for you. It's not only for pets, you know, it's for us too, and spending money to cure something is usually more expensive than preventing it. So, yeah, I'm gonna wrap it up here.

Speaker 1: 33:10

That was the list that I wanted to tell you, and I hope that you found it useful.

Speaker 1: 33:14

I hope that you write some of them down, especially the things that you think that can really help you, and and I hope that you track your progress.

Speaker 1: 33:23

If you cannot apply all of them to you and to your life right now, I hope that you set a timeline and you have a plan on how to apply them, how it can work for you best, and I hope that by the end of this year or sometime in next year, you have most of it removed from your list because it's already done and taken care of. Thank you, dear listeners, for joining me on this empowering journey today. As we conclude this episode, remember that your potential is boundless and your journey to a more fulfilling life has only just begun. I'm here to support you every step of the way, so keep coming back for more insights and inspiration. And remember this podcast is proudly independent, created with a passion for making a positive impact. Your support means the world to me, so please consider subscribing and sharing it with the people you know. Together, we can inspire more individuals on their journey to empowerment and a better life. See you soon for more life-changing discussions. Until we meet again, stay empowered.