Take the Elevator
This podcast is purely about elevating people through individual life stories and experiences in the Elevator. In the Elevator, what's key is maybe changing your perspective; having self-actualization; embracing your purpose; and acting on it as we grow from one another. There is a whole different point of view when you look up to elevate.
Take the Elevator
344th Floor: Embracing Positivity and Energy Boosts
This episode focuses on the significance of energy management and practical strategies to enhance emotional well-being as we enter the new year.
• Discussing the combined challenges of the new year and health trends
• Exploring the concept of energy boosts as self-care practices
• Sharing personal reflection strategies for emotional check-ins
• Engaging with nature as a source of rejuvenation
• Utilizing power stances and affirmations for confidence
• Importance of focusing on strengths while acknowledging weaknesses
• Emphasizing the growth that comes from overcoming challenges
• Inviting listeners to share personal energy-boosting practices
Hey, it's Jen the Builder, and Corey, and hello everyone. We just had the first weekend of January go by.
Speaker 2:Was that the first?
Speaker 1:Wasn't it? Oh, wow, I think, yeah, okay, very first weekend.
Speaker 2:We enjoyed it. We took some time off and relaxed and didn't do a whole bunch, but still got a lot done.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so my mind right now, corey, is kind of in a couple different places at the same time, and because we had a really chilled, peaceful kind of weekend.
Speaker 1:I probably read some things and spent more time with things that I really shouldn't have, because now it's just left me with questions, and so it was like a weird way to start the new year for me this weekend. Okay, talk to me, so I'm just going to bring up some stuff here, um, and then I'll go into what today's episode is. But I've been seeing a lot more people are getting sick. Oh yeah, they're talking about another pandemic.
Speaker 2:Yeah, uh, and then there's that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but I just want to be real about what I'm seeing and just like oh man how do you prepare for this?
Speaker 2:I'm not quite sure, jen. It's life, yeah, and we're just dealing with it day by day and I know you're not trying to be a Debbie Downer, so I'm just going to slam it in reverse and go in the other direction. Is that all right?
Speaker 1:Absolutely, because here's what I think too, in times like this and this is why we're going to talk about what we're going to talk about is we're calling today the Elevator Energy Boost episode. Yes, now, that's what I'm talking, yeah like I just feel like we need to talk about some techniques or just have conversation, conversation around things that are recharging us physically, emotionally and mentally yeah, I'm with that.
Speaker 2:Those, those things speak to me very loud and clear. I did want to throw a shout out there, if you don't mind, jen, so you have the ability to see who's listening, not who specifically is listening, but what areas people are listening and where some of the streams are coming from. And the word different came to me because we noticed Germany, we noticed there was another Ireland, ireland, and so thank you.
Speaker 1:And Australia. Thank you. So US, of course, is number one. Yeah.
Speaker 2:But thank you for all of you that are listening in different places and places not in america, but even more so. Thank you for all of the people listening because, uh, that means a lot to us and um, warms our hearts and makes us feel very appreciated yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1:It's always cool to see um that we've got elevators in different places of the world. There's an energy boost that that's why I said if anything's gonna be an energy boost.
Speaker 1:That's that for sure. Yes, so I love this, because when we're talking about energy boost, you know, gory, you and I have an episodes on time management. This is so much more than time management. It's really about how we manage ourselves, and so we're just going to share some things. Corey, we had talked about the first time we've ever done anything, and for me, that's a great energy boost to seek out first time. So our first musical that we watched this year was Wicked, because it finally streamed.
Speaker 2:Right right. And if you don't know, we boycott movies because there's a very good reason. It's not because we're uptight or pretentious or anything like that. We just invested some money into a home theater and so we just feel like if we're gonna watch a movie, I'm gonna watch it at home, yeah, and not in a in a theater yeah, so three hours.
Speaker 1:We're like, okay, three hours well spent, because we had a productive day before that. But what did you all think of wicked? I know that we're big wizard of oz fans and I love the story behind the story, so that part was cool. I felt like, oh, this is a good energy boost.
Speaker 2:I'm learning something new about the story that I love, right right and, and for those of you that don't know, there is um the story that we have all seen on the screen. There's a book, there's the story behind that story, and then there's a dark story that you know, and I've delved deep into all of those because that's what I do, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that was a good one for me. But if we're talking about practical because we want to be able to gift you something I think of all the different things that you do separately from me, corey, that boost our energies throughout the day, all the different things that you do separately from me, corey, that boost our energies throughout the day. One of the things that you might've heard on my phone is I have a charm, a chime sorry, a charm, a chime, a chime that goes off on my phone, and it's every morning at 6 30, and then at 1 PM, and then again at 6 30 at night, and those are what I call my emotional check-ins, my mood check-ins, right, which has been very important for me throughout the day, because I just take a pause from whatever it is that I'm doing and I just check in with myself like, hey, how are you? What are you feeling right now?
Speaker 1:What's happened today that you're grateful for? What are some things that were unexpected? How did you handle it? How have you? What are you feeling right now? What's happened today that you're grateful for? What are some things that were unexpected? How did you handle it? How have you treated people? How have you taken care?
Speaker 2:of yourself today. That's very interesting. I honestly thought that was like alarm to wake up, alarm to go to bed or alarm to eat or something like that. I just I didn't ask, and so now I know.
Speaker 1:I thought you knew that.
Speaker 2:I had no clue, yeah. So, what's the technique you use, corey, so you may have remembered I think that was last year that you, myself and Kayla went up to this amazing place in Palm Springs and we walked the trails, yeah we went up the air tram, that one. And so, right before that, I had started incorporating getting out in nature.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Walking barefoot in the grass listening to what nature is saying and talking about and just trying to ground myself. And that I still do that. I still go outside and we have a different scenery in our backyard now, so it's a little bit more easy to center myself and ground myself. We have lots of trees and you know, I did some research on the kind of trees that are in our backyard, that was neat and I love to do that.
Speaker 2:I love to just ground and center myself and, uh, get in touch with and I don't want to say get in touch with nature like I'm out of touch because I'm not out of touch with it. It's just that I don't spend a lot of time outside with the work I do for a career and the work we do for entrepreneurship. We spend a lot of time inside.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, that's something that I do to boost energy and to recenter yeah, or go outside play with our dogs, right yeah, some things that I do during the week and you're not here for it, and where I stand in the backyard, you can't see it in our backyard camera. So there are two things that I do during the day. One of them is called a power stance and affirmation, so you got to take the stance of a superhero, if you can imagine what that looks like. So it's um stand with feet shoulder apart, kind of look you oh, that's important.
Speaker 2:I'm glad you said that.
Speaker 1:Keep going yeah, like I'm capable, I'm ready for this moment. I um have championed today. You know, I got this, that kind of thing right. I just love the way, petty to little, look at me while I'm doing this, and I'm sure the neighbors above us and around us, if they were to see me, like, what is this chick doing? So that's number one and I call that the power stance and affirmation. The second thing I'll do in the backyard is just this quick physical energizer and I you know how you and I have to theme things, so it's move it to boost it. So you just do like this 30 second cardio, whether it be jumping jacks, and you slow it down with some stretches or whatever, and that takes all of a minute and it really does just wake you up and heighten your senses.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm a firm believer in that as well. Something else in the same vein is I give myself those good, powerful, strong, reaffirming affirmations every morning before I go to bed. I don't down, talk myself, I don't ask myself questions like what are you doing, are you, you're so stupid or you're not handling this. Well, I, those are things that you put out in the air and your, your, your mind and body don't know how to say oh, you're just playing or you're just you know saying that because you're angry right now.
Speaker 2:So I've gotten into a habit of saying positive, reaffirming affirmations that are going to build and push me towards my success. And my success may look different from Jen's and anyone else's, but I just love doing that and knowing that I'm putting that positive energy out there. And with a positive energy and a positive prayer, hey, you can't go wrong. There you go.
Speaker 1:It boosts your confidence. You know you mentioned the word prayer and we had talked a few episodes ago about being our authentic selves here, about being our authentic selves here. I want to share this and I hope, for those who are not believers, that you don't close this off, because there's such good principles period found in the Bible. So here's one of them. You know we focus so much on our strengths, and so I work with leaders and team members every day, and there's a thing actually called Strength Finders, right, which we've used in team buildings, and so you hone in on your strengths.
Speaker 1:There's even a teaching that says you really shouldn't focus on your weakness, just like let that be the thing and hone in on your strengths, whereas with prayer and in the word, it says it's in our weakness that he actually empowers us, and I just thought that was amazing, because there are times when we don't really feel strong, right. Speaking of energy boosters, there are times when you're just like this is a lot today, and that's okay. When you seek that higher source of life, I think it's a whole different experience for energy boosting, if you know what I mean, yes, I do Good stuff, jen, I'm definitely tracking what you're putting out there.
Speaker 2:I just wanted to also piggyback on that.
Speaker 2:If you're thinking that life was supposed to be easy or that it was supposed to be a walk in the park, you may be just a little bit off track in that Life was meant to be difficult.
Speaker 2:It was meant to be tough and us struggling through it is a great way to teach someone else how to get through these tough times and these obstacles that we encounter. I'm not going to say that everyone was dealt a fair hand and everyone starts on even ground. I don't even know what that looks like and I wouldn't claim to say that one has it better than another or vice versa, say that one has it better than another or vice versa. But what I will say is that any struggle or challenge that you're having in life, every time you overcome it, every time you surpass that bout or that roadblock, just know that that's a tool in the belt and this is what's boosting me, because I know I'm able to give back to people that are struggling with parts of life that they didn't know were going to come towards them, and I'm looking for that in other people to help me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I really, really. That resonates with me right now, because the struggles and your experiences through it are what gives you that bounce back kind of strength, right. You're able to recall and say, hey, I've been in places like this before, I've done this before and I made it. And here at Take the Elevator, we've always said your stories are powerful when you share it, and so are your experiences, right, because you just don't know who that's going to help at such a time. So thanks for bringing that forward. You know, corey, we're about to give away Oswald the plushie oh yeah, and that's this week. And so if anyone can share with us what you do for an energy boost, right to elevate your mood, your good mood, that is, just go ahead and send us a message. You can send it to me on a DM on my Instagram, jenthebuilder underscore elevate or email me, jenthebuilder at Gmail.
Speaker 2:Absolutely elevate. Or email me, Jen, the builder at Gmail Absolutely. And if you want a little bit of extra credit, uh, send us that. And um, also tell us a situation where you've changed your mood from bad to positive from doing this. I want to hear about what you're doing to help change your mood, alter your mood and alter the situation that you're currently in to make it a more positive outcome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a good one, man. See, even just talking about this, this just shows the power of conversation and when your focus is on things that are more positive. So, yes, everyone. I started this episode kind of drab, just the reality of some things that I more positive. So, yes, everyone. I started this episode kind of drab, just the reality of some things that I'm seeing. And then Corey's like okay, let's redirect, let's, you know, let's talk about some other things. And then we were able just to work our way through it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and not to downplay what you're saying, because it's a reality, but also, in the same vein, we have to forge forward for the rest of life.
Speaker 1:that's continuing as well and speaking of what we were saying, you know that just reminded me, jen, you've done this before. Yeah, you actually had bouts, huge boutsouts, of thriving through it.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:At a time when you should have been down and kind of just overwhelmed. We actually rose up from out of that and started some new things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm going to slightly shift gears Only because something just occurred to me and we've been approached by multiple people, and so, if you guys are wondering, like, how do they handle when people step to them and ask them, you know, for advice or for information on how to do things? Well, we've been approached on a few different things that's going on in our lives, podcasting being one of them, writing books is another one, and, yes, we do give information and help people out that are looking to get into this world and field that we're in, and so, if that's you, we're going to be putting out information, ways to get in contact with us and follow us, and how to write books, how to get published, how to copyright all these wonderful things, so that people can not have to just wonder, but they can have the answers at their fingertips.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and our first Zoom event's coming up, because we were talking about just following up on the assessment that we gave a few weeks ago, and so we really want to talk to y'all live. You know, that's just amazing when we get to do that with people that we run into when we're out and about or at work, or even our family, you know, reaches out and wants to talk more about an episode. That's always fun, so we want to make sure to offer that to everybody else. Indeed. Well, I've got some big things to do this week everyone.
Speaker 2:Yes, you do, I was waiting.
Speaker 1:And it's a little kind of. You know I am excited. I'm a little nervous as the day approaches. But January 11th is coming up, so I have some posts this week on my dedication page of my first book that I got to co-write with Corey, and then just give a little bit about what Sheriff Slinky Snake's about, give a little bit about what, uh, sheriff slinky snake's about and what's cool about the creatures from the fuzzy furry forest is they all have a background like there's the story behind the story. You know we were just talking about wicked and oh, it's cool to see the story behind the story. Well, there's that too. So, um, it's just neat to see the characters develop and be a part of it.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, the book comes out January 11th. I'd love for you all to just kind of give, give me some kind of love. Let me know that you're going to order the book. That would be great. We were going to do a pre-sale, but you know we're learning as we go and the book's not available until January 11th on Amazon, correct? So just be ready to go on Amazon on that day and just show some love, where we've kept the price at that $9.95 range. We didn't want to go up this time around.
Speaker 2:No, we didn't, and we fought it. We fought it with tooth and nail. In these times, in this economy and this kind of it's, it's more beneficial to to add a few dollars onto it, to to make it a little bit more conducive. But um, we found ways, and our illustrator, our uh creators, and jen and I have figured out ways to keep that price the same. So thank you everyone for working with us to do that.
Speaker 1:Definitely. Right now, corey, I'm just going to count on you to kind of carry the rest of the episode, because right now I'm just like my book release is coming up and that's all that's flooding my mind.
Speaker 2:Well, it's a and I'm sorry I getting tongue-tied, but it's a very exciting time. It's a very exciting moment and it's a lot of work to do to get ready for a book release, because you're not only looking at releasing online, you're looking at releasing in stores, we're looking at releasing in digital world, physical world, and we're trying to acquire X amount of books so that we can even sign and have some ready to to give to people, uh, once they, you know, are aware of it. So it's a big deal. I'm not going to downplay it and say, oh no, don't worry about it. Guys, when you get to this stage and uh to write a book, um, trust me, you'll be overwhelmed and super overjoyed yeah, like literally right now, my home is probably 65 degrees and I'm sweating a little bit it just I really am.
Speaker 1:But just the thought of all of it. It's because it's not like you said, cory, it's not just the book. I mean, we're creating curriculum for the Fuzzy Furry Forest. We're just, yeah, just putting it out there because we really believe this is the season and the time for this. And one of the things that we really live by is you don't want to miss out on the season, you know, because you don't want to lose the opportunity, and when you know this is a time, you want to move on that. And so we're moving, and with movement there's a nervousness.
Speaker 2:Yeah, especially when people are opening doors for us and giving us opportunities, we want to be responsible with that and follow through. So it's very well not needed but merited that you're going through these emotional what's it called when you're about to give birth. Labor and delivery yes, it's very normal labor and delivery yes, it's very normal labor, labor and delivery issues.
Speaker 1:It's so true, that is exact. That's such a good analogy.
Speaker 2:It is like labor and delivery yeah you're about to have a new birth and new uh, not a being, but a child that you're going to be nurturing and taking care of and very protective over for quite some time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you know what, corey, someone had asked me. So you and Corey have mentioned that you've worked before together in other places and and I said, yeah, you know, there has been quite a bit of history there. And then someone else asked me that on the same day, like they were really curious about what we've done together, because we do work together during the day totally different departments and uh, we hardly ever do work that's together, unless it's like a special event there right, but cory and I've worked aerospace together.
Speaker 1:Um, I love the story. Uh, cory taught me how to drive a forklift because, um, I sure did, you sure did. So I'll give a little bit of context here. In aerospace, I was the gal who gathered and contained parts that were rejected and they were like no goes, this can't go in a plane. This is a bad part. We've got to contain it, rework it and then test it again.
Speaker 2:Right and I was working in inspection.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So as a woman in aerospace in that line of work, the men I worked with didn't work fast enough and I just got really nervous about the wrong parts getting shipped Right, and so they just weren't moving fast enough for me. So I went straight to the plant manager and I said, hey, can I just learn to drive a forklift and move my own parts? And he was like, are you serious? I was like, yeah, I'm serious. So I said Corey's willing to teach me. Can we just do that? So you did.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but let's talk about that a little bit, because you brought that to me. You said I want to move my own parts and I said, no, I know it might be a conflict of interest, but just let me know, I'll move the parts for you.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And we'll go about it like that. And we tried it, but it didn't work because, again, jen is on fast track and I had my own job to do. So, um, it came to a point to where I said I'm going to have to teach her how to drive a forklift and if I don't, I'll never hear the end of it because I'm cutting off an opportunity that she wants to have. And so that's when she came to me and said okay, this is not working. I need to learn how to drive a forklift. And I knew right away she's going to, she's going to boss this like she does everything else. And she did. And it was so amazing to hear the comments coming out of some of these people's mouths about her driving a forklift and she it's.
Speaker 1:it was just great, it was an amazing situation I wish I could have heard the guys in the machine shop and stuff saying stuff anyhow. So that was an experience. And then, cory, you and I have sang in multiple um avenues together. So we've done music ministry together, we've done a music program together, youth ministry, for almost a total of eight years. So, yeah, we've been together about 22 years. And out of the 22 years I'm going gonna say that we've worked on projects together for 20 of them. Easy, yeah. So this collaboration, partnership, doing these together, is not anything new. In fact, it's very much comfortable with it. It's a good energy boost.
Speaker 2:Well, if I can say this, we've grown to accept that this is what it's supposed to be. We fought it in the beginning.
Speaker 1:We tried to go separate ways and said nah, not separate ways as in the marriage, just separate ways and projects.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I mean, it just wasn't something we were planning on doing for a large amount of 20 years that a couple is spending time together to just say we're going to not only work together, live together, play together. And when I say play, I mean play music, write music, write books. That's a huge chunk of life to say let's just continue to do this together, but it works and I love it.
Speaker 1:In fact, take the elevator. For those who don't know, because you're fairly new to us. Um, we've shared before that we were kind of auditioning other people to coast with. Can you imagine this podcast without Corey? I can't, I just can't.
Speaker 2:Well, I did. At one point I had said I don't want to do a podcast and we had found a co-host.
Speaker 2:We did and we actually recorded episodes with this person and then he got sick and things went way left and I was thinking to, and things went way left and I was thinking to myself wait a minute. We've invested, you know, microphones, the roadcaster, and we bought a spot for Buzzsprout and Spotify and all this other. We've invested a lot. Maybe I can just jump in here and help out till he comes back. But after that first show it was like hit city. And then on episode number three, it I just knew, okay, yeah, I need, I need to be here so, outside of our elevator pitch, episode three continues to be the most downloaded episode.
Speaker 1:And you want a good conversation, and it's kind of funny because if history does repeat itself in some form, that's the episode. I think that's super important. So, yeah, I'm referring you to Trace Catch number three. It's crazy, corey. No, I know. What number three and we're like on I don't even know 340.
Speaker 2:No, we're past that 344th, 45th episode.
Speaker 1:It's a lot, so it's like 342 episodes ago, what, yeah? And so here's a good confidence booster and this is really good to think of. When you're able to stay committed to something and you don't quit or you don't give up, it feels good, right. If for anything, it's been great for you and I. And we just keep hearing from people, and you know what? One of the things that I love the most is when people say I don't know if you would be aware of this, but what you shared today was exactly what I needed to hear.
Speaker 2:I'm like okay that's a good feeling, and it's also a good feeling to look back 300 and some odd episodes and realize that we pretty much stand on what we started out doing and although we haven't done a lot of controversial things, number three was probably one of the most controversial at the moment episodes that we had put out, moment episodes that we had put out. And so to know that I stand in the same position and in the same place today, it's a really good feeling to walk away or to be able to sleep at night.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that's important that your conscience is clear and you stand solid on what you're grounded in.
Speaker 2:Right Indeed.
Speaker 1:Well, I hope y'all get some energy lifters throughout the week and that y'all just reach out to us, please. We'd love to give you the Oswald plushie. He's fluffy and big and he's all sorts of cute and comforting, and so he will be announced as to who won. Last year or a couple of years ago, when we gave Ruffles away, we did a reel, and this is not just open for children, it's adults as well, and so we can't wait to give it away as a matter of fact, I think we'll post a picture of this uh, oswald plushie, yeah, on this episode, and it's about an eight foot tall I'm sorry, eight inch.
Speaker 2:I was like whoa inch tall and about eight inch round, plushie, and it's amazing. Make just for the book.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just for the book. Anyhow, have a good day. And you know us to take the elevator. We say, look up, and let's elevate Every day Elevate Eight feet Every day.
Speaker 2:Right. Every day elevate eight feet right. Elevate every day elevate.
