June 8, 2023 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 122 / Guest: Dara Astmann

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Show Summary:

The Venn diagram of things we love to talk about and what Dara Astmann’s coaching focuses on is a circle. Dara helps moms explore what’s next, and that is our favorite thing to do, too. In this episode, we dive into overcoming imposter syndrome, getting your confidence back, tips and tools for researching your dream job, and so much more.

Topics From This Episode:

• Dara’s upcoming session of Part Deux: YOU Group
• A free discovery call with Dara
• Allowing yourself to explore more than one path
• Confidence
• Resumes
• Imposter Syndrome
• Reframing fears
• Breaking goals into small steps
• Researching jobs using Google, YouTube, and LinkedIn
• Visualization
• Energy Leadership Index from IPEC
• Values
• Covid impact on employers and employees

Look, Listen, Learns

Missy

• Top Chef: World All-Stars (but also go check out Dara’s friend on the new Gordon Ramsay show, Food Stars!)
• All This Could Be Yours by Jami Attenberg
• Learning Substack and starting to post a little here and there

Dara

• Big Time Adulting on Instagram
• Taylor Swift Eras Tour
• Canva

Susanne

• Firefly Lane
• You’re Wrong About episode: We Need to Talk About the New York Times
• Neck Massager – loving this one

More About Dara Astmann:

Dara Astmann helps other moms make themselves a priority and claim purpose and excitement in their life. Dara has a background in psychology and business from Washington University in St. Louis. She has spent nearly 20 years working in media, gaining valuable experience at renowned companies like WPP, Publicis, and Paramount Global. Since becoming a Certified Professional Coach through The Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching), she focuses on empowering women to evaluate what works best for their families while also discovering their own personal fulfillment.

Connect with Dara Astmann to Explore What’s Next:

• Website
• Instagram
• Learn more about Part Deux: YOU Group
• Free discovery call

Connect With the Mom &… Podcast

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Watch this episode on our YouTube Channel!

Musical Notes

Our delightfully happy intro and outro theme music, “We Will Get Through This” is performed by Young Presidents, and used under license from Shutterstock.

Transcript is auto-generated by a robot. Apologies in advance for misspellings or errors.

[00:00:00] Susanne: Welcome to the mom and dot.dot podcast. I’m Susanne Kerns mom and dot.dot writer, lgbtq and sex ed advocate. And this week I am the stand in for my daughter at her senior walk at her elementary school cuz her high school’s having their big party at the exact same time.

But I am not missing my opportunity to see all these little cuties that I’ve known since kindergarten walk in in their caps and gowns. Oh my god.

[00:00:28] Missy: borrow the cap and gown? Could you just do the walk

[00:00:31] Susanne: I do, you know what, I’m bringing it with me. I have this vision of hurt, the 11th hour, just like running in, like I want to be part of the parade and I’ll be like, I have your gown, so I doubt that’s gonna happen.

[00:00:43] Missy: I hope it happens. I hope it happens.

I am Missy Stevens mom and dot.dot writer, foster child advocate, and this week, last minute teacher, gift buyer, and thank you note writer, because why would I do that ahead of time and save myself all the stress? Why? Why not leave it till the last minute?

[00:00:59] Susanne: Oh my gosh. Yeah. You know what? I had the kids write ’em all, but then I forgot to have them write the names of the on the envelope. So that was me at midnight last night, looking up all the teacher’s full names and then writing them. I’m like, do I try to write like my kid on the envelope for?

[00:01:14] Missy: I always have my kids write a note and then I send an email to each teacher

[00:01:19] Susanne: that’s nice.

[00:01:19] Missy: and then send a little electronic gift with it. And, um, I always say I’m gonna get this all organized way ahead of time so I can just push go when it’s time. No. Mm-hmm.

[00:01:30] Susanne: You would think after 13 years I would’ve figured this out. But A laugh.

[00:01:33] Missy: No, I haven’t caught on yet.

[00:01:36] Susanne: Our guest today is Dara Asman. there is a mom, and dot, dot dot helps other moms make themselves a priority and claim purpose and excitement in their life. There has a background in psychology and business from Washington University in St.

Louis and has spent nearly 20 years working in media, gaining valuable experience at renowned companies like W PPP Publicists and Paramount Global. Since becoming a certified professional coach through the Institute of Professional Excellence in Coaching. She focuses on empowering women to evaluate what works best for their families, while also discovering their own personal fulfillment.

Her focus is basically all the things that we love here on this podcast. So like discovering core values, check, finding passions, check, breaking free for the monotony of daily life, and embracing purpose and excitement. Check, check, like all the things. So we just cannot wait for this conversation.

[00:02:28] Missy: Yeah. We are so excited. Welcome.

[00:02:31] Dara: Thank you. I’m so excited to be here.

[00:02:33] Missy: So we learned some about you in your bio, but we were wondering if you can give us a little Darrow 1 0 1 that brings us up to where you decided to become a coach and where you are today.

[00:02:41] Dara: Yeah, absolutely. I have always been interested in helping people. I’ve sort of always been that friend that people go to, With their problems and with their questions and sort of Conne connector, is one of my high values. Um, I like connecting people. So, over time that’s always been something that interests me.

And as my kids were getting older and going into elementary school full-time, I found myself with a little bit more time on my hands and decided that. It was time for me to think about that next chapter. And for me, becoming a coach, was something that I actually went to a coach and realized that this, I can do this.

This is, this is my calling. and I started with IPAC in 2019. so my vision of what my coaching practice was gonna look like was very different than, what ended up happening a few short months later while I was coaching and working and. Teaching and cooking and doing everything for my two small children.

but with that, I now have the opportunity post covid to connect with people all over. I’m no longer sitting in an office. I’m on Zoom. I have clients all over the country. Things that I never imagined have sort of happened. And I think the other important part about this is that it’s really caused all these people to rethink.

Their future. And that is something for me, especially mothers, I realize that they just don’t give themselves any time. They put so much effort into everything else, and so this is sort of set time to think about you, which is a special gift.

[00:04:12] Susanne: Ugh. I know. And that’s a gift that we try to give moms through the podcast as well. And I think we had told you that. We obviously love everything you do, and we, if we had a Venn diagram of like your coaching and the things that we love to talk about on the podcast, it would just be a circle. It’d just be one big circle.

[00:04:29] Dara: love it.

[00:04:30] Susanne: Uh, and most of our listeners already know, but just, uh, so you’re aware, Missy and I both have older kids that are, well, my daughter’s graduating this year. Hers is next year. And then we also have a couple middle schoolers between us. Well, not. Between us,

[00:04:45] Missy: We don’t share them No.

[00:04:47] Susanne: we’re not married. Um, and you know, we both have been out of the workforce for, what, 17

plus years. Yeah. And you

[00:04:57] Missy: Or at least out of full-time employment, I think.

[00:04:59] Susanne: not in the workforce. Workforce. We’ve both done some consulting here and there, some part-time work and tons and tons of volunteering. but yeah, kids leaving the nest or puts an extra fire under you to figure out what happens next in life. So when mom’s like us show up in your office or show up in your zoom, where, where do you start to, to help them gain that clarity and build confidence for that next chapter.

[00:05:25] Dara: Yeah. Well first of all, congratulations. Getting a child through, uh, high school is no small feat, so, um,

[00:05:31] Susanne: Cheers with my

[00:05:31] Dara: cheers, mom. Um, but I think when you think about clarity is something that takes time. So it’s really being asked the right questions. I. Thinking about what you like, what you don’t like, what you want, what you enjoy doing.

And I really encourage my clients to try different things on for size. So we’re not talking about making any big decisions. We’re talking about sitting in on a free class, looking on LinkedIn to see what your connections do, watching YouTube, talking to as many people in your network as you can. Just think of yourself as a sponge that’s really just absorbing up all this information without the pressure of making a decision because.

I often have clients who will be exploring multiple paths at the same time to see where each leads them. And when you take away that pressure of making a decision and you’re really just learning about what’s out there and learning about yourself, clarity really happens. and then when you talk about confidence, that’s something that, so often women are home and raising kids and, and maybe working in a way that’s not paid.

Full-time. And, and that can really hurt their confidence. And they only associate the skills that they have with the ones that are paid. and it’s your inner confidence that’s getting in the way of you moving forward. So, I often hear women comparing themselves to others, um, and getting stuck.

And I encourage them, you know, to think about why they might be a good fit, why the experience they have, the specific experience that they have, including the part where they were home. Makes them unique to this role because we all know being home with kids is a full-time times five. Thousand job, right?

So, there should be confidence in that as well. Um, and I, I often, you know, a lot of women get stuck when they start to think about writing down a resume, right? Like, how do I make a resume? Where do I start with that? So I say, let’s scrap the resume. We’re not gonna talk about the resume.

Let’s just brain dump all your skills, all your experiences, everything that you have accomplished. And it could be something as simple as organizing. The big sale at your kid’s school, right? There’s skills that are involved in that. We all know there’s a lot of logistics that go into things like that. So I think, you know, people will say to me, well, I would never put that on a resume, but like, let’s just put it down on the paper and sort of work backwards from there.

Because I think some of the skills that you have will come out to you and it’ll help people become more confident.

[00:07:52] Susanne: And I like the exercise of putting it down on the paper cuz I think so many of us are like, oh, I know what I did. It’s all here in my head. It’s fine. And I think that you don’t, I think you limit the stuff that you remember when you try to hold it all in your head.

[00:08:05] Missy: I do too. And I love that you brought up the confidence barrier and just that fear barrier. What are some other things that your clients come to that you, you see, maybe they don’t even realize they’re doing it, but you see they have the breaks on in a weird place. I mean, I know as I’m listening to you talk, I’m like, yeah, my confidence is down and, but I’m really just sitting here thinking, where do I start?

Can I do this? Am I crazy to think I can go out and get a job? Like what other kinds of things are you seeing clients come to you with?

[00:08:35] Dara: Yeah, I would say the most common barriers are often the inner blocks. So those are the, the voice in your head, the imposter syndrome, the fear, those are the things that are getting in your way, and those are things that I work with my clients to reframe. and then there’s also the external blocks, and these are things more that you have less control over, but I would say the lack of time, the things that.

Or what you truly want. But often, I offer a space to think about how you want to go about this and how you can reframe things. We focus on small goals that are not overwhelming because often you set these big goals and it’s, you don’t even know where to begin, so you do nothing. And we break it down.

I break it down so

[00:09:18] Missy: see us both just

[00:09:20] Susanne: I know. We’re like, oh,

[00:09:21] Missy: Yeah.

I mean,

[00:09:22] Dara: I break it down so small. That it, it’s like, well, yeah, that I could do. That doesn’t seem like a big deal. You know, uh, I, I often use the example of running a marathon, and a lot of times people will say, okay, the first step is running one mile, but even that, let’s break it down even further, and I’ll say, no.

The first step is buying yourself a new pair of shoes. You need new running shoes, so let’s start there. Does that feel doable? Right. And, and suddenly you have this accountability partner, but you also have a small step that you can feel good about checking off your list. And it’s a step closer because the next morning when you wake up to maybe run a lap around the house, you now have new shoes that, that you can wear.

[00:10:04] Missy: Oh, I love that.

[00:10:05] Susanne: so much good information. I know my head’s swirling and I’m als I’m also still stuck on this idea of this small stakes exploration because I, Made the mistake. Actually, I was looking at jobs for my daughter, like summer jobs for my daughter, like, what’s available? And then I was like, what would be available for me here?

And I kept on finding all these jobs around project management that sounded really interesting. And I was like, well, I kind of done things that are project manager ish, but then I was like, Ooh, they all require this cert. Certification. I can’t remember exactly what it was. Some type of prod, PMI or something like that.

And so then I went down this rabbit hole. I was like, okay, well then what would that involve? How much does that cost? What do you have to do, blah, blah, blah, blah. so, yeah, I spent, I don’t know how much time, way too much time yesterday, like going through this without ever even taking a slow down to be like, Okay, what does project management actually entail?

What, you know, does this certificate even sound interesting? What, what would the roles be like? Is that even close to anything I’m interested in? So, um, I do think it is nice to slow down whether it’s. That comparison of buying the shoes first before you start running the mile, and really taking some time to think.

Do, do you have places that you recommend? I guess it varies by field where people would even start doing that exploration.

[00:11:22] Dara: Yeah, I mean, I think the, you know, honestly, I would start with Google. Google, what are people that are pro, I love that. Like what are people who are project managers? What are they doing? There’s probably a free class on YouTube that you could watch that explains the certification that tells you what you could do.

So before you’re putting money and an investment into something, you’re getting a taste of it. There’s so much on the internet that there’s a way to understand who’s doing it. What’s out there? Um, there’s a lot of freebies, so I think trying to take advantage of all of that and sort of, like I said, a sponge where you can just absorb as much of the information as you can and, and a lot of it’s gonna see what feels right, what doesn’t.

And it doesn’t have to be a decision until you get to a point where you reach a point where you’re like, this is not really actually for me. But until then, keep going on your project manager idea as well as whatever other ideas too. There’s no set rule that you have to pick something and just move forward with that one idea.

[00:12:19] Missy: So the suggestion of. Googling, which Google knows everything, but, and like a YouTube video, our kids are great at anything they wanna learn. They know there is a YouTube video out there for it. I think we are just slowly catching up to the fact that the information is out there. It’s not like when we were kids and you had to find an actual person who did the thing to talk to.

there’s YouTube videos out there. I love it.

[00:12:42] Susanne: that is, that is the easiest answer that took me like a

[00:12:48] Missy: You could explore 10 jobs in one day.

[00:12:52] Dara: I will also say LinkedIn though, um, is another great way to explore and I think a lot of women that I work with feel intimidated by having a profile on LinkedIn and sort of putting themselves out there. And so I encourage them to use it almost in like stalker mode, um, where you don’t have to feel like you are putting yourself out there and presenting yourself with a resume, but be on there so that you have connections and that you can say.

This job looks cool and my third connection works there. let me see if I can get an introduction. So it doesn’t have to be a presentation of who you are. You can use it in a way to explore what jobs your connections have and what about what do their connections have and what companies sound cool and who works there, right.

There’s a lot of explorations on LinkedIn that I recommend as well.

[00:13:37] Susanne: And before you go to stalker mode, don’t go see what your like high school boyfriend is doing because some people can see, even if you don’t do anything, they can see that you have been there. It’s not like Facebook, like there’s certain you can, if you have LinkedIn Gold or whatever, like you can see who’s been pooping around your uh,

[00:13:55] Missy: Oh yeah. No, I don’t

[00:13:56] Susanne: Be careful.

[00:13:57] Dara: true. I’m, I’m not liable. So you it at your own risk.

[00:14:02] Missy: said.

[00:14:03] Susanne: No, but I’m a huge, huge fan of that as well. Okay. Uh, such great actionable, seemingly simple. I think that’s the most genius ideas where it’s like, oh, of course, naturally I should have done that, but I did not. And even though. We have these discussions for the past two years on this podcast. I needed a reminder, so thank you for the reminder.

And, okay. Speaking of other things that we didn’t need to be told about a hundred times, um, trying to figure out after years of being just quote unquote mom, Mom. Mom. how or what are some of your favorite tools that you use to help moms rediscover or try to figure out what they like after so many years of just having to be forced to like the things that their kids like.

[00:14:47] Missy: Right.

[00:14:49] Dara: I mean, I think it’s so hard also because so many women think that. What they liked or wanted to do before kids is gonna be the same thing. And I think it’s important to recognize that who you are today is not who you were 20 years ago. So you know, you pick a college major, you go to your first job and then life happens.

And it doesn’t mean that in your forties and fifties you want the same thing that you picked in your college days. So I think it’s really important to. Focus on what you have today, what you want today, and any experience that you have is gonna be a benefit to you. It doesn’t mean you have to go back to, to that job, but a couple of the tools that I like to use with my clients, one is a vision tool where we imagine your ideal life and it’s in a year from now or five years from now.

And I’m not talking about, I wanna, Be rich and live on a, you know, it starts with like a very, what are you doing? Where are you waking up? Are you driving to work? Are you taking the train to work? Are you having coffee? What does the house sound like? What, you know, like you’re literally in it, you’re feeling everything.

and I think it’s like, I wanna be able to commute in two days a week and I want to sit at a desk and, be challenged with technology or whatever it may be, but you’re really in there visualizing it, which I think can be very powerful.

[00:16:05] Susanne: I love

[00:16:06] Missy: kind of gave me chills.

[00:16:07] Susanne: I know. You know what I actually started doing yesterday. I was like, it would be so great to be able to walk to work or have that walkability factor. And I happen to live in a neighborhood where that’s an option for a lot of different, businesses that are around.

And I was like, Ooh, that could be really interesting. But,

[00:16:24] Missy: Write that down on your

[00:16:25] Susanne: I know I’m gonna put that on my vision list. I don’t know that it’s gonna be a reality, but at least it gives, it helps me understand that. Okay. That’s something that’s valuable. I don’t wanna be commuting a lot. I wanna be able to get to and from wherever I’m working pretty quickly.

[00:16:39] Dara: Yeah, absolutely. I think sometimes people think what they want and then when they actually realize what it would entail, it sort of becomes less appealing. So I think it’s important to get into the nitty gritty details as well.

[00:16:50] Missy: Yeah. Kind of along those lines, like do you use any kinds of personality aptitude or strengths finder type things to help people start to figure all of this out.

[00:17:00] Dara: Yeah, absolutely. so there’s an energy Leadership index assessment that is proprietary through ipec, which is the school that, I got my coaching degree from, and it basically is an assessment that shows you how you show up in the world. So it’s the idea that you can’t change the world around you.

What’s gonna happen is, but are you showing up with red glasses and the world looks red? Are you showing up with green glasses and the world looks green? So understanding how you are coming into the world based on your past experiences, based on, the reasoning that you are a. On a stressful day and also on a normal day.

Um, and then we coach through, understanding so that it’s a choice, right? If you show up frustrated or angry, is it because you’re choosing to be or is it because it’s just a natural reaction?

[00:17:47] Missy: Oh,

[00:17:48] Susanne: Is that one we hadn’t heard? I don’t think we’ve heard of that

[00:17:50] Missy: I don’t think we have either.

[00:17:52] Susanne: Okay, so what we’re very familiar, well, we’re kind of familiar with we’re, we know the understandings and the broad strokes of like Myers Briggs and what Strengths Finder and some of the other ones. So is it similar where you go through a questionnaire,

[00:18:07] Dara: So, yeah, you go through a questionnaire and it’s basically, shows you. How you think about the world and are you showing up? What sort of core energy are you showing up with? So are you showing up with a victim perspective? Are you showing up with a caring and giving perspective?

are you seeing all the opportunities? you know, there, there’s a situation. Where you could, look at something and it could be the exact same situation and you could see the opportunity in it or you could be angry. So I think just sort of reframing that and thinking about the type of energy you wanna show up with is a really beneficial way to do that.

[00:18:43] Missy: you change your energy?

[00:18:45] Dara: You can so,

[00:18:46] Missy: I think I start with a roadblock before I see an opportunity, and I would like to change that.

[00:18:51] Dara: So, yeah, absolutely. I think understanding what the different levels of energy, there’s seven levels and understanding what they are. And the assessment will come out with the average of all of your levels on a regular day and on a stressful day. And so I’ll have clients that I do the assessment with and then six months or a year later, we’ll do it again and we can.

See, how their average resonating energy level has shifted, based on the coaching that we do. So it’s a way to understand how you wanna show up and different tools to get there.

[00:19:25] Missy: So cool.

[00:19:26] Susanne: That is really interesting. Okay, so I, I’m

[00:19:29] Missy: We’ll have to put it in the show

[00:19:30] Susanne: I know. I’m gonna,

[00:19:31] Missy: Dara and or another coach with the certification. If for some reason you can’t get on Dara’s schedule,

[00:19:37] Susanne: so it’s not like one of those tests that like they have free versions of online. You specifically need to work with a coach.

[00:19:43] Dara: work with a coach and then you get debriefed. yeah. So you take the tests and then it’s a debrief with a coach.

[00:19:49] Susanne: Which I do think there’s a lot to be said for even the tests that are available for free online. I think that can be like a helpful thing. But I think to really get the most out of all these tests and to make sure that you’re not cheating like I’ve been known to do, um, it probably does make a lot of sense to do it with a coach, especially so you don’t just be like, oh, cool results, okay, done, and then not actually do anything with it.

[00:20:13] Dara: right? I think so much of these tests are about the why and what do you wanna do. Um, I also, um, have a core values assessment that I lean on. I think it’s so, oh, I’m sorry, I’m jumping ahead. Um,

[00:20:25] Missy: it.

[00:20:26] Dara: for me, I think values are something that is so important and so many people, Find so much more happiness when they’re living true to their values.

So, I have an assessment where I have a huge list of maybe 250 values, but I say, you know, look through it. What what resonates for you? And you make lists and, and narrow it down to sort of five buckets. And from there I have clients rank how closely they are living in alignment to those values.

So, Maybe you really value connection, but you have been hiding in your office not seeing anybody, and so or maybe you are living true to whatever value may be, but within that, If you’re not, or you wanna be closer to that value, we kind of break it down. Again, you’re gonna hear the small actionable steps, where you can take a step forward and, okay, you want more connection in your life.

Your job is currently at home behind a computer. What can we do to make sure that you are getting that value? Because the truth is the more fulfillment is gonna come from living life closer to your core values.

[00:21:34] Susanne: so that’s a little different t tweak on it than I think we’ve heard from a lot of coaches as far as like doing the exercise, but then really diving in and thinking about, okay, great, and now am I doing any of these things? Yeah. Oh,

[00:21:49] Dara: Knowing your value, but Not changing. Anything you’re doing is not as helpful as thinking, okay, I wanna live in more alignment with my values.

[00:21:58] Susanne: And how often do you recommend people take a, a look at their core values? Because we, we’ve realized that through the different chapters of our lives, they’ve changed. So like how often do you recommend that people take a look at that again?

[00:22:14] Dara: think it’s really personal, but I do think that your core values don’t change as much as you might think. I think you know, if you, if a core value for you as family, that’s gonna show up. And it’s, look, it’s gonna be, not every day is gonna be equal. There’s gonna be busy times, there’s gonna be times where you’re more in at work and there’s gonna be other times where you’re more in with your family.

But for you having a core value of family or connection or whatever it is, that’s something that I see. I don’t see values changing as often as you might think. Um, because I think at the end of the day, it’s sort of who you are at your core.

[00:22:50] Susanne: Yeah,

I think probably the big life milestones, like once you have kids, like things get flipped upside

down, or, yeah, so probably, Yeah,

[00:23:00] Missy: yeah. Speaking of kids we’re curious. Of things we could have done differently when we had little kids. What can Moms of littles be doing now that can prepare them for this transition if they’re like us and think, well, I’m not going back into the office for a little while, but how do I prep myself so when the time comes, I’m ready?

[00:23:20] Dara: Yeah, so many moms are in it right now, and I always say give yourself. Some grace because it is hard and you don’t have to be all things to all people. one of my favorite quotes is, you can do it all, but not at the same time.

[00:23:34] Missy: I like that. Yeah.

[00:23:35] Dara: I think that that’s something that’s so important because when you’re in it, I have women calling me after maternity leave thinking about changing careers and while that.

Sounds good. You know, we also need to sit down and, okay, let’s back it up a few steps, right? You have a newborn at home. How can we make your current situation better for you? Where can you create boundaries at home and at work where you can feel you are making the most of your time? Because I think, um, not everything needs to happen immediately.

I think it’s important to think that. what your future is gonna look like if, if you’re interested in transitioning, that can be a future plan. Nothing is forever. So whether you decide to stay home with your kids or change jobs or stay at your job, but maybe take a step back, I know it’s often hard for women who have been very, um, ambitious their whole lives to then come back after maternity leave and.

Realize that they need to leave at five and maybe they’re working just as hard, but they can’t put in that FaceTime or whatever it may be. And kind of giving yourself the grace to know that you can’t be everything to everyone at the same time and it’s okay. And so there’s plenty of time for you to go all in in either direction in the future, and I think it’s really has to be what’s right for you today.

Remembering that it could change in a year, in three years, and that’s okay too. You’re not committing to anything forever.

[00:24:59] Missy: I think that’s such good advice. Like everything feels like forever when you have a newborn. I just, I tell this story all the time, but I cried into a bowl of cereal because I really could not imagine ever eating a bowl of cereal without being interrupted again. Like I sat down with my breakfast and my baby started crying because he needed his breakfast, you know?

And I just thought, that’s it. That’s it. Mark and I are never gonna have a meal together again. Forget it. It’s all over. I could not see my way out of it and it’s really nothing is forever. The bit’s not gonna be a baby forever. You are not gonna be sitting in your robe and your unwashed hair eating cereal forever.

Like things change and your goals change and circumstances are different, and I wish that I could have seen my way out of that at that point.

[00:25:47] Dara: Yeah, it’s so hard to see when you’re in it, and I think like the biggest thing is just boundaries, right? Like. make some time for you without the guilt, right? And so knowing that you, by making some time for yourself, you will.

be a better mother because of it, and it’s quality over quantity. So if you miss one bath time or you miss putting the kids to bed, right? it’s that balance of all of it, but it’s quality over quantity. So even when you get home from work, whatever it may be, You know, make sure that you have a plan that you’re just putting into it.

You know, we’re gonna have these 15 minutes, they’re gonna be our special 15 minutes, and then I know you’re gonna have to go to bed and I’m not gonna be feel bad that I wasn’t with you all afternoon,

[00:26:28] Susanne: Mm-hmm.

[00:26:28] Dara: but I’m gonna know that, that I have this special time. And then for the moms who are home with their kids all the time, Do not feel guilty if you need help.

This is full-time work, so, taking that break. I think a lot of women feel guilty and, and so much of it is guilt all on all ends of the spectrum and really just kind of making self-care as part of. The whole process and not talking massages and manicures, although that’s wonderful, but just time with yourself to even sit and think about what you would want, which is something that I think coaching is really valuable for, because a lot of women that I talk to don’t even know what they would wanna do because they haven’t even asked themselves anything.

They haven’t thought about it.

[00:27:10] Missy: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:27:11] Susanne: That’s what made us start the podcast when we realized that for ourselves we’re like, Hmm, interesting. If, yeah, that can be the most terrifying question for someone to ask. Like, oh, what do you like or What do you wanna do? And you’re like, I don’t even know. Like I have not thought about it for 18 years.

[00:27:28] Missy: I, I’ve told this story many times too on the podcast, but if anybody’s listening for the first time and hasn’t heard it, I had a therapist say, what do you like? And I could not answer it. I mean, couldn’t. And I was, I was stunned, like, I don’t have any idea.

[00:27:45] Susanne: Yeah.

[00:27:46] Dara: Yeah. And you are not alone in that. You are not alone in that.

[00:27:51] Susanne: And I think that’s probably the biggest thing that I have learned through doing this podcast is just how, I mean, it’s sad, but that, that it is normal. That because you, I think when you’re feeling that you feel like I am absolutely the only person who is this clueless about my own life.

And there’s kind of a shame in that. Like, seriously, how did I

[00:28:10] Missy: do I have a personality? Like am I a person?

[00:28:13] Susanne: Do I like things I don’t know.

[00:28:16] Missy: Yeah.

[00:28:16] Dara: it’s so true and it’s something that I also, a big part of my coaching, I do a lot of one-on-one, but I also do a lot of group work and I think that for women to know they are not alone in this, and I will be in a group with women going through the same. Things and they’re all, one person is talking and everyone is sort of just shaking their head because they’re like, me too.

And there’s so much power in that to know there’s nothing wrong with you. You’re not alone in this. We are all in it together. And to sort of create this community, um, and shed light on that, I think is so important. Also.

[00:28:50] Missy: Yeah. I love it. There’s power in that. You’re right.

[00:28:52] Susanne: Mm-hmm. well, and speaking of some of the groups and stuff that you do,

[00:28:56] Missy: Yes.

[00:28:57] Susanne: Part Duh.

[00:28:59] Dara: To you.

[00:29:00] Susanne: Two.

[00:29:02] Missy: Part Jew.

[00:29:02] Susanne: Oh, do you? I like that. Summer 2 23. First of all, before we get all excited and promoted, is it full yet? Because I know

[00:29:10] Dara: No, no, we have, we have availability. We can promote it. Um, so this is a group that I’ve been leading, for women who have taken, um, a career pause. And so it’s, it’s life after career. pause. What’s next? I do a bunch of the groups in person. this past winter I did it virtually and I’m doing it again virtually for the summer so people can be wherever they are and have the opportunity to share in on the group as well.

and it’s an opportunity to connect with other moms, learn some coaching principals, gain confidence and goal set while being held accountable. Um, and it’s great because I think just the idea of. Setting yourself up to say, this week I’m gonna work on this, and maybe you get it done and we all cheer for you and maybe you don’t.

And that’s okay. And let’s understand why it didn’t happen. Because things don’t just not happen. There’s usually a reason why. And so we can, in a confidential space, just be this, this support, which has been so wonderful. So, yes. So my next group is launching June 28th. Uh, virtually.

[00:30:12] Missy: All right, we’re

[00:30:13] Susanne: so what does that then look like? You said how many weeks is that?

[00:30:17] Dara: So this one is gonna be a little shorter. It’s four weeks. Um, we’re skipping the week of July 5th, so it’ll be Wednesdays from 12 to one 30 Eastern time.

[00:30:26] Missy: All right,

[00:30:27] Susanne: And was I corrected that. Okay. You get the group sessions. Is there an individual one with you as well or was that the last session? I’m, I don’t wanna mix it up with your fall session. I.

[00:30:37] Dara: Yes, so, so when you sign up for the four sessions, it also includes one individual session with me that you can be used at any time during the group or before or after.

[00:30:48] Missy: That’s a great deal.

[00:30:49] Susanne: I know

[00:30:50] Missy: Fabulous deal. So tell

[00:30:52] Susanne: go get our spaces before it fills up before the podcast releases.

[00:30:57] Missy: Uh, tell us where people can find that and where can our listeners just find the rest of your services and your socials and anything like that?

[00:31:05] Dara: Yeah, absolutely. So my website is dara asman coaching.com and you can sign up, for any of the groups that I have there. And also a free discovery call. So I do a free 30 minute discovery call for anyone who’s interested in learning more about coaching You know, tell me what’s going on. We can see if we’re a good fit.

you can also find me on Instagram Dara Asman coaching. I’ve been, um, attempting some reels and kind of setting my own goals there to try to put myself out there a little bit more. So definitely come follow me, like it, share it. Um, I appreciate it.

[00:31:39] Missy: Awesome. Okay. We’re gonna put all of that in our show notes.

[00:31:42] Susanne: And I’m just realizing we have like five minutes left, do you think that would be enough time if we patched in a question about, what you’re seeing post covid

[00:31:51] Dara:

Absolutely. I think, COVID has. Made people rethink so much. and so I think my clients are rethinking things. I also think companies are now offering much more flexibility than ever before. So for a lot of women who wanted flexibility, they were limited in their options. Um, and all of a sudden jobs that were five days a week, travel, everything else, all of a sudden.

You know, are hybrid and, and possible. And so I think not only, are women rethinking what they might wanna do, but there’s all these companies that are offering more flexibility. So all of a sudden there’s a chance to try something that maybe wasn’t an option for your family a few years ago.

[00:32:35] Missy: Right.

[00:32:35] Susanne: so companies are. Being more and more open to that. I’ve, we’re starting to hear, especially cuz I have a lot of friends in the tech field where they’re all like, come back into the office now, y’all. That was fun. So,

[00:32:47] Missy: which I’m like, bye-bye honey. Have a great time at the office. That sounds fabulous.

[00:32:52] Susanne: my husband’s been gone all week, um, because yeah, this was very

unusual and he used to

[00:32:57] Missy: picture of us for your desk off your go.

[00:33:01] Dara: I love it. I love it.

[00:33:03] Susanne: but I So are companies still, like, there was a lot of flexibility for a while? Are, are there certain fields that are still welcoming that more than the tech that we’re seeing kind of a little bit more sucking ’em back into the office space that they’re paying rent for?

[00:33:17] Dara: Yeah, I mean I think, I think, look, you’re gonna have the companies in all different fields that are gonna want people in the office, and it’s gonna be about whoever’s running the show and how they feel. and some industries more than others, but I think I. Asking for flexibility is a much different thing than it ever used to be.

I see people, you know, leaving at five o’clock. people used to leave at five o’clock and it was like, oh, half day. Now it’s like people at moms and dads, right? Like, I’m getting home for dinner. I’m prioritizing things in my family that I think, you know, even if you’re in the office, it’s a different, Level of feeling the need to just show your face and knowing that you can work from home and you can hop on a Zoom.

You don’t need to travel to California for a pitch. And then, you know, by the way, you could do three pitches in three different states just by sitting in your office and on Zoom. So,

[00:34:07] Susanne: Yeah.

[00:34:08] Dara: There’s a lot of different ways to make it efficient and obviously, you know, hybrid is a way to sort of achieve both. But I do think in general you’re gonna find more options for flexibility than you ever did before.

Covid.

[00:34:21] Missy: Yeah, that’s really encouraging

[00:34:22] Susanne: I know.

[00:34:23] Missy: I just think that. It’s such an antiquated way of thinking that you have to be in the office all the time because we have offices in our pockets basically. And so we might as well take advantage of that. And I, I do love the idea of being in an office, especially for certain jobs.

And the FaceTime is hugely important, but it’s not everything. And leaving at five to go have dinner and see your kids do their school play or whatever it is, it’s really important.

[00:34:49] Dara: Yeah, I think for men and for women and just sort of changing that culture, um, COVID really changed that. So it’s really important in general.

[00:34:57] Susanne: Oh, well, it gives us hope. It gives us hope.

[00:35:00] Missy: Yes.

[00:35:00] Susanne: All right. And so we’ve already done our things about where to find you online. so I guess then, It’s time for our look, listen, and

[00:35:07] Missy: it sure is.

[00:35:08] Susanne: Yay. and for any new listeners, welcome. We are so glad you’re here.

At the end of this show, we just like to spend a few minutes talking about our look, listen, and learns, which are things that we’re reading, watching, learning about, shopping for. I got a good one today,

[00:35:25] Dara: Ooh, I’m excited.

[00:35:27] Missy: I can’t decide if I’m sharing a product or another learn. I don’t know. I’m on the fence.

[00:35:31] Susanne: on my floor right here. Um, but yes, so we don’t like to put our guests in the hot seat though.

So Missy, why don’t you tell us what your look, lesson and learning this week.

[00:35:40] Missy: All right. Well, I have been looking up with Mark Top, chef World All Stars. he is a Top Chef, super fan. I am a Top Chef fan. I only like to watch it if I am eating or have eaten a really good dinner because it makes me hungry. You’re watching them make this amazing food. And I’m like, I cannot watch that right now because I’m starving to death.

So, uh,

[00:36:03] Susanne: I have not watched that one. I’ve done Iron Chef and I’ve done British Bake Off. Where is it in between those two things? Like what’s

[00:36:09] Missy: Top Chef is all, they all are really great chefs. Um, it’s in a different city every year usually, and there’s Top Chef shows all over the world. But we usually watch the US based one and it’s in a different city every year. And then these chefs compete every week and it whittles it down, you know, basic competition show.

Um, but it’s not like, Great American home cook or the world’s, you know, you’re getting really good food, high level, good food. We’ve learned a lot, although last night there was the great incident of the herbs and spices. I was like, mark, what are you doing? Because we will laugh. They say things like, did you taste this before you played it?

How did you like this? Did you think this was seasoned properly? So we’re cooking fish, and I’m like, Do you want to get a, did you taste this when it’s on the plate? Like what are you thinking? He was just kind of being lazy, but the seasoning, so I had to get in there and help. But,

[00:37:03] Susanne: gosh. I feel like my family would start doing that to me.

[00:37:07] Missy: Oh, we say it all the time.

We’ll all be like, Did you salt this like Dan did you, did you taste it before you plated it? Uh, so it’s fun though. It’s a good show. The judges are good. There’s no like yelling and screaming every once in a while. There’s some drama in the cast, but it’s very little. They downplay, they do all live together usually.

[00:37:27] Susanne: What’s the cooking show with the Yelly guy?

[00:37:29] Missy: the Gordon Ramsey one. Oh, he, yeah. No one’s

[00:37:32] Dara: Gordon Ramsey. New show tonight. Actually, my friend is on it.

[00:37:36] Susanne: Oh.

[00:37:36] Missy: Oh, really?

[00:37:38] Dara: yes. Uh, food Stars is premiering tonight.

[00:37:41] Susanne: Okay, but he’s the Yelly guy,

[00:37:43] Dara: Alisa, she’s a baker, she’s amazing. She baked a cake that actually looks like Gordon Ramsey, so you guys have to check her

[00:37:49] Susanne: Oh my gosh. Did, I

[00:37:50] Missy: okay. I was on the fence if I was gonna watch that because sometimes Gordon is a little meaner than I can handle. Uh,

[00:37:57] Dara: Give him a chance, give him a chance.

[00:37:59] Susanne: Okay.

[00:37:59] Missy: my kids love him. They think he’s hysterical when he hurls a hamburger over the fence and tells you it’s dog food. They think that’s really funny. Uh, like if someone did that to me, I would crumble, but, um, so, oh, I’m gonna watch it since you’re friends on it.

Okay. That is exciting. all right. And I am looking at, also reading all this could be yours by Jamie Attenberg. I’m not finished with it yet, but the characters are so richly drawn. She’s really, really good. And it, one of the quotes on here says she’s the queen of dysfunctional family drama. This is really good. Um,

[00:38:33] Dara: that to my list.

[00:38:35] Missy: like I am not sure everything that’s going on in this family yet. Like it’s slowly being revealed, but dysfunction junction and it’s so good. Like it’s not a happy, fun story. Really, it is funny though, at times and, um, just like family, right? And so, um, So I highly recommend it.

Very, very good. I actually was able, um, been able to read it at night without dozing off, which is a good sign. and my learn this week is, I talked about this a couple weeks ago, or I don’t know when the show’s running. I don’t know what order we’re in yet, but, um, I talked about CK that Susanne and I learned about it at the Mom 2.0 conference.

I have started my, and what I’m learning is just to really have joy in writing again. Just let it be what it’s gonna be. I’m not, I thought I could get really worked up and try to figure out, am I gonna post on Monday, Wednesday, Friday? And what am I posting on this day? What’s the structure of these posts going to be?

And instead I’m just letting them be whatever comes out of me that day. Maybe over time a structure will develop. I have been told it’s nice for people to know what to expect when it lands in their inbox. Uh, for a little while though, none of us are gonna know what we’re getting. I actually haven’t told anybody, y’all now everybody’s listening to this episode.

I haven’t told anybody really that I’m

[00:39:51] Susanne: show notes.

[00:39:52] Missy: yeah, and I’m not gonna make a big, like, this will be the closest thing I come to an announcement, I guess. But I’m just learning that there is something to be said for doing the thing you love and doing it without expectation. And it’s been

[00:40:05] Dara: I love that.

[00:40:07] Susanne: Yes. Oh,

[00:40:09] Missy: it tied in with our, I’ll say my product for next week, cuz I thought that really tied in with what we talked about today.

[00:40:14] Susanne: okay. Awesome. All right, Dar, what about you? What do you look? Listen, learning.

[00:40:19] Dara: So looking, I am gonna say, um, big time adulting. So I don’t know if you guys follow her on Instagram. Um, she actually lives in my town. She, we are friendly, but she is. Hysterical and has her own podcast. big time adulting, so I am a huge fan. Everything she posts about motherhood is so dead on, so definitely check her out for looking.

We’re listening. I’m gonna have to say Taylor Swift because I’m in New York and I’m taking my daughter. We got very lucky, with the initial tickets, from the Ticketmaster codes. So we we’re going to the concert on Sunday. So that’s all that’s been playing in my house for the past, I don’t know, six months.

[00:41:03] Susanne: I’m

[00:41:03] Missy: so jealous.

[00:41:05] Dara: sorry, I wasn’t even saying it cause I’m like, people are gonna think. Um,

[00:41:09] Missy: No, shout it from the rooftops. You get to go like, I’m so jealous.

[00:41:13] Dara: we are very excited. So, um, and then my learning is actually Canva. I don’t know if either of you ever use Canva, but I’m weirdly obsessed with it.

Um, I was never a design person.

Um, I don’t really, you know, I, I like doing all the marketing and stuff, but ever since I’ve started my coaching business and. Just the idea of playing around in Canva and being able to create things that I never thought I could on my own, whether it’s Instagram posts, flyers, anything, any sort of size, forms, anything, everything comes out looking so professional.

And they’ve actually even added an AI component now, which I’ve been learning a little bit about, where you can sort of ask for a specific, Type of picture through ai and it will come. I mean, it’s constantly evolving, um, and there’s a lot to learn there. But I am a huge Canva fan. I just enjoy, I find it relaxing too.

I enjoy doing it.

[00:42:09] Missy: It’s my favorite part of my podcasting, like side the, the backend stuff, like the things we have to do to make the show come out. That’s my favorite part of that little stuff because it’s so much fun to play in there. And I used it a lot in my gig for, um, I was, On the board of the Swim Booster Club this last couple years.

I used it so much for that and it is fun and relaxing. Like I look forward to messing with that.

[00:42:32] Susanne: Yes. And you know, I do encourage, I started to learn how to use it for when I was doing the newsletter for our pta back in God, back in. My kids were in grade school. and I do think it is just one of those fun things. I mean, we use it for birthday cards, I use it for Christmas cards. We use it for our logos.

We used it. I used it for a setting up my daughter’s resume. Like there’s so many things that you can use it for. So even if you’re like, oh, I’m not a design person, or you know, I don’t have a job that needs this or whatever, I highly recommend people just go play around in it. But, oh, they had, you did like your vision board this year in it.

Like, you can look up vision board templates, like there’s

[00:43:12] Missy: I did

[00:43:12] Dara: that. I didn’t think, I never thought about using cards. This is, this is great. I love

[00:43:17] Susanne: Oh, yeah,

[00:43:17] Missy: saved me all that time of going to the card site and scrolling through the cards, trying to find the one that suited the picture I was using

[00:43:24] Susanne: Yeah. But we do it for our cards for the podcast too, which have our little, like our

little

[00:43:29] Dara: love it.

[00:43:30] Susanne: and stuff. I

[00:43:31] Missy: I’ve done my business cards there like,

[00:43:33] Susanne: but yeah. Holiday

[00:43:34] Dara: you can, you can create a QR code through there, um, which makes me feel very tech savvy. Um,

[00:43:42] Susanne: Yes, we big, big fans and I just think it’s something that you can play around with, even if you don’t need it necessarily for a quote unquote paid role.

[00:43:51] Missy: right. Yeah. Everyone should be playing around on camp. We agree.

[00:43:55] Susanne: And yeah. Brought to you by Canva.

[00:43:57] Dara: I know.

[00:43:58] Missy: we can do some sponsors. Hello

[00:44:00] Susanne: know. Hey Karen, give us a discount on our membership. Oh my

[00:44:05] Missy: awesome. Well, what about you, Susanne? What are you up to?

[00:44:07] Susanne: Let’s see. I am looking at Firefly Lane. Was that your recommendation?

[00:44:12] Missy: it was a guest.

[00:44:13] Susanne: Okay.

[00:44:15] Missy: maybe Nicole. I think it was Nicole

[00:44:17] Susanne: it Nicole? Okay. And it’s factually. Yeah. Chris is out of town, so I was like, what’s a girly show that I can watch that he wouldn’t watch?

So it’s very good for that.

[00:44:26] Missy: Yes.

[00:44:26] Susanne: It’s just the friendship of two women from, you know, their teens all the way through adulthood, and I’m only like four or five episodes in, but that one has been really fun. let’s see here. Oh, listening. this podcast I think I’ve talked about a few times, but. Every episode’s so different that I could probably bring it up every week and it would always be a different topic, but it’s, uh, you’re wrong about, and their episode was, we need to talk about the New York Times, which I was like, I don’t, I I think it just odd.

I would not have listened to this episode. If I just saw the title of it, which we need to think about our titles better, just

[00:45:02] Missy: Interesting.

[00:45:03] Susanne: cuz I really wouldn’t have, cuz it doesn’t say what it’s about. but it auto rolled in while I was doing laundry. I was like, oh, I guess I’m listening to this now. But it ended up being talking about the New York Times and how they cover L G B T Q, especially trans issues.

And then it gets into this history of media’s need to have these both sides and presenting like these balanced perspectives on stories which end up being totally not balanced because they typically think that people who are involved, for example, if they’re talking about teachers strike, they’ll talk, you know, to all these. Lobbyists or they’ll talk to, you know, people who are against it, but they don’t talk to teachers because they feel like they have too much stake in the game and they’re not gonna be quote unquote balanced because it affects them. Whereas they are the true experts on what, how this impacts them and they’re the people that we should be talking to.

So this idea that in the effort to have a balanced perspectives, they never actually talk to the people who are. Most closely impacted and are true experts in various fields. In particular the L G B T Q community. So, um, it, and they talked about how, you know, opposing sides are not just like, technically the opposing sides should be pretty close to each other in parallel, but they find these wide extremes

[00:46:24] Missy: Right. It’s not high school Debate

[00:46:25] Susanne: yeah, so they end up just fighting about things by.

Just this, the wide extremes instead of having a true intellectual discussion around a particular topic. so they talked about that and especially just the way that stories are framed, the way that New York Times has framed, trans issues instead of just talking about trans issues, they’ll be like, Ooh, are there more and more kids who are trans these days?

Like just trying to make these like weird. Hooky things where they can say that they’re talking about important issues, but they’re talking about it in a way that’s framing it in a really crappy way. Um, so it was just very, very interesting about the way that news is presented and the sides that we are actually hearing, um, for a wide range of topics.

Um, let’s see. Oh, am I learned so exciting. I gotta pick it up.

[00:47:20] Dara: I feel like I need a drum roll or something.

[00:47:22] Missy: Oh no.

[00:47:22] Susanne: Girl, it’s my massager. Look how big this thing is.

[00:47:26] Dara: Oh

[00:47:26] Missy: We have one of those.

[00:47:28] Susanne: Yes, so. Ooh, if anybody listened to our post mom two episode, you know, I had a life-changing experience with the massage

chair in Arizona and I could not afford to bring a full chair home. But this thing is amazing. It’s this neck, I guess it’s a neck and shoulder massage, but I can make it massage anything like, cause it’s, it’s portable like you, it doesn’t work quite in the shoulder blade area cuz the things just end up bonking into your

[00:47:58] Missy: You have to like hold it, right? Like Yeah. We have a very

[00:48:01] Susanne: arm loops, so you can kinda wear it like a, so you can adjust even while you’re sitting there doing your work, you can hold it in place and you know, I can still do, I can type with these hands, I could write with these hands, and I can pet a dog if I need you, although the.

[00:48:20] Dara: at its

[00:48:20] Susanne: Yes.

The dogs do not like it though. But um, but yeah, you can use it for your back. Zoe was using it the other day for her leg cuz she went on a mega walk and was sore. it heats up, it does

all kinds of stuff. And so I’m in love with this thing. I will put a link to the one I bought on Amazon. It’s like 50 bucks.

Even if it broke tomorrow, I got my $50 worth outta it. This thing’s amazing.

[00:48:45] Missy: Yeah, I’ve used it like on my quads, my low back. I think I’ve used it everywhere.

[00:48:52] Susanne: it is

amazing. Yeah, it takes a little bit of coordination cuz like if it hits you in the wrong spot, you’re like, oh, I got nerve damage in my neck now. But

[00:49:02] Missy: if you wanna use it somewhere like your legs, you kind of have to hold it and you gotta find the right pressure because too much then it does hurt. Or the little knobs kind of catch and.

[00:49:13] Susanne: and I haven’t quite figured mine out cuz like it’ll just start getting in a groove of it and then all of a sudden it’ll be like in reverse. And I’m like, no,

[00:49:19] Missy: you can tell it not to.

[00:49:21] Susanne: can you, okay, I need to read the manual. I got so excited about it, I just pulled outta the box and plugged it in. So I, I don’t even know, I haven’t even figured out how to turn the heat on yet.

So yes, I’m big fan. Big fan.

[00:49:32] Missy: it’s pretty

[00:49:32] Susanne: learn.

[00:49:33] Missy: Pretty awesome.

[00:49:34] Susanne: it is amazing. Yes. So, oh my gosh. Thank you so much for joining us today. I, this was just really perfect timing. I think both are me and Missy. This particular topic, and we talk about it a lot, obviously is what the whole podcast is about, but for the, I think for the past month or two, we’ve had some different topics on different guests.

We’ve been trying to focus on some inspiring moms doing really cool things, and I needed to get back to the, the heart of where it all is of like, okay. Sitting down doing the work, thinking the hard, deep thoughts about what you want, what you like. And

[00:50:11] Missy: Figuring out what’s next for you. I love it.

[00:50:14] Susanne: Yes. So thank you.

[00:50:16] Dara: Well, thank you so much for having me. Um, and, and good luck with the next few weeks of every, all the craziness.

[00:50:23] Missy: I don’t know where the days go. I know that sounds so dumb, but I am just, Have been nonstop doing all the end of year and then our life stuff, and then it’s just, yeah, it’s been a lot.

[00:50:34] Susanne: Yeah. What did Whitney call it? December. It’s December. Yeah,

[00:50:37] Dara: December and in New York we’re, we’re a little behind you, so we don’t end school till the end of June. So as I’m sitting here listening to you talk about all these teacher gifts, I’m thinking I should do this now, but you know, it’ll be the end of June until I actually get my act

[00:50:49] Susanne: Oh my gosh. Y’all are still in school for another month.

[00:50:52] Missy: Yeah.

[00:50:53] Dara: Yeah.

[00:50:53] Susanne: Wow, that’s bonkers. Why did we get out so early? Just cuz it’s so dang hot.

[00:50:57] Missy: I think because it’s so hot, I don’t know.

[00:51:00] Susanne: I

[00:51:00] Missy: Yeah. And we go back like there’s no reason to be out of school in August because it’s so hot. Like what are you gonna do? So you might as well go sit in the air conditioned building.

[00:51:10] Susanne: Yes. Oh my

[00:51:11] Missy: Although I think it’s always been that way in Texas because my mom talks about going back in August when they didn’t have air conditioning in the buildings and they wore things like Lins and peti coats under their skirts.

And

[00:51:21] Dara: Oh.

[00:51:22] Susanne: I bet it’s time to round. I bet Idaho is the same way where things are very structured around farm work and being able to do stuff during the growing season or the harvesting season. So yeah, I bet it has something to do with that. Not harvesting in New York.

[00:51:37] Dara: No, we don’t even have air conditioning in our school, so

[00:51:40] Susanne: Oh my God. Oh, well, I’m sending my daughter to New York for college and she’s gonna freeze her booty off. She’s going to Rochester,

so she’s gonna,

[00:51:50] Dara: That’s amazing.

[00:51:51] Susanne: She wanted cold and snowy. I was like, there you

go. You got it. Oh my gosh. Well, I’m so excited. We’re gonna have links to everything in the show notes for people to get in your part.

Do, do, do you do,

[00:52:03] Missy: you I love it.

[00:52:05] Susanne: My French minor is really paying off today. and I’m gonna go check out that for myself, cuz I think especially after this conversation, I might need to participate in that class. But

yes. Oh my gosh. Well, thank you again. And yeah, everybody have a great week.

[00:52:21] Dara: Thank you so much for

[00:52:22] Missy: y’all too. You want me to hop off? Go to your, your graduation walk.

[00:52:26] Susanne: Oh, I’m gonna, I, ugh, I’m gonna take so many pictures.

Yes. All right, everybody, have a great week. Bye.

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