00:00:00 Katie F.

Welcome back to the I'm doing fine podcast. I'm Katie pronouns she/her.

00:00:04 Katie B.

Her and I'm also Katie pronouns are she/her.

00:00:08 Emma

I'm Emma, pronouns she/her.

00:00:10 Lexie

And I'm lexie. I also use she/her pronouns. 

00:00:15 Katie F.

Today we’re gonna talk about some of our favorite things and some stressors that we have about the holidays just to distract us from the studying that we need to do for finals well. This is what we're going to do for now.

00:00:29 Katie B.

So it feels like these like 2 weeks are just like the final stretch of our finals and break.

00:00:31 Katie F.

The worst? Yeah.

00:00:35 Lexie

It's so hard. I do love the holidays though. I'd say my favorite part is decorating my roommates and I decorated our house last night and we went up the tree and made cookies and it was so, so fun. So I always look forward to that ever year. And black Fridays. So I got all my gift buying done. So that was really nice. Now I just get to wrap all of them, which is my other favorite part I know I know. ALDI has some really good sales right now on decor and paper and boats.

00:01:08 Katie F.

OK. Ohh that's so good.

00:01:09 Katie F.

I know so fun. 

00:01:13 Katie B.

Yeah, for me, I love the holidays. If you guys didn't know, I think I just love like having everyone get together, seeing like friends and family, especially people that go to different colleges. Everyone just comes home and you can just catch up. And so I love. There's something also about, like holiday lights. I don't know where I'm from, but there's like, a huge display downtown and you can just walk around and see everything. It's one of my favorite things to do this time of year. This year for Christmas is a little bit different for me? I was asked to work, which it might seem like really sad and I was like a little disappointed at first, but I get to work with kids who honestly don't have families to go home to, but we get to get them gifts. And it's honest – 

00:01:54 Lexie

But you got to give them gifts. That's so fun.

00:01:55 Katie B.

Yeah. So we maybe like Christmas lists and we I get to be there when they open like it's Christmas morning.                                                                                                                                                                                                          

00:02:02 Katie B.

I'm so excited we get to, like, make a Big Breakfast for them, see them Christmas morning and I get to leave work at 3:00, so it's like I still get to have Christmas dinner with my family and – 

00:02:09 Lexie

Oh, it's not that bad, that’s fine. 

00:02:11 Katie F.

I love that. 

00:02:13 Katie B.

I’m not upset about it, and I like my love language, is giving gifts, so I'm just excited to do that. And just buying gifts for my family and my friends. And I'm getting something for my little residents, so I'm excited for that, I love that. Yeah, it's so.

00:02:24 Emma

Cute. I also love the holidays. I like to decorate Christmas cookies. I decorate gingerbread house and I like seeing all the Christmas lights just driving around, just looking at everyone's houses. This year for over Christmas break, I'm going to cruise and it happened to be my birthday near Christmas.

00:02:44 Lexie

Wow, yes.

00:02:46 Katie F.

What day is your birthday?

00:02:47 Emma

The 22nd.

00:02:48 Katie B.

Is December 22nd.

00:02:52 Lexie

That’s so funny. That is so exciting.

00:02:54 Katie F.

Yeah. So for me in my hometown, we have a huge drive through Christmas lights out at MISO, Michigan, like where they have faster horses, they have this huge like, Little no I wouldn’t say little. There's a huge Christmas like drive through type thing. I literally love it. It's like different every single year and it's it's so fun. Like go get like dinner with your friends and then go see the lights. 

00:03:13 Lexie

That's so cool.

00:03:23 Katie F.

Every single Christmas evening we watch elf, my mom and my sister watch Elf every single time.

00:03:33 Katie B.

That is like our family Christmas vacation.

00:03:36 Katie F.

I watched that. Yeah, my parents made us watch that too much as kids. So now me and my sister can't stand it.

00:03:43 Katie B.

Well, I love all of that. And with the holidays coming up, it's just a time of like being around family, friends and happiness. But of course, as college students, it's also a time of a lot of stress. Exams, of course, are right around the corner. We just got back from our Thanksgiving break. Now we have the final stretch of homework, papers, studying for finals. Maybe it's a project speech, whatever it might be, and it might just seem like hard to just manage these long two weeks, even though it doesn't seem like it's that much time. It's like they somehow cram all this work into these two weeks, yeah.

00:04:13 Katie F.

No, it's a lot. It's a lot.

00:04:16 Katie B.

So we as per as just wanted to share with you that we also feel that stress that you all might be feeling. And as we are also looking forward to break, it can also be a little stressful going home back to – Living this independent life for the whole first semester and then going back Home. Yeah. So we wanted to talk about how we also deal with challenges as we head home for a break. So for me, I guess I'll start out about some stressors I feel with the holidays and I'm like, super comfortable here being with what I know a routine I have like a scheduled routine every day and I'm really excited to go back home to see like my old friends and family. As I mentioned before and I get to see like Nutcracker at my old dance studio. But.

00:04:57 Lexie

Ohh, so fun.

00:04:59 Katie B.

It might be really hard for me. It always is to like going back to me under household with like family telling me what to do. Will I be home for dinner? And like it might be also really hard because as you have been independent, you might have new beliefs, maybe new identities, new like ways you think about things. So it might be uncomfortable to have different things than you grew up with, and it might also evoke some feelings of being left out of what used to be normal. And now you might have a little internal battle between how you behave in college versus you do at home. But one way that I've started to combat that as I've, you know, been doing this for a couple of years, going back and forth from college to home is I've just stood up for what I believe in, but also respect everyone's opinions, especially during the holidays when everyone comes together. It's a time to celebrate being together and rather than just you know, fighting with everyone, just except that everyone has, like, different opinions and you might have changed when you were at college versus when you were at home. And you're a different person now and that's totally normal and OK, yeah.

00:06:03 Lexie

I guess I didn't think about that. Like you just said that I'm like whoa, I didn’t think about it like that. 

00:06:06 Lexie

I relate to that so much. My parents are so wonderful. I actually adore them, but they have very different views from me, and it can be really hard coming back home and, you know, having that be in your face a lot. They're not super open, so that's really hard. Like it's just it can be a very challenging time, but that being said I'm also really sad when I can't go home because of work because I want to go home. So right it is a tough time. It's it's very joyful, but it can also be challenging absolutely, especially with family.

00:06:47 Katie F.

Yeah, yeah.

00:06:48 Emma

I'm also excited to go back home, but I need get these two weeks are gonna be super stressful and so we're anxious, like knowing I need to get everything done, turn in on time. Now I need to do good on my finals. Also going back home, like, I'm used to being independent here, so that hard transition going back home where I'm not so much like independent.

00:07:07

Right.

00:07:11 Katie F.

Yeah, yeah.

00:07:13 Katie F.

Yeah, so really weird my at home. I don't really feel like I lose that independence.

00:07:21 Lexie

That's so nice.

00:07:21 Katie F.

I got very lucky. My mom is super like, no, do what you need to do. Like, I hope you have fun like. I love that. I really appreciate that. But with that being said, like I have a hard time actually taking my time to rest like over break, I'm like ohh I'm sitting here, I'm not doing anything like I could be at work right now making money and like I just feel super guilty when I actually take time to rest like I sit there anxious and I'm like I should really be doing something right now. Like I should be working if I have, like, the time I should be working since I don't have school right now. It's like the perfect time to work. I have to worry about school. So like I'm definitely going to be working on that this Christmas break.

00:08:05 Katie B.

I think it's like really hard to like take time to like not be busy. It's like a skill to like learn almost like almost.

00:08:12 Katie F.

Yeah. I hate it every single time. I'm just like, I feel super guilty for resting, like, but still, I'm so excited to go home and see my little puppy. She's my best friend, so very excited to see her. 

00:08:29 Katie B.

Yeah, for sure.

00:08:31 Lexie

I totally agree with aspects of what everyone said like there's just such a unique experience for everyone. And yeah, I can relate to certain parts of all of your experiences. So that's kind of fun. And I assume that all of you listening can relate as well.

00:08:46 Lexie

You know, yeah.

00:08:47 Lexie

So the holiday season can be a lot. Both in good and more challenging ways, but it's especially important during times like this to practice mindfulness. So we wanted to share our mindful moments.

00:09:05 Katie F.

I'll go 1st I have been really trying to take time to meal Prep or plan and then grocery shop and then make dinners because it makes a huge difference mentally I just feel like I feel so much better about myself and I feel like health wise so much better. If I'm eating at least one like healthy meal throughout the day like.

00:09:32 Katie F.

And you like saving a lot of money too. Like you're not eating out constantly. 

00:09:34 Katie B.

I concur. Like, I feel like I love meal prepping and like just getting it done. You don't have to think about what you're eating for the week and all it's done and then like.

00:09:45 Lexie

No, it's all done.

00:09:47 Katie B.

Having a dinner that's like actually has, like, enough vegetables and like everything and it. Ohh, I agree with you 100%.

00:09:54 Lexie

It makes me feel so much better about myself and my day. Like, even if I don't get which, like, what happened. But even if I don't get anything else done, I could be like, wow, I made a meal though, like.

00:10:04 Katie B.

Have you ever tried like overnight oats?

00:10:09 Lexie

I have. I'm really bad about eating in the morning. I feel sick. But dinners all of your dinner tips send them my way. Send me your recipes. 

00:10:18 Katie B.

I love cooking, so I definitely will.

00:10:20 Lexie

I don't, but I like eating.

00:10:22 Katie F.

That's so fair. That's so fair.

00:10:26 Katie B.

Well, I also I love that just like meal prepping is so good for you and for me, for my mindful moments, a little different. I have been so into like I don't know what it is, but like I woke up one morning a couple weeks ago I was like I want to paint 

Katie F.                                                                                                                                                                                 You had an epiphany.                                                                                                                                              00:10:43 Katie B.

I did. I just.

00:10:46 Katie B.

I literally I wanted to paint so bad, so like, I've been going to these like canvas. Like they're wine and canvas classes. But yeah, I know and I know.

00:10:58 Katie B.

And it's like, so fun. Like you. Just like they tell you how to paint it. And everyone's painting looks different. But it's so fun. Like, hey, I painted the Northern Lights. Ohh. I just. I love painting now. And like, I have these, like, little like canvas squares. They're, like, tiny. And I've just been, like, doing that. And like, I don't do one every day, but for a while I was. And it's just like it gets like my creative like juices flowing, I guess, and it's.

00:11:21 Lexie

Ohh yeah sure.

00:11:21 Katie B.

Like it's kind of, Like honestly like so nice. I don't really think about stress or exams or whatever, and I recommend even if you don't take those classes, just like doing something like creative outlet.

00:11:33 Katie F.

Yeah, I love it. Yeah. So I know it's called mindful moments, but like my quote UN quote mindful moments this time around is, like, so mindless it like resets my brain I am really into puzzles right now.

00:11:53 Lexie

That is so fun. I love that I'm OK.

00:11:53 Katie F.

It's like all of my roommates and like our friends will come over at the end of the night after homework after dinner and we will work on this puzzle. And like, eventually it gets to be super late and like OK, now we have to go to bed and then like someone finds a new piece and like, no, this this needs to wait. So like, when I was home for Thanksgiving. I finished a whole thousand piece puzzle. In two days. 

00:12:17 Katie B.

OK. You're gonna hate me, but. I used to take a piece from each puzzle like my family is working on, so I could say I put in the last piece.

00:12:25 Katie F.

You rat! No, because my sister's boyfriend kept stealing one particular piece every single time, and I'm like, I'm not stupid. I know you have this somewhere. I'm not going to fight you for it I know it'll show up and behold, it was there the next morning. So yeah, I wasn't. I wasn't having it. I wasn't having the drama right.

00:12:46 Emma

Yeah, for my mindful moment is different. I like going outside, just taking some pretty photos like the sunset or just like the winter trees when it's snowing. Just just just watching the snowfall when you're inside, and having hot chocolate. It's so good.

00:12:55 Katie F.

Yeah, yeah.

00:13:01 Katie F.

Snowy, snowy like pine trees, pretty beautiful.

00:13:04 Katie B.

When the flakes get big enough.

00:13:08 Lexie

Like my favorite. When it like drifts down like slowly. Ohh.

00:13:13 Emma

But anyway, thank you so much for listening to our podcast about, like how they traditions, stressors and mindful moments, and everyone have a wonderful winter break. 

00:13:23 EVERYONE

Yeah. Have a good break. Good luck on finals.