00:00:09:02 - 00:00:33:19
Unknown
Welcome to The More than Just a Doctor Podcast. I’m your host, Lil Surprenant MD. I’m a life coach for physicians, a practicing hospitalist, a wife, a mom of two boys, a reader, a dancer, a dolphin enthusiast, and all the things just like me. You’re more than just a doctor. And that’s what we’re going to talk about each week.
00:00:33:21 - 00:00:57:22
Unknown
Doctor stuff regular life stuff and all the things that make life rich and interesting. I’m so glad you’re here. Let’s get started. All right. Hello, friends. Welcome to episode 19 of the More Than Just a Doctor podcast. I'm a Lil Surprenant your host and today I want to give you the thought I want to talk about.
00:00:57:24 - 00:01:27:13
Unknown
Sometimes it's worth the trouble. I want to tell you a story. So this spring, my husband and I got invited by our friends, Patrick and Sara. I'm going to call them out to go on a trip to Italy. This is during the school year. We have work and, you know all the commitments and not months and months in advance.
00:01:27:15 - 00:01:56:09
Unknown
And my first reaction was like, It's impossible. Can't go like my mind. First thing was all the reasons why it wouldn't work. I didn't have childcare, arranged my regular, most regular childcare person was out of a country for part of it. My little guy does not do well with a lot of change and he really likes me to be around and blah blah.
00:01:56:12 - 00:02:20:07
Unknown
Oh, of course I had to work I was already on the schedule for the hospital. Already on schedule for my coaching clients. Like a bunch of reasons. Like logistically, Logistically why it will be difficult. Okay. But we really wanted to go. We hadn't been on a trip away with the two of us since COVID, and we used to do that.
00:02:20:07 - 00:02:51:23
Unknown
We used to try to do that in the spring once a year. We hadn't been out of the country together since before COVID. And so and we want to spend time with our friends. And they had such a generous and really fabulous opportunity. It just seemed like we really wanted to go. So I did a whole bunch of arranging because my main childcare person was out of the country.
00:02:52:00 - 00:03:27:19
Unknown
Like, it was a lot more complicated than it would have been in a regular time. So I raised a hodgepodge of childcare. I switched my schedule at the hospital. I switched my kitchen schedule. I made lists because I had a bunch of different childcare for this week. I made a bunch of different lists for every person. And if you guys knew me like I'm not naturally super organized, like I'm a little bit more go with the flow.
00:03:27:21 - 00:03:53:08
Unknown
But I made lists for everybody. I made lists for myself. I ordered groceries in advance. I wrote down the meal schedule for everybody. I packed a bag for the part that they were spending with their grand Granddad and my husband and I, we had flights separately. We had a different schedule because he was going to go a couple of days early to see friends of his.
00:03:53:08 - 00:04:15:08
Unknown
I couldn't go on that leg or I chose not to go on that leg because my older son was starring in the middle school play and there was no way I was going to miss that. So like the whole thing, all the logistics were pretty complicated for us. But I'm going to tell you, it was worth the trouble.
00:04:15:10 - 00:04:37:01
Unknown
That was my thought. When we got home, we had a great trip. We got to connect with our friends. We got to connect with each other. We, like, did a whole bunch of stuff. We went to the Amalfi Coast. We met Sarah and Patrick's family. And spent some good time with them. We went to Barcelona for a couple of days as a surprise.
00:04:37:02 - 00:05:05:16
Unknown
I mean, my thought was, it's worth the trouble. So that's what I want to offer to you, is sometimes it's worth the trouble. So our you know, a lot of times we have really full and busy lives. We've got all the kids got to go to 14 things. We've got, you know, work, meeting this and that. And I just want to offer you went when your first thought is like, I can't do this, it's impossible.
00:05:05:22 - 00:05:35:18
Unknown
You know, I can't. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I just want to offer you that. It's possible. It's in our control, and we get to decide if something is worth the trouble and this, this particular trip was totally worth the trouble. Another thing that you know is worth the trouble are things that get us to be the person we want to be.
00:05:35:20 - 00:06:08:23
Unknown
So it's worth the trouble to train for the road race. It's worth the trouble to figure out if you need a trainer for that and how you're going to fit that in so that you get the satisfaction out of all the doing and then accomplishing the goal. It can be worth the trouble connecting with your spouse, like setting up a baby sitter, grandparents, whatever it takes for your date nights, and that's what you want to do your weekend away.
00:06:09:00 - 00:06:33:05
Unknown
I hear a lot of people will say to me, like, we can't go. Like we don't have any family around. And, well, right now I've got some family that can help. Not super close, but I didn't have that for several years. And it's worth the trouble to figure out hiring a babysitter. It's worth the money. It's worth the going
00:06:33:09 - 00:06:41:23
Unknown
through people like it's worth the trouble to live the life that you want to live.
00:06:42:00 - 00:07:21:18
Unknown
So the summer is another example, and sometimes it's worth the trouble. I concocted a fairly busy summer for myself and the kids, my husband a little bit, but he is he he got exempted from a lot of the the going around like two different kids, different ages. I wanted them I had goals set my rich life goals from the beginning of the year, like what kind of experiences I wanted them to have, connecting with friends, certain camps and of course trips for me, connecting with some of my friends.
00:07:21:20 - 00:07:56:08
Unknown
Well, it turned out to be it's been great. It's been a really rich and great summer. It has been a lot of logistical doings, like more than I anticipated straight up. But looking back at it so far and I've got another few weeks, some more logistics coming up, but I would say it's been worth the trouble. Another question that I'm inviting you to ask is how can this be easier?
00:07:56:10 - 00:08:33:09
Unknown
Like both, it's worth the trouble and how can this be easier? Another question is how can it be easier next time? Like for me, for sure. Looking back at this summer, I would have kept most of the stuff I did, but I would have hired different childcare to cover it more robustly and simply. That's where the like trouble like the hassle for me, came in is I had the thought, looking at the schedule ahead of time that I didn't need that much childcare and that turned out to be totally not true.
00:08:33:11 - 00:09:00:17
Unknown
I needed a lot. It was all in these little weird hours and pockets and so thinking, looking back at it and thinking for next year and how could I make it easier for myself to be thinking better ahead and planning for needing more childcare than I think I need? Because I didn't plan for a whole lot of the things that pop up, so it was still worth the trouble.
00:09:00:19 - 00:09:26:10
Unknown
But how can I make it easier? How can I make it easier next time? So that's what I have for you today. I just want to offer you. Sometimes it's worth the trouble and I hope this gets one person listening to this on a trip that they think is too much trouble or on a hike they think is too hard, that they have to train for or to go see a friend that they haven't seen in years.
00:09:26:10 - 00:09:49:11
Unknown
And it's they think it's too much trouble to connect to hectic mom schedules. So my deepest wish is that somebody listens to this and says, You know what? Maybe it's worth the trouble and takes the trouble and gets the thing that they want. So have a great rest of the week.
00:09:49:13 - 00:10:15:18
Unknown
Thanks so much for joining me today. If you like this episode, you're going to love working with me directly. Sign up for email updates from me in the show notes. I'll send you a fun email every week called Friday Favorites. Everyone loves it. Or if you're ready to get started creating your Rich and Interesting life book a free consultation with me to explore working together one on one.
00:10:15:20 - 00:10:22:13
Unknown
I can't wait to meet you. You'll find these links and other resources in the show notes. See you next week.
