Hey, hey, hey, how’s everybody doing today?
Thanks for tuning in to today’s episode, we’re gonna do a little catching up today. I feel like there’s been a lot of hot topics and things that we’ve been discussing. But I don’t feel like I’ve been sharing as much of my what’s going on in my life and with my family, and everything. So just a quick catch up today. And we’ll see what comes out of it. Sometimes I like to go into an episode without a specific intention, because it allows the space for what really needs to come in or be said or voiced to come out naturally, instead of having some kind of a framework for what this bit of time together is going to have.
No, of course, by the time that you’re pressing play on this episode, it has a title and it has show notes and you know what it’s about. But just know that a lot of times I hit record, and there’s not a plan. And if you’re somebody that watches the videos, you can usually tell those days because I’m kind of like a little raggedy today. I just got my workout on, got my hoodie. And you know, the hairs a little bit disheveled. And, you know, if we’re lucky, the kids will leave us alone.
It’s a Sunday morning. It’s actually my son’s 12th birthday today. So happy birthday, Jonah. And so we the day yesterday with a whole bunch of 12 year olds, mostly boys, one girl, and we went to a trampoline park and jumped. And it’s always interesting when you get a group of kids that are all the same age together, we have we have four kids under our roof, but they’re vastly different ages, we have a 16 year old now a 12 year old, an eight year old and a five year old. So yeah, we have a lot of kids around most of the time, but not all the same age group. And it like really magnifies a lot of things. And it, it just points out a lot of stuff that you don’t notice when you just have one 12 year old. And it was really fun. It was neat to get to spend the day with his friends, my husband and I, you know, put all the trampoline socks and got in and jumped around and got some exercise too, which always feels good. And you know, What really excited me was that my oldest son, he’s in robotics club for his school. This is his first year doing that. And all I can say is they’re doing some amazing blow your mind stuff that I probably will never quite comprehend. And it’s the beginning of their championships, like division stuff, whatever the preliminary stuff is this weekend. And he actually wanted to leave the the first initial day early, which was fine, because he had done the stuff that he needed to do so that he could be at his brother’s birthday party. And like, how can you refuse that like, he’s 16, almost 17, his brother’s 12 They’re very close, very different. And I love honoring any opportunity for them to have that brotherly time together because it’s desired and requested. And not just because it’s happening because we’re doing something as a family, or we dragged them along, or whatever. So that really made my day and warms my heart. And yeah, so that’s how we spent the day yesterday.
And today we have an impromptu visit from my mom and my stepdad. And I think we’re going to get to see my husband’s parents too and go have some kind of a birthday meal. It’s yet to be seen exactly what that’ll be. And we are really kind of known for last minute changes, but as of right now the boy wants some Shake Shack burgers and shakes for his special birthday meal. Not that he only gets one we’ve been eating birthday requests all weekend. And honestly I am ready for like a Detox or Cleanse or something. I am so full of carbs and sugar and crap that it doesn’t feel good in my body. I guess I just I have known what eating healthy can do for me and what eating unhealthy does for me for long enough to know that I definitely prefer getting the healthy stuff in now I did like managed to cram in superfoods and supplements and my own vegetables and fruits and things throughout the day yesterday, but not nearly as much as I normally would if I was really paying attention to things because I wanted to go along with the stuff that he was doing too. So it is what it is.
But we’re also getting ready for vacation in a few weeks. So now wanna want to feel good when I put that bathing suit on and I know I will. But there’s preparation for that. Right? And I’m also not the type that likes to go nuts while I’m on vacation. I think some people go on vacation and I feel like it’s their opportunity to eat, eat, eat and I know that doesn’t put me in the best feeling place have energy to go in the ocean with my kids or, you know, hang out at the pool and do things. And when you’re, when you’re a mom of four, even with the kids getting a little older now, it’s active time, like vacation with a family is not restful. And we’re going to be going on this vacation, we’re going to the Dominican Republic, we’re also going with my mom and my stepdad. So it’s gonna be eight of us. And I’m sure there’s going to be, you know, groups splitting off doing their own thing and all that. But I know that they’re going to be long days, and a lot of my friends are going to be at the resort that we’re at, too. It’s kind of it’s kind of a bit of a work trip. But my focus is going to be with being with my family, even though there’s going to be a lot of different events and activities that I could go off and do work wise. My main focus will be on hanging out with with my family and honoring that time. And I’m really looking forward to it, really, really looking forward to it. I haven’t been out of the country since before the pandemic, my husband has. He’s done a lot of traveling. We’ve gone places within the United States, but oh how hungry I am to be somewhere tropical and just feel that difference.
It’s such an energetic difference, isn’t it? It’s just everything lets down. You know, even just thinking about it, I can feel and see my shoulders let down and, you know, I mean, there’s, there’s uptight, everything’s up. And then when everything kind of shuts down and relaxes. There’s such an energetic difference in that. And I find such value in the fact that even just thinking about it and anticipating it. I feel that relaxation, that calming, that soothing, almost like you can smell the ocean air and the smell of people sunscreen, and you know, tastes whatever that drink is in your hand. And right now all I’m imagining is ice water. Obviously, I am thirsty this morning. I’m actually going to drink I have a little bit of my leftover Moon water here. I’m going to drink that. I’ll try not to make too much noise in my microphone. Gulping sounds are kind of weird.
And I’m so thankful that my voice has been cooperative this week. I can still feel a little something in it little Flemmi. I think whatever we had, I would imagine it was some form of our lovely friend COVID. But you know, our family’s had a had a long road getting over it. And my we’re still out of the woods. So I mean, we’re feeling buying and we’re functional. But there’s definitely days when the exhaustion hits. And the phlegm has not retreated fully. And you know, last week in the week before I was losing my voice a lot. And that makes it pretty difficult when you host a podcast and you do a lot of podcast guessing and love doing those things. But it’s coming around. And you know, it’s kind of gravelly, every now and then. But that’s okay. Enjoy the differences, you’ll be able to tell when I’m feeling better, because you’ll know the difference in my voice.
So we realized this morning, we were trying to fill out the stuff for going into the Dominican Republic and getting the airline tickets ready. And we realized that the kids passports expired next month. And of course they need to be good for six months. So it was such a kick in the butt honestly, because five years ago, when we got their passports, we were also going to the Dominican Republic on a similar work trip for me. And we… my husband thought that it was still fine for the kids to just have their birth certificates. And it was the day before our flight. And I was calling the airline to make sure that we were good. I just had Jordan, like he was eight weeks old-ish might have been seven weeks old and I was verifying all the stuff that I needed to do for him to be a lap child on the flight. And they were like, well, what’s his passport number? And I was like, Oh, shit. And thankfully it was early in the morning. But we had, I think it was Tuesday. Our flights were Wednesday morning.
And the stuff that we had to go through in that 24-hour period to pull off getting passports for all four of the kids. One of which my oldest son Jaden is from my first marriage and his dad lives out of state. And I needed to get a notarized letter from him. And we had to go in person to the passport office, getting one of those like trucks on the sidewalk that does passport pictures. Wait, we were there like three or four hours for waiting for them to see us getting the pictures taken and having them process them and then eventually walking out with the passports. Now in the scheme of things, totally efficient. They did a great job. We got everything we needed. Did and you know, in the end, everything was good. But oh my gosh, I wish I had known about EFT tapping them because I needed it so bad. The tension was so high. The I mean, we had a very young baby. So there was no like normal naptime that day or anything else. And breastfeeding. You know, I, there was no time to like, be organized, pack a bag, make sure the kids were fed. The kids were in school, it was a Tuesday. And so I’m driving around to two different schools I think the I think Jace was still three, and he may or may not have been in preschool that day. But I was driving to the to different schools for my older kids to pick them up unexpectedly. You know, they’re like, what’s going on? Drive the passport office. I don’t think we picked them up until later in the day, but still, you know, and we’re at the passport office through dinnertime. And of course, this was the day before vacation. This is when I was planning on packing suitcases running last minute errands, straightening up the house, just I had this fantastically organized day planned so that like everything would go smoothly. Thank goodness, I was at least that organized, that like we could fit in basically a bit like probably six to seven hours of the day, at least concentrated on that. And before we can even go to the passport office, I had to fill out heaps of paperwork, like it’s like a six page application for each kid and locate their official birth certificates. Thank God I had all that kind of stuff, like readily available in our like home safe. And I had to get that letter from my oldest son’s dad. And, you know, I’ve got an infant, like my husband’s at work, he had just, you know, he’d been back to work for a few weeks at that point. But he was at work and I was losing my mind and like postpartum hormones. Hello! Like, I’m pretty sure I don’t remember. But I know like my tension was high and my husband tension was high, we were not like being the most pleasant to each other in the vehicle while we were going to and from the passport office, it was not a fun way to go into vacation. And you know, of course, I’m a little bit irritated with him because, like, I feel like, you know, he should have known that we needed the passports and he didn’t and then here we are, thank God I called the day before because what would have happened if we’d gone to the airport. Like again, EFT tapping would have been so helpful for the blame that I had, and the anger and the sadness. And I mean getting hit with it was like upwards of like $600 to get all the passports expedited and created on that day, it probably would have been about half that much otherwise but all the expedited fees, and like getting the passport pictures taken in like the truck outside of the passport place like they know you got they got you by the cahones when you have to use their services to get your passport pictures. So I think we paid like another 100 or so dollars for just the pictures. It was ridiculous and stressful. And I don’t recommend it. So check your passports, make sure they don’t expire for at least six months, at least a time of recording. If you’re going places like the Dominican Mexico pretty much anywhere in the country, I think is a six month validity after expiration date they want or six months validity past the time of travel so it can’t expire for at least six months after the time you’re supposed to be traveling.
Ah, so anyway, we check our passports this morning and realize that we’re in the same boat. But at least this time, we have several weeks. So printed out the paperwork this morning. Like how did I not realize it? I
think my husband I totally checked passports a few months ago, I think we just checked ours. And we figured the kids with the same date. And we didn’t realize that they only have five year passports and we have 10 year passports. I mean, it makes sense. Like it’s so funny. I pull out the passport this morning. And I’m looking at it Jordan’s literally has an infant picture on it. And I was like, how are they ever gonna let him in a tree? Like, there’s no way to tell that this is the same human being at all. And now I know why their five year passports because there is no way like why would they let this child in, there’s gonna be any babies passport. But we will get a new updated picture and a brand new passport. And apparently we will mark our calendars for five years, but that should align with when our passports expire. And at least we should be more on top of it then. So say I had no idea that we’re going to talk about passports today but here’s your education on that.
And just know that like if you live in the DC area, you can get a same day passport. I think it costs like $60 More plus whatever stupid fees you have to pay for the pictures if you are not able to take them yourself which is hard and difficult to do correctly with shadows and backgrounds and all that kind of stuff. But it can be done. And we still had a great vacation and everything went off without a hitch. But there was definitely a lot of tension that it would have been great to like, be able to tap on like even though I feel like I have zero control over the situation. I love accept and forgive myself. Even though I wish my husband had this figured out beforehand. I love accept and forgive myself and him as well, just so many things that I could have worked on and felt better about and probably behave better as a result of if I had been able to have better control over my nervous system then and also be able to voice what I was feeling better.
So, yeah, so birthday, we got upcoming vacation, everything, what else is going on? Oh my goodness, we’re in the last few months of preschool life here. You know, my husband’s actually planning on doing a cool preschool presentation for the kids this week, based on what he does for a living, and I think they’re going to love it. And I’m just excited to get that in. Because these are like, lasts in a way and it’s bittersweet. But it’s exciting. You know, the best possible scenario is that a child gets to grow, be healthy, advanced to the next level and outgrow things. You know, that’s the ultimate goal is that we can raise amazing adults, and that they can live fulfilling lives, right. And that means that at some point preschools over some point, elementary schools over some point, middle school, and high school, and college and all of those things will be done with his parents. So savoring the moment is super important. And I know it’s also, for me, at least one of those fine lines to walk, because it’s really easy to procrastinate on some things, because you don’t want to miss out on the things that are happening right now. And then it’s also really important to work on those futuristic things, because they’re what’s supporting the present moment of tomorrow. So there’s always that fine line to, to walk about how you’re going to spend your time and what you’re going to make of it. And what it’s going to look like today, as well as what it’s going to look like 5, 10, 20 years from now, and making sure that you are giving yourself a good place to take that next step each day, and creating a solid ground for yourself, and answering the call to your own purpose and dreams, while also supporting those of your family and your spouse and your loved ones. It’s a tall order, is it not? And it’s that whole work life balance that is so tricky. And that I’m so glad I have tapping to work on because it’s elusive. And a lot of times honestly a little bit mythical, I think it’s easy to realize that we don’t have balance, it can feel trickier to restore it. You know, I can tell you every place where I’m not aligned right now. But getting back into that alignment is a little trickier.
I’ll give you a little bit of a taste of what I’ve been been reading and doing maybe on the next podcast, because there’s a lot of cool things that I’ve been revisiting, and a lot of new things that I’ve been doing as well. And so next time, I’ll share those with you. But in the meantime, just know that’s what our family is up to. And hopefully this gives you a little bit of a window into the ways that you can apply EFT tapping. And if you want to learn more about how to tap and get help and support doing it, I encourage you to check out my becoming more me with EFT program and see if that might suit you. And also to realize that if you’re interested in that, you should definitely just set up one of those breakthrough sessions with me if they’re available, they do go on waitlist quite often. But if you’re able to get on a breakthrough session with me, and discuss how you can combine the program with one on one coaching or group coaching, whatever happens to be available at that time, I think you’ll be really pleasantly surprised that it doesn’t cost that much more. And you’re going to get so much more mileage out of getting the one on one or group coaching in addition to just becoming more me with EFT program, but the program is standalone, you can do it on its own. And it’s amazing. And you will learn everything that you need to know to create your own tapping rounds to address the issues that you’re facing. And to really come to great resolution using just what’s in the program. So it’s an excellent program on its own. It’s just that much better with the coaching along with it. So anyway, I encourage you to check that out. And until we meet again, just keep tapping and if you have specific topics that you would like me to address or create tapping rounds on email me, Teresa Teresa Lear levine.com. Tell me what you want to do. Tell me what you’re facing. I’ll create a tapping around EQ, maybe I’ll do a whole podcast episode on it. But without the feedback and the input. Just take me along for the ride right? Why don’t you help me shape course of the journey. Alright, have a great day. Thanks so much for listening. If you love this episode, please share it with a friend or post on social media and tag me so I can personally connect and thank you. Until next time, keep taking bold and brave action steps towards becoming more of who you want to be in this world. You are capable, you are worthy and you are in now. Keep shining your light.