Comedy Through the Chaos: Parenting Edition

Happy Saturday everybody. I hope that you are out there thriving here in the Cadre sphere. If you are not, hopefully we can help you do that a little bit more. And hopefully Saturday is being kind to you. So far. I am Ms. Shannon. I am a variety of word related things. I'm a comedian, corporate speaker, voice actor, event MC and benefit auctioneer that hubs out of the great state of Minnesota. I'm also the very proud parent of a 17 year old boy who also happens to be high supports on the autism spectrum.

So welcome to Comedy through the Chaos, the parenting edition. Our inaugural. I like the word inaugural Saturday. Junk food junkie. Hello. Happy Saturday. So here's the thing. I will now be on Thursdays and Saturdays. Hello, Shannon. This is my first Saturday and I will talk. I will start this parenting edition with something that I think is very relatable. So I came up with this brilliant idea. You know what? I'm gonna start doing this comedy through the chaos things on Saturday. And so I'm gonna be.

Hello. Hello. And I'm like, I'm gonna be talking to some people that maybe you're not familiar with me. So I want to show up my best. Today I had all these plans. I was gonna get up, I was gonna sit down at my vanity, I was gonna put on all my makeup, I was gonna look cute for all of y'. All. That was the plan. And then I came downstairs, I was watching some content, decided I was gonna fit in a workout and came downstairs and really it sunk in what my family room looks like. That's my family room, everybody.

And that, that is the way it has been in varying degrees of this chaos for the last week because it's summer vacation around here. So a lot of the practice, the time when I have to reset the house is when my kiddo is at school. And so he's not at school. So I have not been able to reset the house. And so today was the day that it really started getting to me because I'm like, you know, there's some things I've been managed to put off that I'm like, I'll have time to do them later. But they're things that are also taking up space in our lives.

And this might happen to you as a parent as well. So I'm now going to introduce you to what was previously one of my favorite things. And this is going to be your first opportunity to meet this item and also your last. And I'm going to tell you why. So this is my spin bike. So we are now, currently in my downstairs bathroom, it is oddly large. And so when I was trying to carve out some space for myself, this is one of the rooms that I said, this is going to be mom's space. So it usually is also my workout room.

You see, I got my. My punching bag here, my closet that has a variety of different weights and things that are set up in it. Well, and some of my workout things. And so this is one of those spaces that I did it. I even put up a little screen over here. A little screen so that it's still a bathroom, because I'm not taking the toilet out, because we need the bathroom on occasion kind of thing. But so that if I'm on that spin bike, you don't see it. And the thing is, I have a variety of projects that I have started over the last, we'll say, couple of years, like, including, you know, redesigning some things here in the bathroom, other things in the house, things in my life, my career, things in my son's therapies and his life, all of these things.

And I don't get as much time on this spin bike as I used to. And the thing that's also interesting about the spin bike, this spin bike predates Ms. Shannon as a parent back in the day, before I had my son, so we're talking like 18, 19 years ago. I was actually. Oh, no. Most of the Legos are people, so I really feel like they walk away when I'm coming. I think that they got my back. So thank you very much. Junk for junkie. There's a lot of stuff. You were right, though. And I am very well shoed right now, as I often add in the house.

But thank you. And the thing about this bike, and back before I had my son, I used to be a spin instructor. And so I would do that. I played a lot of sports. I did a lot of those things. And so I bought this bike for myself back when I was still teaching spinning on occasion. And so back then, I mean, this bike is old, so it's heavy. And so it was when I was single, and I had a lot of time to hang out on it, and so it was very important to me. But then, as life is prone to do, it changed. So I stopped using it as much.

There was a long period of time when I was married back in the day that it sat out on our porch, and it didn't get any love at all. And then after I got divorced and I moved here with it and I brought this heavy thing along with us. I put it down here and I did use it on a regular basis. But lately my life has evolved and I'm doing other things. You know, I'm not doing as much of that when I am working out. I've been doing more weightlifting and some other things and some other training and stuff.

That seems better for me where I am, where at the point at where I am in my life. So this spin bike has turned into something that is a memory and not something that is a necessity. It's a memory that's also taking up a lot of space, a lot of time and a lot of mental and emotional workings. Because it's not something that I'm using right now. And it's actually keeping me from using other things. Because what I really want to do is use some of this space to get a bigger weight set, to do some other things that I could do to actually be able to work out more functionally in here.

Because I do that now and it takes a little more space. And I don't just sit on the bike, as you can see. I decided that it would be good for my son and I to have a little pop up sauna. So that's taking up space, space. And so this thing that used to fit in my life and take up an appropriate amount of space is now a burden. So because it is so heavy, I just decided that today was going to be the day I was going to pull that trigger. I already called some junk removal people. I hate to say that, but that's who it is.

I have them coming because I thought about putting it on a marketplace, doing some other stuff. But the thing is that it really needs to go away efficiently so that I can have that time and that space back. And I think that we as parents spend a lot of time doing that. There's something that we hang on to from before we were in our parenting journey. We allowed to continue to take up space because it makes us feel good back to when we had more time that was only about us. And then you start to feel guilty about that, but you also want something to be able to reminisce for and reminisce about.

Because there are also probably some really good things about what happened before our kids get here. So then you get in that, that spiral of guilt. So I encourage you to make some space in your life. Yeah, it hasn't junk food junkie. It is like for real. I didn't clean it up for you. I actually sat on it and spun. I spent. I, I mean I've. Over the years, I've. I've replaced the pedals on it. I bought new seats for it. This was something that I was still using. But the main thing about it is the way that I used it and what I want to do now.

It's not most efficient for me to sit on that spin bike. It's now for where I am in my life. I need to be training differently. And so I need equipment and time and space to train differently. And so that's what I'm doing today is I'm going to release this to the universe. I'm going to make space in here for, you know, some weights and some other things that I'd like to do to actually get them out of that closet and be able to move them forward, because they're what I need right now. And this is what I needed back then.

And the other thing I'll do today is this is the day. And since they're coming. Thank you. This is the day that I'm going to reset the room. I don't know. My kids upstairs with his personal trainer, so I gotta go listen to them every once in a while too. No squishies. Do I need to come be a part of the squishies? We might end up down here. We'll see how that goes. My life is. Is an adventure. It always is. So. And I know. And junk food junkie. I do not want to discourage you from what you had said.

For most people, it would have become a clothes hanger. For me, it was actually one of my happy places. And so that's why it's so hard for me to make the decision to let it go. Because I. I now have to go. Your mind needs to reset because now what you do is different. And what makes you happy needs to evolve and needs to change. And that doesn't mean that anything about having that or what I used to do about that was bad. You know, I'm a perimenopausal woman. We need strength training. You need to lift some weights, push some weight.

Push some weight. And so that is what I'm gonna do. So say goodbye to her. She's a good friend. And hopefully she goes off to someplace good. We'll see. That's what I feel bad about. So. Kind of thing. Plus a waist in class. You can stir your yoga mat too, when you get. Yeah, I have a yoga mat. It's just not out here. I have a yoga mat. I have an acupressure mat. I have. I have one Everything. I have a Pilates band right here. You know, I have a weight. I have all kinds of stuff, you know, that is.

That is what your girl does. But I don't have space to use it efficiently. And so, like, I thought about putting this outside and it's like, no, then I'll just get rusty. So it's like it needs to go to someplace else. And so that is what we're going to do today. So what are you going to do today? What are you going to do today to make space for where you are in your life right now? What are you going to be able to do for yourself today that leaves space for you as a parent who is always tethered to somebody else?

What are you going to do to make space for yourself, to be able to do that efficiently as well? And what are you going to let go of? What are you going to let go of? Because sometimes that is required as well as giving yourself freedom to go. That was great. I have great memories about it, but can be a memory. So maybe you need to take some pictures and save them. Make it a screensaver, but actually release whatever that is to the universe. So allow yourself some time to do that. Let go of some things.

You don't have to keep everything around. Sometimes what is the best thing to do is to go ahead and let give yourself time and space for new things. So I encourage you to do that. This is a new thing for me. So you can always check in with me here. Now, I'll be here on Thursdays at 2pm Central and Saturdays at 10 Central. I picked 10 because it is strategic in my life. Yes, yes. Thank you very much. Junk food junkie. 10 p 10am Central is strategic for me because that means that my brain doesn't have to work too hard too early in the morning.

But hopefully it's also a good way for us to kind of start today. If you have requests on what time on Saturday mornings, I join you. I am open to those and we can workshop that because I want to make sure that it is a value to the Cadre space fear. So I'll do some before and after pictures so you guys get to officially in real time, see the befores and I will send an after in about 24 to 48 hours. We'll see how long it takes. So I always appreciate all of you. Thanks for checking in with us. Thanks for checking in with yourself again.

We work towards progress, not progression here in the Cadre sphere. So we will continue to be here for your community and continue to build it. So let us know what we can do to support you and amplify whatever it is that you need. So enjoy the rest of your day if you're able to, everybody, and we'll talk to you soon.