Kiki With Brittany X JC - Big Mantras

Ah, That's way too long of a countdown. I'm going to unmute you. Oh, wait, I can't. Okay, that's an insanely long countdown for somebody with adhd. But at least the music's like, ooh, it's Flight of the Navigator floating above the world. We're there. I. It always reminds me of the Taylor Swift eras tour. And then I go, oh, it's just us. So anytime you make a Taylor Swift reference, I really just have to go, oh, yeah, I want from you. That's all I want from every man in my life. When I talk about Taylor Swift and is to act excited, Please trust and believe.

That's all I need. C. hey, Brittany. You should welcome me since you're on here a lot more than I am. I was going to say it's so much fun to get to like, smush our faces together and go. We both exist in worlds where we get to hold conversations. We got Rachel jumping in the witness jumping in Emily 8770 big mantras. Hey, it's, it's fun to get to spend some time with you on the cadres here, Britney. Yeah. So you and I both are Cadre contributor. And you know, I usually start off with like my rundown, which always sounds negative, but I always use it as a positive.

But I am an alcoholic divorce army veteran with 15 years sobriety. And yeah, I have all these other little attributes too. C. before we start our mantra talk. Yeah. You know, and I love that, like even thinking about how do we start the things that we do, that itself is a mantra. But I guess if I think of who I am, I always love to raise the point that I'm America's diversity factor in 2025. I'm a white gay guy, but I'm straight enough. I'm emotional and creative, but I'm also very analytical and structural.

So I always, no matter what seat I'm in, I always try to acknowledge the fact that I'm given space and then I try to decenter myself from it. So who I, whoever's out there listening today, I invite you to sit where we are. Because your voice, your voice, your voice is so important in this world. We love it. And so there's this tradition I have with my nanny family that we do every year, and I wanted to bring it to you where we set our mantra for the next year. And mantras are absolutely different than a lot of the resolutions or goals.

A mantra is just kind of like A little bit of a vibe, a little bit of a theme to kind of lean into and get excited about the next year and about who you are that year. And they change sometimes. I've changed mine halfway through last year. Mine was doing it for the lulz, and it was just the idea of making myself laugh. And I'm telling you, perfect. It was the Perfect mantra for 2025, and I'm still doing it. It's like, literally, I'll make a joke for me or. Or I'll do something for me and make myself laugh.

And that was what I needed in 2025. Oh, I love that. I mean. And again, I. So I'm a linguist by trade. I always say, like, words are empty vessels, so we place something in them. Mantra. It's a Sanskrit word. Right. And translated from Sanskrit into English, mantra literally means a vehicle of the mind. So it's the thing that we go as we attempt to navigate this world that doesn't make sense to us. What's the little car that we travel in? So, Brittany, that idea of, like, ooh, what's carrying me through?

It's that ability of, like, how do I make myself laugh? How do I be in that space? What a beautiful little vehicle for the year. Totally. So, like I said, this has always been a tradition with me and my nanny mom and my nanny daughter, which just means a family I nannied for, and I don't anymore. So Brooke and Ann come over, and we already did ours for 2026, and it usually ends up being, like, a giant word vomit. I write it all down. I'm the recorder. And then I write it all down, and it ends up looking just like a big list of things.

And sometimes we land on it during the meeting. Sometimes, like, Brookies is still kind of all over the place. Mine is solidified. Do you want to hear my words? And then what it ended up being. Yeah, I would. Because again, like, everybody who's tuning in right now, like, the witness, you just said, like, sounds like you learned a lot and made you who you are now. Cadre. Awesome. Yes, Rachel. Resolutions are overrated. The word makes me cringe. Right. Again, like, if it doesn't mean something to you, you need to reshape it.

Totally culturalize it to being the space. So, yeah, like, right now, as Brittany lists. Brittany's list, as you're listening, think about what you would pull from this as the mantra. And I'm going to be, like, playing the game here as well. Yeah. Because we're going to make yours today or we're going to. At least. The thing is, we can't say we're going to make yours today because, like, maybe it's. Maybe it's. But we're going to start making words and kind of like a feel and a vibe. Like, we're going to get into the house or the room that your mantra is in, and maybe we'll get it today, but maybe we won't.

Like, you can't force it, and maybe you won't get it until January, but it's fine. Like, in your own time. So my big words were build, Kindness, niceties, power, Castle, play. D'oh. I wrote nicotine, but I don't. I think that might have been an autocorrect kingdom. Kindness, building My kindness, Castle, building with love. And you want to know what we landed on then for my mantra? This in 2026? I mean, it has. I mean, there's all these construction themes. There's a. There's a building, there's a warmth, a cozy.

What was. What was it? Home? Something. Something. What was it? Kindness is my crown. I love it. Me too. And it, like, the whole concept is, is I'm in this world where I'm trying to build and figure out what my. My work life and life life feels like, and I'm in charge of everything since now, you know, I me, it's just me and my kiddo and. Oops, what did I just do? Okay, good. So I. I wanted to do something around, like, power, but let's be honest, I've never had your traditional things that are associated with power.

Like, I'm not gonna ever force myself into something or, you know, use espionage to get what I want. So it was like, the idea of my whatever I build is gonna be out of kindness. And, like, even just doing Cadre is like, it's part of my little empire. And it's all the idea of, like, that's going to fill my bucket of helping and addiction talk and things like that. So kindness is my crown is just a reminder all year. Is like, Brittany, you've always been able to accumulate more than enough by using kindness.

That's the thing that I love that you just shared was not only those listening, like, right away, there's a lot of, like, love that beautiful is popping into the chat. It's like, kindness is. Is my crown could be perceived to be a lot of things. But then you were able to go, here's what I mean, here's how this plays out. Here's the. Here's the verb and the evolution of this phrase. Mantras are. Are verbs. They're not things that live on shelves. So the fact that you're gonna be able to pick this up again and again and again and see it in action is amazing.

Yeah. The minute I start doing that thing of, because I work in radio. The minute I start doing that thing of, well, why did they get that endorsement or why am I not on this segment? It's like, no, no, no, no, no. Remember, kindness is my crown. Like, the way we get into rooms, the way that we've always lived is very much so. Kindness is my crown. So again, it's like a healthy reminder for me. It also, like you said, kind of steers it towards that. So now that you know mine, it feel very vulnerable.

What are like, let's pick. Let's start with, like, four words that you're going to try to like, embody of 20, 26 or that you are embodying right now that you've really found to be useful. I'll. I'll. I'll record all this. Thank you. You know, so for the last two and a half years, I've been living with three weird chronic illness chapters that have taken me out of the game. Like, in a lot of ways, the things that I was known for, the things I was able to do, I haven't been able to do those things.

So, you know, enoughness is always going to be on that list. Sometimes that's a really positive word, sometimes it's not. But, you know, affirming, Affirming enoughness is always. Is always front and center. Okay. Story, I think, is a big one, you know, really thinking about rather than having, you know, life happening without thinking about what's the story that I'm a part of. So having some. Some hands on the reins of the story, I see like, like the pencil in my hand. I see the paper in front of me.

I think pause is a big word for this next year. This last year has been very curveballs, very reactive. Pause as, like. Yeah, I just didn't know, like, Like a timeout, not to be clear, because you did acquire a dog recently. So I didn't know pause as, like, you just paused me. Like. Okay. Yeah. And the beautiful thing is in that pause, there are really beautiful things that are happening, and I think that's the last thing. It's like seeing. Seeing the good things that are happening amidst the. The dumpster fire.

I'm not referencing any specific dumpster fire. We. We all have our dumpster fires. Right. But all of those things. Yeah. And the witness just said awareness in chat. I'll take that one as well. Or that one as well. Thank you, the witness. Okay, so right now I have enoughness. Affirming story creating hands on the rain. Pencil in hands. Pause to be clear. Not dog pause. Beautiful things. I think I wrote amount. Nope. Beautiful things around amongst the dumpster fire. And awareness. So we have a lot here for you, which I love because it's very you.

And I'm seeing. Yeah, I'm seeing a lot of, like, I do like the idea of, like, what am I writing? Where is that going? Or, like, between the lines or paragraphs. You were very Taylor Swift. I know you don't know what that means, but it does feel like. Yeah, yeah. Sailor twist. I love sailor twist. I love sailor twist. She's great, too. So, yeah, like, again, I can't stress it up. Like, it might not be today, but I do see, I foresee. I do feel like there's something about writing this book about this between, like, the lines, things like that, that we are hitting on you for you as well.

And, like, maybe finding beauty between the paragraphs kind of vibe. Or like, what's between the words? What's between the sentences? Something in that. Is that feeling at all? Yeah. I mean, again, because there's been the book, like, I often say, it's like, oh, and when I, you know, if I ever finish, you know, the 17 books that I know I'm never going to finish. Yeah. And again, I actually think I'm getting closer to writing the book on enoughness, which has been in my tagline forever. But it's the life in between the paragraphs.

I love that. And there's a great. Between the paragraphs, there's a great line from. It's from the Wedding Singer, the musical. There's a song called Come out of the Dumpster. And. And it's, you know, it's being sung, you know, to the Adam Sandler character. It's like, hey, come out of the dumpster. And it's just like this. Like, hey, this is where you currently are. You can also climb out and acknowledge that there's life on the other side of it. So I think there's something really beautiful about the song.

Between the lines, the words in between the paragraphs, the. You know, I also wrote. I just recently wrote raccoon era. And I do feel like you're in your raccoon era now. I know that, like, that people can take that different ways, but you are like, raccoons are living their best life. Most of the time, and especially around here in Minneapolis, they are very chubby and big and like, whatever. So, like, I know that raccoon era is not your mantra, but keep in mind, I do feel like you're in your raccoon era.

So our garbage cans in St. Louis park are in the alley, and there's one garbage can that every morning when I wake up, there's little, like, shots. Empty. Empty shots of vodka in one garbage can. And then in the other garbage can, there's torn up garbage. Because I think the raccoons go into the one garbage can, and I think someone who is walking down my alley drinking vodka shots in the other. But to the point, I resonate with the raccoon crawling through my garbage can straight up. I do too. I mean, I feel like that's your vibe, and I mean that in the best way.

I saw three possums in the last month, and I'm like, oh, my God, that was me in 2025. Was like, lay down your dead, lay down your dead kind of vibe. So, like, I was possum mode. That was my era was 2025 was possum mode. I have to figure out, like, what mine is going forward. But raccoon era is for sure. You so, like, put that where you will maybe get yourself like, a little raccoon figurine for sure. And then something. Something again, I love. Oh, oh, my God here. Which isn't raccoon, but it's kind of raccoonish, I will say.

Okay, so we went to that play, and I'm telling you, that cat has been brought up many a times in our life. So. Okay, so, yes, definitely. Something between something about writing or like writing the story between the paragraphs or what's the story between the words. Something for sure. That. Or like taking pen to pa. We. We are so close to your mantra. I know it. And I. What are you feeling about written? Do you want. Do you want the pen involved or not? What's the vibe? I. I think so. Because it provides a tactical and a practical.

It's like there's. There's something comforting. I mean, again, I'm that person who. I can't go to a Barnes and be Dalton, the Barnes and Noble. I can't go to a Target without walking down the aisle where there's the pens and the journals. I buy so many journals. Well, literally, it's like, here's journals that are laying on my desk. So there's something comforting about going this empty page. This book has potential. The Potential of an empty page. There it is. Okay, Right now, that is our front runner.

So I think that especially if you're in the chat and you're listening, trust and believe that, like, making a mantra should be fun. It should fit wherever you're at. You're literally your mantra can be. And that's what's so great about it. It could be, I don't have a mantra. That's your mantra. Can't. Mantras can't hold me back. Done. That's your mantra. So, like, either just do a word vomit, kind of like we did, or meet with somebody. It's always fun to, like, have. I love doing this with people because then you get an insight of, like, where they really are too.

Find somebody who, like me who will, like, help you write it all down. And. And I think I would love to hear other people's 20, 26 mantras. For sure. Well, and I'll say, like, right now, Rachel, MK55 and the witness are literally new best friends. Like, the chat. If you, if you're not looking the chat right now, everybody go back and look at the love affair that these two are having. They're. They're literally lolling and rolling on the floor with each other right now. And are they making their mantras there?

I'm just like, the two of you, you better need to. You better connect and do this exercise with each other, you know, again. And I'll say, I'll say what Brittany said in the way that I always talk on Cadre today. Our opportunity here is to take things off the high shelf. If you go, people always say this, people always say that. Or like, and if it doesn't mean anything to you, guess what? That's the starting place of you going, so what does mean something to you? Yeah, mantras and resolutions and yada, yada.

There's a reason why most people fail at those things, and it's because it's not their thing. Totally. Frame, rebrand, repackage. It's all in the same sandbox. So find your corner of the sandbox and start building your Play D'oh. Castle, where you can go and put your kindness crown on. Or where you can go and go into the other corner because you're a little introvert. You go, I'm going to go ahead and find the potential of the empty page. It's like, that's our stuff. What's your stuff? Potential of the empty page is pretty good.

Boom diggity. Boom diggity. JC I had the best time hanging out with you. Let's do it again soon. We'll see you later. Bye. Bye. Bye, Cadre.