Navigating Burnout: Insights and Strategies with Lisa Buyer
Are you burnt out? Tired? Ready for escape? Tune in to learn how you can stop yearning for someone else’s life, take a break, and reclaim your life!
PR and business expert Lisa Buyer shares her journey of self-discovery, emphasizing the importance of creating solitude and balance for personal growth. Learn about digital detox, the power of positive energy, and the pitfalls of multitasking. With insights on journaling, meditation, and the benefits of self-care, this episode offers you practical tools to reclaim happiness and avoid burnout. Join Lisa and Lauren on a path to self-compassion and well-being!
“If you’re going to switch gears, pivot, whatever you’re going to call it, you have to really take a step back and pause.” (Lisa), 2:07
“The universe was kind of like telling me I needed to take a step back. – (Lisa), 3:24
It’s counterintuitive, but when you take a break, even a short one, you feel recharged. A sense of renewal.
“How do we use technology to better ourselves without letting technology suck us in?” (Lisa), 13:15
The Toll of Burnout: "I was burning out. I was burning the candle at both ends, and I just had this flash. Like, I don't wanna say that I had like, I wasn't suicidal, but I never really understood like, what it felt like." (Lisa), 4:29
The Power of Journaling: "When you do it, it really is like magic. It takes all this clutter out of your head and removes it and organizes it; it's like the cloud, the black cloud in your head now becomes lighter inside your brain because of the journaling. It's very powerful." (Lisa), 14:37
Lisa gives you the benefits of surrounding and spending time with the ones who give you joy, why vacations don’t have to be complicated, and the power of using “I am!”
“The most important thing that we can do for ourselves is to not overschedule ourselves whether it’s going from work to personal commitments.” – (Lisa), 18:16
“We’re our own creator and a lot of times we get caught up in everything around us is having an impact on our own creation and who we’re going to be.” – (Lisa), 25:23
Don't miss out on this inspiring episode filled with valuable lessons, expert insights, and a refreshing perspective on reclaiming happiness and balance in life. Embrace the journey to self-compassion and joy as Lisa and Lauren guide you through the transformative power of solitude, positive energy, and the essential practices of journaling and mindfulness.
In this episode
(2:22) – The realizations that come if you pause.
(7:37) – The feeling of rejuvenation after you pause.
(9:05) – The challenge of emails!
(9:37) – Exploring different pathways in your life.
(10:41) – The benefits of practicing yoga.
(11:26) – The benefits of Qigong.
(12:08) – The power of Project 369.
(13:45) – Walking the talk.
(14:09) – How journaling declutters your mind.
(15:59) – Surround yourself with people who bring you joy.
(18:13) – The importance of giving yourself space.
(19:36) – The importance of time for yourself.
(20:51) – Carving time for you in between events (even carpool).
(23:42) – The joy that reinvention brings.
(24:48) – Changing your “I will” to “I am.”
(26:50) – A positive unanticipated outcome of eliminating alcohol.
(29:26) – The optimization of social media in personal branding.
(31:34) – Why you want to act proactively in your personal branding, especially women.
Resources and Links
52 Weeks of Hope
Lisa Buyer
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Lisa [00:00:00] Take the time, like take that space on the weekends or during the week for yourself 100%. And you know, it doesn't have to be 100% isolation, but I just believe that solitude in that space is something I wish I was better at because I think I could have prevented the extreme burnout that I became. You know, maybe not. But I do think that when you're multitasking and you're able to compartmentalize, that can be a really good thing but then it can also be something that could backfire.
Lauren [00:00:31] Are you a burnt-out overachiever, buried in responsibilities? Do you miss laughing with your friends just laughing from the gut? Do you feel like life's passing by? If you've been wishing for some kind of a shift, you're in the right place. Welcome to 52 Weeks of Hope, the show where we take you off the hamster wheel by ditching the to-do list for the to-don't list. This is where you get to learn how to make that lonely ache vanish. Learn self-compassion techniques and to give yourself grace. I'm Lauren Abrams, and I get to help you feel that magic again. Since going through my own dark night of the soul so you can learn from my experience and the mentors and experts I meet along the way. And today we're talking to author, PR guru, podcaster and owner of media companies, Lisa Buyer. You know about detachment? Did you know there are lots of areas you can detach from work, toxic relationships, even digital devices? You get to learn how to create space and balance in your life right now and still be successful make money and own your life and time. Author of Digital Detox and so much more than that. Welcome to 52 Weeks of Hope Lisa.
Lisa [00:01:36] Thank you so much Lauren for having me.
Lauren [00:01:39] Yeah, I'm so excited that we get to do this. Okay, so you took a year off of podcasting and a lot else to reassess, reinvent and you compared it actually to Madonna, which was interesting in that she has to do the same to keep herself current, but also for mental health and just I'm so big on the pause, taking a pause, taking a breath and researching I love that you're coming on now after you've done that. So do you want to talk about that a little bit?
Lisa [00:02:10] Definitely, yeah. And actually, it's still a process, so I don't really feel like I'm through it. And I was thinking about this morning, like just kind of thinking about, you know, chatting and, you know, the theme of your podcast. And, you know, I think like the buzzword maybe five years ago was like or it's been, you know, the pivot, like you're going to pivot, right? And I think that you know, the pause is maybe the new pivot. But I think if you're going to switch gears, pivot whatever you're going to call it, you have to really take a step back and pause. And a lot of people think like, oh, I'm going to take the weekend to pause or I'm going to take a vacation to pause or I'm going to pause in between X, Y, Z. And what I realized this was like two, two years ago that I first started this journey of pausing and taking a step back and really like kind of quitting everything before the great resignation became the great resignation buzz word. I just, you know, after the pandemic, it was about a year after. And I just so many major life events besides the pandemic had happened in my life. And I had been doing the same awesome thing for 20 years. I love public relations and, you know, built up a great reputation of being an innovator in tech and PR, writing a couple of books, teaching at a university, all these great boxes checked off and having really one of the most successful years of my agency career, the year that I was just so overwhelmed and so frazzled and so really unhappy that I couldn't I didn't have time to even think. And there's a lot also happening in my personal life with my kids. They needed my support. And it was just I don't know, it was the universe was kind of like telling me like I needed to just take a step back, like, so I did. And so I just said.
Lauren [00:04:01] Okay, I just want to pause, right? I just I want to pause. Just stop you right there. Because sometimes, like, for me, it takes a brick over my head and sometimes I'm really in touch and I'm like, oh, you know, versus talking to me, Step back. So was there a brick over the head or was it you are very you really just noticed? Oh, I need to slow down here.
Lisa [00:04:22] Like it was it was becoming difficult to get through my days. My days were stacked with Zoom call after Zoom call, and I found myself, you know, waking up at 4 or 5 in the morning to do everything personally that I needed to do to support my family and my daughter. And then I'd get right on the calls from like 9 to 5 and then went right into, you know, dinner and whatever happens after five. And it was just a little bit so overwhelming. And I used it, you know, the term, you know, I was burning out. I was burning the candle at both ends. And I just had this like flash like, I don't want to say that I had like, I wasn't suicidal, but. I never really understood, like suicidal, like, you know, like what? It felt like I had an experience that. But something not minor or major, you know, depending on your frame of mind. But I had one of my clients websites go down and I felt like whatever my team had it, we were responsible for it. So like, it was just like, you're so burned out that, like, the littlest things have such a big impact on you. And I was like, Oh my God, this is the end of the world that we're in and get blamed for it. And your mind keeps going. And that's when I realize I'm like, Lisa, you're like, way, way too much going on to be feeling this extreme for something. You know this for every problem, there's a solution type of thing. And it really ended up not having anything to do with us. But, you know, you're just you start not thinking clearly and start being really stressed out over the littlest things that are triggering you to have like maybe take some extreme action that you wouldn't normally. So that was kind of my signal that I needed to really I was fortunate enough to have money saved in my business. I was in a position where I could just stop everything because I could always recreate my business. I could always go get clients, but I could not replicate, you know, my family and replace my kids. And they needed me at that time. So I gave 30 days notice to my clients. They gave 30 days' notice to my team. I helped everybody find a good spot. And I just said, Let me just take a step back and number one, focus on my kids and what they needed me for. And then while doing that, I wanted to take what I was doing and go instead of one to 1 to 1 with my clients and do a ton for your services to see what it would be like to create digital products where I'm being able to reach many. So, you know, reach a wider audience with my strategies and my kind of like method that I have developed over the years for different things, which includes digital detox along with PR and marketing, you know, you have to have a very realistic mindset and balanced mindset to be in PR and marketing today. So combining my love and passion for yoga and life balance with my professional world was something I wanted to also look into.
Lauren [00:07:08] Yeah, so you step back and so what kind of tools did you do to get your mental health together? Like, I mean, because that's a lot you see yourself.
Lisa [00:07:17] It is. It's a lot.
Lauren [00:07:19] It's a lot of family. It's yourself. Yeah.
Lisa [00:07:22] Yeah, yeah. You.
Lauren [00:07:23] You needed a breath.
Lisa [00:07:24] I needed a I needed a definitely a lot of breath. And what I did before, for the 30 days before, everything just kind of like I turned everything.
Lauren [00:07:33] I So yeah, once that. Okay, so you get it. You play it. You took care of your clients. You took care of your employees, you took care of all that. Then what did you do? Because I mean.
Lisa [00:07:42] A couple of things.
Lauren [00:07:43] Me You're a worker, you work, you're used to working. So that had it been different.
Lisa [00:07:47] It was, it was. But I did go to a place called Canyon Ranch for about two weeks. Oh, yeah. Where I just spent some solitude time. And you don't have to go to a canyon ranch. You could create your own solitude time, you know, at your home or go visit or, you know, go visit somebody where you're out of your space from everyday life. So I did that and I did a lot of personal self self-development work and a lot of just let me just kind of like let my mind go. And I didn't really have an agenda while I was there other than just to work on myself and explore, you know, learn about new things, about personal growth and development that they had there. And I came back really, really refreshed with that was, let's say two weeks. So that's like two weeks, two months after I took the step back and the pause and I thought, well, I'm I'm great. That was about a year and a half ago. And, you know, now just looking back, I see that it's taken a good year and a half to actually unravel from everything I had stacked over the years and my career and my business and, you know, having teams of, you know, 15 to 20 on my payroll and my inbox is still I'm still trying to get to the bottom of my inbox. Like, I just can't get my inbox under control, even though I'm going through this pause phase. It's just like I'm thinking about just like dumping everything and just starting a new name.
Lauren [00:09:09] I understand my house was always in boxes, so I've never maybe when I started I like. Yeah, I. Yeah, I am right there with you. It's not even a goal of mine anymore. I'm just like, trying to stay current. I scrolled through just to make sure we were good for today. Looking for your name? That was it, right?
Lisa [00:09:30] I am so glad to hear somebody else is doing the same thing because I try it and I try to practice what I preach. I mean, I've done all types of content on productivity and, you know, I believe in if you can handle it, I don't know as an entrepreneur, if if Inbox zero is really that realistic, you know, like if you're moving from one company to another and you don't have to save all those emails for any reason whatsoever, then it's a lot easier.
Lauren [00:09:57] Right? Yeah. It's like. The bane of my existence is email at this point. Like.
Lisa [00:10:03] Exactly. Yeah, it's so true. And yeah, so I'm saying like, you know, it's been the pause that I've been doing in, you know, I haven't been like completely at a standstill for the past year and a half. I took the time to help my daughter and also, you know, try different projects that I had been kind of like side passion projects like my female disruptors and creating my digital courses and digital products and exploring affiliate marketing. And I and I never really had the time to do that. And also explored over the past year and a half in researching Web3 and like, what the next phase of the Internet and how that impacts not only public relations and marketing, which is my professional background, but also how is going to impact our mental health and how is that going to impact our, you know, balancing our life in a digital world versus life and, you know, our our two D world.
Lauren [00:10:58] Yeah. Yeah. No, definitely. So and then are there tools that you developed that you've been maintaining since then?
Lisa [00:11:05] Yeah. So a couple of things that are I, you know, been very consistent with well, I've always been I've been practicing yoga for 30 years and I decided about eight years ago to get my certified certification to be a yoga certified instructor. I always knew that yoga is something that, you know, is going to help, obviously, physically. I didn't realize now in hindsight how much it's helped me as an entrepreneur keep things as balanced as possible. But one of the things I will say is that when I went through that period where I was burning out, I couldn't no matter how much yoga and meditation I did, that wasn't what I needed. Like, it was more extreme. Like I needed to take that pause. But I've continued to do yoga and meditation. But when I was at Canyon Ranch, one thing that I discovered that I think is very powerful for me, at least I hadn't really heard of it is qigong. So qigong is more of energy work. I don't know if you've tried it. Have you tried it?
Lauren [00:12:02] I had a qigong master on and he did some with us and it's amazing.
Lisa [00:12:09] And it really is and it's not. And it really helps kind of just align your energy and whether you're doing it in the morning, which I like to do, like there's a five-minute You tube. I don't know who you had on, but Lee Holden is who I follow and he has on YouTube. If you just Google him, he has a 5 or 10-minute morning routine for qigong. So that's been very helpful. And I've also been studying a lot. I just brought this book to share with you that it's called Project 369.
Lauren [00:12:40] Mm hmm.
Lisa [00:12:41] So I actually bought this. I bought a box of them to give out as gifts this year. Holiday gifts. But the three, six, and nine are the power of vibration and numerology and writing things down. Three things in the three times in the morning. Six times in the mid-afternoon, and then nine times at night. And, you know, there's all the statistics about writing things down that I'm if you don't know, like that's just writing down your goals, you're going to make them happen. But been very fascinated by the power of the three, six, nine and just the power of like numerology and frequency and vibration. So I listen to in the morning or while I'm working at the frequency, that's like the best frequency for productivity and positivity. And then at the end of my day, I use the frequency like I just do like on YouTube, like Google, like sleep music, that frequency. And it just I really just think like all of these things make a difference. And it is using digital because we're using YouTube and we're using all of this technology that wasn't available to us. But it's like, how do we use technology to better ourselves without letting technology like sarcasm, which can be we need to take a pause on technology? But here's a way to use technology without it using us.
Lauren [00:13:58] The project three, six, nine is great, and Melissa Jay talked about it on one of the episodes. I love it. Also for me, journaling and meditation are the two best tools there are To get whatever to balance me is the best way.
Lisa [00:14:12] Exactly. Exactly. And I just to be honest, like, I mean, I'm practising what I've been preaching more than ever. I'm actually doing it where, yes, everyone can say, oh, journaling. It just it sounds so obvious, but if you don't do it, it doesn't work.
Lauren [00:14:27] Yeah. And I know.
Lisa [00:14:28] When you do, do it. It's just it really is like magic. It just, like, takes all this clutter out of your head and removes it and organizes it. Or just. It's like the cloud, the black cloud in your head. Now it becomes lighter inside your brain because the of the journaling. It's very powerful. And I'm like, I don't have my notebook here, but I use an old fashioned notebook and I use my calendar, but I use my notebook more like my to-do list. And it's a combination of personal business and every. Page is of the day, and then I move it to the next page and whatever I don't do. So it just and I never got into journaling because I didn't want to carry around multiple notebooks. Like, it's a dumb idea to not do that too. That's not a good reason to not journal. So I just was like, you know, I'm just going to use the same notebook and I would create a page and I'd be like, Everything I'm happy with today. And then I listed out and then the next page, everything that's annoying me today. And then people in my life I'm most happy with. On a scale of 1 to 10, I was like and I made it like kind of like a gamified. It's like how I do my business and that's how I did my journaling. So it works for me. And then it's kind of interesting to look back like a year ago, like who was annoying to me a year ago and who I was grateful to have in my life.
Lauren [00:15:45] And I've always That's great. I love that. And you can that you can look back.
Lisa [00:15:51] Yeah. Hopefully, nobody finds it that I didn't give them a rating.
Lauren [00:15:54] My friends know I die. You burn all that, you come in, you clear out that stuff and you can see, oh, I went to Miraval a long, long time where I learned about a lot of different of these tools and techniques. And I did the thing like, Who fills you with joy? And it was such a happy thing. And I've always thought about who and sending good vibes to different you get good thoughts yourself and then to people who you love and then somebody you don't know but you see every day. But thinking of who fills me with joy really makes a difference because those are the people I always wanted to surround myself with. And so I'm like, you're making making this list.
Lisa [00:16:34] Yeah. And it also makes you realize, like, okay, who are you giving your energy to the most energy. And what I realized when I was doing those lists and this was I've done it a couple of times over the past year, but you realize, like the people sometimes that you're giving giving away your energy to you are the people that are really having a negative impact on you, and they're not your favorite people for whatever reasons. And so it just shows you that focusing on the people that are bringing you positive energy and gratitude and joy are much more efficient for your own personal mental health than to have your energy being robbed by somebody that is just causing you, whatever reason, toxicity and negativity and problems. And you can't always eliminate people. I'm not saying to do that because some people might be your family or just that you can't just say like, Oh, cross them out of my life. But anywhere that you really focus on the people that are bringing you the most joy and that you can bring joy to I appreciate your energy. And that's that's another thing I've learned is that all this energy that you're trying to give, for example, maybe a family member that needs your help and they don't really see it as you're helping them and you're just trying to help them, but you're giving out all this energy and they really aren't taking it. So you have to move on and let go.
Lauren [00:17:53] Yeah, yeah, definitely. So for somebody who is burning out and they're not aligned with who and what they really want to do, but maybe it all looks so good from the outside and you would never know. What would you tell them?
Lisa [00:18:06] Before I really started burning out one thing I was very, very good at, and I think that this is something that is almost something not to brag about, but you know how people say like, Oh, I'm a great multitasker and really multitasking is the worst you can do. I was excellent at compartmentalizing, so I was able to just, you know, just kind of like go from one thing to another. But it was so extreme that I was never giving my brain space to recover from each thing that I was jumping from one to. Yeah. And so I almost named my book Digital Detox Secrets. I almost named it Creating Space, because I think that that's like the most important thing that we can do for ourselves is to not overschedule ourselves, whether it's, you know, going from work to personal commitments, even getting married and having kids and like the whole process of that, it's a lot like if you look back like, you know, you have kids. We were talking about that before. You know, life kind of goes from college to 20-something to marriage to kids. And that's kind of been like the life routine. And then all of a sudden, your kids are graduating from high school and then all of a sudden now you have the space. You know, you hear about that, too, like the empty nester space. But I just think that whatever the cycles of your life are, whether you're having kids or you know, that like giving yourself space in between all of these like life events and commitments. And, you know, sometimes vacations aren't really vacations. They're just like running around, like, trying to see as much as possible. So, you know, maybe a vacation. Isn't this planned? Big itinerary. Maybe it's just like you're taking a week off of work at your house by yourself in solitude with, you know, you and your life partner or just you by yourself or, you know, I think that that's a little bit becoming more of a trend. Is these retreats that you can go on, whether it's a group retreat or your own retreat, but take the time like take that space on the weekends or during the week for yourself 100%. And you know, it doesn't have to be 100% isolation. But I just believe that that solitude in that space is something I wish I was better at because I think I could have prevented the extreme burnout that I became. You know, maybe not. But I do think that when you're multitasking and you're able to compartmentalize, that can be a really good thing. But then it can also be something that could backfire.
Lauren [00:20:36] It's important. It's such an interesting I had never even thought about it, like going from one thing to the next to the next and taking that five minutes. In fact, I, I want to I keep talking about it on this podcast. I'm going to start putting five-minute reboot meditations on YouTube because just taking five minutes, they're energizing. It's an amazing thing. But a five-minute meditation will do even a standing meditation if you because.
Lisa [00:21:03] Yeah I'll if.
Lauren [00:21:04] I sit like this in front of a screen all day So it's amazing what they could do.
Lisa [00:21:09] I want to share another example of that. So I had a couple of events for my female Disruptors brand and one of my speakers, she had such a great tip and she called it the bath Commute and she's a single mom and she would, you know, leave work. And before going to pick up her kids from school, she'd allow an hour and she'd go home and take a bath and put her headphones on before picking up her kids from work and just going straight into like, work to kids. And so I just love that term, the bath commute, because I started taking baths during the day, like at lunch, you know, when I'm working from home or if I'm at a conference at a hotel, I'll just like take that in-between, whatever, Like just take a bath and just like, put your headphones on and just regroup. And it just is completely refreshing and like put, you know, just gives you that time to to recharge.
Lauren [00:22:01] I was a single mom, right? I can't even fathom such a thing.
Lisa [00:22:05] Right. I know it.
Lauren [00:22:06] I'll see you in L.A. Traffic. I don't know.
Lisa [00:22:09] I just. Yeah, I know, right? Yeah. It seems like almost like you feel guilty to do that, but, you know, when you can do it, I think that it's super helpful.
Lauren [00:22:18] Yeah. No, that's amazing. I would just do it. Took a break over my head to be like. And it got me to take quarterly or AA weekends to recharge. That's what I ended up doing, just getting people to watch your kids. It took about but I learned I needed to recharge.
Lisa [00:22:39] And.
Lauren [00:22:39] That's how I would do it. You know, that was my bath. Yes.
Lisa [00:22:44] Yeah. Whatever. Whatever. Yeah.
Lauren [00:22:46] Yeah. And that's that's how I would do it because I just I had to do that. So what's the hardest challenge that you've gone through and how did you get through it?
Lisa [00:22:57] So I think right now the challenge is it's not as easy. As for me, like I was doing basically, you know, living in the PR tech agency world for 20 years. And I had a lot of I still have a big network and I'm a networker. I'm a connector, kind of like our friend Joe. He's a connector, too. And I think the biggest challenge is just, you know, I, I don't want to continue doing the same thing. And I'm trying I've been trying female disruptors and I'm still working on that and working on my digital courses. And I think it's just challenging, just completely changing. Like somebody would change jobs, like completely changing types of businesses that you're doing. You have to rewire your brain and it's a good challenge. Like, I really love it and I love podcasting and I love talking to people, whether I'm a guest or a host. So that part I love that I can do regardless of my business. And that's kind of how we met, is through the podcast or a master group that we are part of. Yeah, I just feel like that's my one consistent is that podcasting can apply to whatever business I'm doing. But it's, you know, it's that transition of like doing the service-oriented business versus the digital types of products and, and training and things like that. And, you know, just different systems. But it's fun. It's fun. It's just a reinvention. Speaking of your four-day week, also, one of the things that no matter what business I'm doing right now, I have my week looks like this. On Mondays and Fridays, I don't do any Zoom calls. I reserve my Mondays and Fridays to do like deep creative planning work. And then Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are my days where I'm like Zoom calls, planning calls, recording, interviewing and things like that. So that has made my life a lot easier knowing that I have that buffer. We're not trying to fit in. Oh, I have to work on this article after research. This plus has helped us so much, right?
Lauren [00:24:48] Yeah, totally. Yes, completely.
Lisa [00:24:51] Yeah.
Lauren [00:24:52] Yeah. Yeah. For us.
Lisa [00:24:54] Yeah, definitely. Artificial intelligence has really helped me have like a little bit of a new lease on PR and marketing where possibly I would now go back to doing consulting and doing, you know, lightly with that.
Lauren [00:25:10] Yeah, lots of ways.
Lisa [00:25:13] Yeah, it helps plenty.
Lauren [00:25:14] Do you have a message I hope you want to give?
Lisa [00:25:17] I do. I do. So one of the things I've looked at and researched and really realized from this 369 project is how you say I am versus I will. And the power of I am versus I will is just incredible. So that's my kind of like hope message is when you're talking to yourself and journaling and using that I am versus I will the I am is going to get you from your mind to reality versus letting in what's around you dictate what's happening to you. So that has given me a lot of hope that I'm we're our own creator and we a lot of times get caught up in like everything around us is having an impact on our creation, our own, like who we're going to be, who we are. I am. So that I think, gives everybody that power that they feel like either they don't have or they give away the power to the outside world that's influencing us when really we have more power than we know we have.
Lauren [00:26:20] Yeah, and say it out loud. I am. And then I am, like, with everything great about you.
Lisa [00:26:25] Yes, exactly. Exactly. And it also could have the opposite effect. If you're saying I am anything negative, anything like I am not worth it and I am not qualified. So that's why.
Lauren [00:26:37] You are too busy? I am busy. No, there's plenty of space. It doesn't have to be a badge. You imagine. I used to say, How are you? Busy. Busy. It's not a badge. How about if you said, How are you? Great. I've created all this space in my life and I can breathe. I can get on the floor. I play with my kids or my or whoever. I can get together with my friends. I love this. I love that. Your reading project three, six, nine and all the vibrational frequencies and like.
Lisa [00:27:06] Yeah.
Lauren [00:27:07] Yeah. Kind of.
Lisa [00:27:08] The other things I've realized over the summer I had a little bit of like a health scare and for the most part, everything's fine. But over the summer I didn't know what was happening, so I, I stopped drinking alcohol just to eliminate like that, you know? And my husband and I, we both would have like, wine at the end of the day and, you know, on the weekends, happy hours with friends. And, you know, to me, it just was like fun, like social experience. So I stopped drinking for two weeks. And then we went to Greece and I stopped. I was very moderate. Like even though we were on vacation, I really didn't know what was going on with my health. And I just was trying to eliminate anything that would be negative that I had control over putting in my body. Anyway, long story short, you know, now I have since I've been experimenting two weeks off. Two weeks. On two weeks off, I realized how much clearer your mind is without drinking and putting any alcohol in your body. And then I've been researching the impact of the negative impact, like alcohol is basically poison that we put in our body. Like, I'm not against alcohol. I still have drinks or whatever, but I'm much more conscious and aware of the negative impact that it can have on your mood and sleep and your overall gut and your brain and like your liver. Like, I just never really paid attention to it. I mean, I, you know, it's just so I've just had that clip.
Lauren [00:28:33] Of my water in Florida. I think it's part of your lifestyle.
Lisa [00:28:36] It is. It is just like every day is happy hour, no matter what hour or it's so fun. But at the same time, I've just realized like, you know, just kind of dialing it back and finding alternatives to that social experience. So, you know, whether it's like.
Lauren [00:28:49] You'll probably attract all new people. Yeah. Attract people that vibrate at a higher frequency now.
Lisa [00:28:56] Yeah. Drinks that are, you know, instead of alcohol like you know have THC in it for the social experience and there's now drinks that have like the microdosing of the mushrooms in it and things like that. And they're all like, you know, just very low-level type of things. But it's just the healthier, healthier. I'm looking more at healthier, healthier alternatives to alcohol. And I'm not saying I eliminated alcohol, but I'm just more aware of like what it does to my brain, my motivation, my goals, my outcomes, my sleep versus before. So I'm way more aware of that. And, you know, up until I'd say six months ago, that was not really on my radar at all.
Lauren [00:29:38] Oh, that's so interesting. And I just had a question also with PR, because how we present ourselves is PR, and I just think that's really interesting. Online or in person. How have you seen that change? Have you seen a big change in that?
Lisa [00:29:56] I mean, overall, like personal branding. Do you mean with myself or just in general advice that I get? Either. Either. Yeah. So, I mean, with myself, I, you know, that's kind of been one thing is that, you know, making sure and whether it's me or anybody listening that you want to make sure that you're you know, you're you're paying attention to your personal brand and how you're perceived and being active on things like LinkedIn and, you know, professional social media networks and then in-person events, the same thing. So, you know, if we're talking about drinking like, you know, from a PR perspective, like, you know, maybe just watch, just have one glass of wine or, you know, have one glass of club soda and, you know, you have that social drink with you. But it doesn't always have to be alcohol because, I mean, it's it's it's a way that is social, but then sometimes that can get sloppy. So, you know, making sure that you're having that balance of not being, you know, the one that is, you know, not able to get out of bed the next day at the conference. But I mean, you know, at the same time, it's also very social. So it's a balance. But, you know,, I really have been studying social media, the blend of social media and search marketing with public relations. And, you know, from a personal standpoint, I will say that it's important that, you know, you're aware and you're optimizing your social media and your, you know, any articles that you might be publishing or might be, you know, maybe you have a quote in a media mention. And those are all going to be found in search when somebody's searching, let's say, Lauren Abrams, if they're searching you, you want to be, you know, all the positive stuff to come up, which is going to be your social media channels, your social media posts, your podcasts, you know, optimizing your podcast so that you have this personal brand that has this positive impression. Because one negative thing, when they get their review or one bad picture posted that you're tagged in or you know what's going to end up like if you don't have all these positive things like, you know, ahead of time, that one negative thing because you really weren't paying attention to any of the positive and doing any of the proactive things that are going to show up when somebody's searching your name on Google or, you know, possibly on Facebook or, you know, so just you want to be aware that, you know, your you're being proactive with your personal brand. And that doesn't matter whether you're an entrepreneur or a business professional, but especially, I'm going to say especially females because we need all the help that we can get to get our fair share of the spotlight in media coverage. So do it. Do as much as you can yourself proactively, because unfortunately, the statistics are still that men get picked over women when it comes to media interviews because men are considered more authoritative. And that's the sad but true fact.
Lauren [00:32:44] Those are very good tips. So I appreciate this. Oh, thank you so much for being a guest today and 52 weeks. I hope we will have links to everything of Lisa's, all her programs, her books, everything. And you want to get on her email list. She has so many fabulous offers. You definitely want to get that.
Lisa [00:33:03] I'd love to give everybody that's listening and you can hopefully put it in the show notes. I'll send you the.
Lauren [00:33:07] Oh, yeah, definitely. I will.
Lisa [00:33:08] Yeah. Give everybody a free PDF version of my book, Digital Detox Secrets. You can get the free version here on the podcast show notes or you can buy it on Amazon for $20. So I don't know. Yeah. For free.
Lauren [00:33:21] Yeah, it'll be here. It'll also be on the website. So you have everything on the website and the shoutouts in here. So yeah, this was so great. Lisa Thank you.
Lisa [00:33:30] Thank you so much. Lauren Anonymous day, everybody. If anybody wants to connect with me, just, you know, connect with me through LinkedIn.
Lauren [00:33:36] I hope you enjoyed this week's episode and take with you the messages of balance, self-honesty and gratitude. Such fulfilling messages to take into your week ahead. Be sure to share this episode with your friends and to rate and review the podcast so more people feel less alone in the overwhelm and remember the pause answers emerge in the pause, and instead of adding to your to-do list, how about a to-don't list? Be sure to tune in next week when we're talking about imposter syndrome and how to walk through your fears. It's a super empowering episode allowing you to feel like your authentic self. You do get to align with who you want to be and do those things you really want to do, you're going to love it. This is a show for burnt-out overachieving type A-yers. Unlike other shows for burnt-out overachievers only, we take you off the hamster wheel by ditching the to-do list for the to-do list until next week. I'm Lauren Abrams. Thanks for listening.