At my lowest, I couldn't even leave the house to go for a walk without medication, let alone
stand in front of a classroom and teach.
But I had to.
I had a marriage I was desperately trying to keep together, a daughter I needed to be
strong for, a full-time job I couldn't afford to lose.
And eventually, I had to gather enough strength to leave my marriage, navigate a divorce,
and support my middle school daughter through it all during a global pandemic.
I put on a brave face because I had no other choice.
I had to find a way through it.
And the truth is, it broke me.
Welcome back.
Today's episode is a little bit different, probably more like a Patreon episode.
But it's been on my heart for a while, and I always follow signs from the universe, which
I believe I received this week.
So hopefully you're up for a little more raw, personal episode this week.
And the sign that I received to do this episode was a book that Anna Straylow, my guest from
episode eight, sent to me, autographed from her mindset coach, Siri Lindley, who she
mentions in that episode.
And the book is called Finding a Way, Taking the Impossible and Making it Possible.
And I opened the book recently during a kind of hard day.
Been fighting an illness, been dealing with, you know, dark cold months in Wisconsin, counting
down the last days of a 29-year career, and just kind of feeling at a crossroads.
And when I opened that book, it was like listening to my own words.
And I could not put it down.
And so first of all, I have to thank both Anna and Siri Lindley for this gift, this
book that, you know, found its way to me.
And I don't think anything is chance.
There's a reason for everything that happens.
And I really had a different episode planned for this week.
But something in me kept saying, I think you need to talk about this.
I think you need to talk about this.
So that's where we are.
Thank you for joining me for another episode of Life Snacks Lesson Plan.
I'm Rachel, and I started this podcast during my 29th and last year as a high school teacher.
Goal of my work with Life Snacks Lesson Plan, as well as my Live and Learn Patreon, is to
create a connection where we are all teachers.
We all have lessons and stories to share that can help others.
I'm so fortunate to be able to extend the four walls of my previous classroom to an
unlimited audience where we can all learn from each other.
And my guests are some of the most inspirational people with the best stories and lessons I
know, which is why I want to share them with you.
Their words are something everyone should hear.
It is my hope that you are able to take away something from each episode to apply to your
own life, whether that be a career search, path to a more fulfilling life, or new ideas
on current topics.
100% of men and women have hormones, and with the increased presence of processed foods
and environmental toxins, it's more important than ever to make mindful choices in the products
we use every day.
That's why I trust Q&G.
High-performing, clean products designed to support hormone health while reducing exposure
to harmful chemicals.
Because this topic has been my primary focus since ending birth control in 2024, in an
attempt to regulate my changing midlife hormones, after making healthy swaps in my diet, personal
care products, and exercise routine, I've been able to lower my dose of anxiety medication
I once relied very heavily on, and have restored balance to my nervous system and cleared up
the brain fog I was experiencing in perimenopause.
Q&G has played a key role in this transformation, offering safe, effective, non-toxic solutions
that support my wellness journey.
If you listened to episode 16 with certified Mayo Clinic health and wellness coach Tracey
Danielson-Mitchell, you heard our talk about the importance of hormone health.
Coming in March, I'll be doing a deep dive into heart and hormone health on my Live and
Learn Patreon, where I'll list all the tests, supplements, and product swaps that have helped
me balance my hormones in my 50s.
Plus, Tracey will be back to answer all your heart and hormone health questions at the
end of the month.
If you're on this journey with me and are interested in exploring you and Grace's trusted,
non-toxic products, visit my link at hueandgrace.com.slashlessonplan to receive 10% off and free shipping.
You can also reach out to me at any time with questions at nextlessonplan.gmail.com.
Live and learn with me as we focus on living fully and feeling our best.
Visit hueandgrace.com.slashlessonplan to see how easy it is to start making some healthy
swaps on the way to non-toxic livid.
So the first quote that I want to talk about, which highlights exactly what I was feeling
like I could have written these words, and I'm sure some of you listening are going to
feel like, yep, I could have written those words as well, were on page 14.
And Siri writes, I have suffered deeply for much of my lifetime.
On the outside, my whole life tells a different story, one of overcoming challenges, achieving
huge goals, and being a love and light to those around me.
This came at great cost to me internally.
Yeah.
Again, some of you have listened to my Patreon, some of you know me very well.
But even then, I think I've kept a lot of things from others for various reasons.
And on this day that I was reading Siri's book, I was thinking a lot about my next steps
and just why am I pouring myself into this podcast.
And realizing that I knew I was using it for an outlet for me as I bridge a transition.
And so in that way for me, it is a lifeline.
And although it is helping me personally and selfishly, I'm really hoping that in some
way, shape or form, it helps others as well.
And there was a line on the very next page as I started having this feeling that Siri
writes that says, I see you, I feel your pain, I share your fear, I know how to help you
through it.
And I thought, wow, she had this feeling when writing this book that her words and her struggles
could maybe somehow help someone else.
And I remember as a teacher, I always told myself, if you just reach one student a year
and you make a difference for that student, then that school year was worth it.
And I never made the connection to this journey as a podcaster until that day that I read
that line and I was doing a lot of reflecting on just why I'm doing this and the purpose
of it.
So I'm hoping that although I don't have all the answers, you know that being seen and
heard and understood is the first step to healing and transformation.
And I'm hoping that by creating a space where I can be real, you can be real, we can be
vulnerable and support each other through whatever change we might be facing.
So just getting into kind of thinking about some of the things that I've kept inside or
have been on my heart is there's a lot of what people see of us on the outside, right?
And a lot of what they don't.
And I did for a while there feel really comfortable sharing some of my struggles on social media.
And I was actually basically told at one point that it was a reason that I didn't get a job
and I was looking at a career change.
Still within teaching.
I was told that my posts on social media were too emotional and they held me back.
And again, I wasn't doing it for any sort of attention.
I was doing it at the same purpose that I see this now as a lifeline.
And there were a lot of people who reached out to me who said that it helped them.
And that's why I did it when I did it.
And then I kind of pulled back on that and I have pulled back on that.
And maybe this new venture will be another way to bring some of that back and to help
others.
But basically, for some part of my last marriage and years of my career, there was a pocket
of time there that some of you listening know, I battled absolutely debilitating anxiety.
It was not just stress.
It was the kind of anxiety that made the simplest tasks feel impossible and I had no control
over it.
And those closest to me and even some of my students I had at the time saw glimpses of
it.
But what they didn't see were the moments that I could barely function.
The times I had to leave school mid panic attack.
Times that I lay away, convinced something was physically wrong with me.
I had no idea what was happening.
At one point, I truly thought I was dying.
I was having a panic attack.
I thought I was having a heart attack and I went to the ER.
And at my lowest, I couldn't even leave the house to go for a walk without medication,
let alone stand in front of a classroom and teach.
But I had to.
I had a marriage I was desperately trying to keep together, a daughter I needed to be
strong for, a full time job I couldn't afford to lose.
And eventually I had to gather enough strength to leave my marriage, navigate a divorce and
support my middle school daughter through it.
Which happened to be time two months before the world shut down for a global pandemic.
I put on a brave face because I had no other choice.
I had to find a way through it.
And the truth is, it broke me.
But here's the part I want you to hear.
I survived.
Eventually I healed.
It took time, therapy, medication and a complete mindset shift.
But I did it.
I no longer live with impending fear.
And if you've ever felt like I did, if you've faced moments where you thought you couldn't
keep going, I want you to know that I see you.
I feel your pain.
I share your fear.
And I know that there is a way through.
And I think now I'm realizing that this is part of why I started this podcast.
Not really to share my stories, but to share other people's stories.
Because I wasn't at the time comfortable with sharing my own, but I knew that I wanted to
help people.
And I knew other people's stories that had been inspirational to me could maybe help
someone else and let them know that they're not alone.
And to remind you that no matter how impossible it might feel, you can find your way too.
So I want to share another passage from Ciri Lindley's book that resonated so deeply with
me.
And it's from page 20 where she writes, life is short.
We don't know how long we have on the planet.
What will matter most to you?
And are you living your life to reflect that?
Reading those words stopped me in my tracks because for so long I was trapped in a cycle
of survival, pushing through anxiety, keeping up appearances, trying to hold everything
together.
But when I finally allowed myself to pause and ask these questions, I realized I wasn't
living a life that truly reflected what mattered most to me.
For so many years I had to put everyone else's needs first, afraid to make changes I desperately
needed.
And yet deep down I knew I had to find my own way forward.
And again, this took many years.
This took forced, solitary healing during the isolation of a global pandemic.
And I think definitely meeting someone with a totally different life perspective than
I had ever really seen before.
And being at a different point of my life and looking back on what I had been through
and sort of having that existential crisis of having the first person that I taught English
with pass away, 10 years into retirement and people were saying to me, in 20 years we're
going to be in our 70s and 20 years goes fast.
And I've mentioned these things on past episodes and it's just all such a wake up call to me.
So if you're listening to this and you feel stuck, I invite you to sit with these questions
too.
What will matter most to you in the end?
And are you able to live in a way that honors that?
And if not, what's stopping you?
And that's what I asked myself a year or two ago.
And that's where I've been trying to realign my life as much as possible.
So before we go on, I'm going to take a short break, but when we come back, I'm going to
walk you through one of the exercises that I did in the book that really helped me when
thinking about some of these questions.
So I'll be back.
To those of you who have followed me for a while, you know that I value mental and physical
wellness.
Personally, I've worked with a few different coaches over the years and even been one myself.
If you are looking for education and support in your own wellness journey, I would love
to invite you to the wellness community I am currently in that keeps me accountable daily
with my nutrition and movement.
If you are a Facebook user, you can search for our free group called Team MG.
This group is led by my coach, Megan Grimord, who is a certified trainer and nutrition
coach.
She offers lots of education and support for your wellness journey.
If you want to get to know Coach Megan more, you can follow her on Instagram at all lower
case Megan M E G A N underscore Grimord G R I M O R D or even listen to her on episode
10 of the podcast.
She has also created a discount code for my listeners.
Go to her website www.team-mg.com and enter code lesson plan 10 to get $10 off any of
her premium coaching packages for the first month.
Coach Megan is a busy mom like me who works full time, so I appreciate her practicality
mixed with some tough love to keep me going.
We have arrived at the Ask the Teacher Anything portion of the episode.
So today's first question.
Whoo!
It's a hard one.
If you could change one thing about the education system, what would it be?
It's definitely not just one thing, but I would say the biggest thing is it just needs
a complete overhaul.
You know, think about the reason the school day was built the way that it is around an
agrarian society that needed to be home when there was still daylight.
And you know, all the research points that just even the start time of schools, especially
for teenagers is all wrong.
And you know, we were creating an educational system for people who were going into factories.
It is so outdated.
And you know, long story short, I would say the best moments in education that I saw were
when students could choose to take classes that were aligned with their passions, had
some connection to building real world skills.
And to me, if we could switch the focus to that with a little bit of, you know, what
problems do you want to solve?
I think it could transform education.
So I could obviously do an entire episode on this.
But those are the things that come to the forefront of my mind for that question.
Next question, you mentioned buying a camper for your next phase of life.
Yep.
Our Luna Rover.
What places are at the top of your travel list?
So this is not like a big RV.
This is like I said, it's called a Luna Rover.
And we went back and forth.
We looked for months and kind of changed our wants, you know, for this camper and eventually
decided to go a little bit smaller.
It is unbelievable, first of all, what RVs and campers have today.
Like legit, it has a fireplace and a TV.
And it has a cute outdoor kitchen, but no shower.
It has a toilet for emergencies for the middle of the night.
So we are just in the beginning since we'll both still be working.
Our goal is to take it on some in-state trips first and get used to it, get used to staying
in it, get used to hauling it, parking it, living in it.
So I think we have four trips in the state of Wisconsin scheduled starting Memorial Day
weekend.
Definitely I'll take you behind the scenes on YouTube and social media with those adventures
and getting the camper ready to go.
So that'll be fun.
But yeah, I think some of our favorite places in the state when trying out, you know, some
private and public, it's unbelievable how hard it is to get into state forest or, you
know, public campgrounds if you don't do it years in advance.
So we're learning that.
But stay tuned and you'll be able to follow some of those adventures with the Luna Rover.
You can always submit questions to me on social media or there is a designated spot on our
website at lifesnextlessonplan.com.
This is one of my favorite parts is hearing from you and answering your questions.
So thank you.
Keep those coming.
Now that we are back from break, we're going to do a little bit of work.
One of the exercises in Siri Linley's book.
It's funny because when I started teaching sophomores again a couple years ago, this
is like one of the first assignments that we had them do and it keeps coming up in episodes
and now in this book.
And so it's like the universe saying, sit down, get a pen, do this.
So I did it.
So in the book, it asks you to identify your top 10 values.
And maybe you've done this, but like, you know, we have a sheet that we gave to the sophomores
with like 50 different core values.
I didn't have it with me when I did the activity.
So I just looked up, you know, core values and it gave me a list of like 50 of them.
And these are the guiding principles that shape your decisions.
These are priorities for you and ultimately the way you want to live your life that if
you're living life in alignment with your core values, you will feel fulfilled.
And at the end of your life, you know, hopefully you won't have a lot of regret.
Um, so I sat down and I did this and here are the 10 that I came up with.
Now she does have you go through and like rank them in order.
Um, I tried to do that, but I think on any given day that can change, right?
So my 10 were health, compassion, growth, love, freedom, happiness, contribution, safety,
self-respect and adventure.
So looking at this list, you know, some of these have been with me for as long as I can
remember and some have evolved over time as I've grown and gone through big life transitions.
And I think depending on your age, you know, these change your priorities depending on
what age you are or what situation you are in in your life, those can change.
But seeing them written down helped me realize where I should be putting my energy moving
forward.
So I want you to try this.
Now of course, if you're driving or you're out for a walk, you might have to, you know,
come back to this and look up a list of values and then spend some time thinking about your
top 10.
But this list should reflect what truly matters to you.
And like I've said before, not what society says should matter.
Not what others expect of you, but what you deeply value.
You know, I remember in Blake Gleason's episode, he kept talking about living with no regrets
and at this stage in his life and what he's doing in his career and personal life.
I mean, that wasn't always easy decisions that he was making to do that, but he felt
the tug to keep doing it and that's what he's doing and, you know, looking for those
open doors and walking through them.
And when doors shut to look at it as opportunity, again, you know, the guests have more wisdom
than I could ever share, right?
So I really encourage you, you know, I've thought about this, but I never really sat
down and did it.
So once you've done that and you've identified your top 10 values, the next step is looking
at your life through that lens.
So are you living in alignment with what truly matters to you?
Or have you been caught up in obligations, which I know I did it.
I lived on the hamster wheel and still am in many respects, you know, different expectations
and patterns that no longer serve you and some people may feel like they're stuck.
They can't change it.
But we really need to think about making adjustments where we can to live more aligned with this
list of values.
So Siri offers some incredible reflection questions in her book and I'm not going to
go through all of them, but I chose a few of them to share with you today.
So let's, you know, take a deep breath, maybe even, you know, grab a journal or open a doc.
And I want you to consider some of these questions, maybe even listen to one and then push pause
and think about it.
So there's seven.
Number one, what could you do differently to align yourself more powerfully with your
top values?
Again, maybe you can only choose one value right now.
You know, 10 is a lot to change it all one time, right?
But what could you do more of, even if it's just I need to get outside for 10 more minutes
a day?
You know, that's question two, what could you do more of?
And number three, what could you stop doing or change?
I had to make some big decisions in the last year of just like stop the madness, nothing
changes if nothing changes.
And if you're feeling a certain way, it is up to you to draw those boundaries and make
the changes again, not always easy, but sometimes necessary even temporarily.
Question four, what must you have in your life to be happy and fulfilled?
What must you have in your life?
Number five, what must you avoid?
When you look at what things make you sad, what things upset you, how can you avoid those
things?
Number six, what are the consequences of not living in alignment with your values?
So when a year goes by and I don't do New Year's resolutions, but I definitely do a
lot of reflection, probably too much, what are the consequences?
Is there regret?
Is there anger?
Is there resentment?
Like I let another year go by and I haven't changed anything?
Is that okay?
Will that be okay in five years?
Ten years?
And then lastly, number seven, and again, these are not all the questions, I just chose
the ones I think might make the biggest difference.
If you live in alignment with your top values, what will life look like in the next five years?
And that's really exciting.
Right?
I mean, for so much of my life, I was like a passive participant in my own life.
And you know, survival mode is what it is, or you know, making the peace and trying to
do what society tells you you should be doing or what you think is the right thing happens
to all of us.
But these questions really made me stop and reflect.
And these are things I've been thinking about again for the last year or two, as my life
has changed on the shifts that I need to make.
And I have been making and working toward making.
So I'd love for you to take some time to think about these questions.
And if something resonates deeply, love to hear it, love for you to share, send me a
message, comment on this episode, or just take the first step toward realigning your
life in a way that feels true to you.
If today's episode resonated with you, I would strongly encourage you to get a copy
of Siri's book.
Feel her on Instagram.
I know they just released like a documentary about her life, you know, in a nutshell, some
of the obstacles that she had to overcome are, you know, coming out to her father that
she was gay and he disowning her temporarily, finding out that she had a very advanced and
tricky form of cancer.
And she is a world champion triathlete who, you know, didn't know how to swim and took
last place in the first triathlon she ever did.
She's just incredibly inspirational.
And again, I want to thank her for autographing a copy of her book.
And I want to thank Anna Straylow from episode eight for gifting that to me.
I would highly recommend it.
I doubt that this is my last episode that will be influenced by her words because I'm
not done with the book.
I'm not even halfway done and already I'm just, I cannot wait to continue to read it.
So in closing today, I just want to say you're not alone.
So many of us have spent years chasing what we thought we should do only to wake up one
day realizing we've lost ourselves in the process.
But the good news is we always have the power to realign, to choose again, and to step into
the life that truly reflects our values.
Ciri Lindley's words remind us that life is short.
We don't know how long we have on this planet, but we do get to decide what matters most
and how we show up for it.
My hope is that today's conversation sparks something in you, whether it's the courage
to make a change, the clarity to set boundaries, or simply the awareness that you deserve to
live a life in alignment with your values.
So take a moment, reflect what small step can you take today toward a life that feels
truer to you.
I'd love to hear what you came up with after this episode.
Send me a message, share your thoughts, join the conversation in our community.
And if this episode spoke to you, please consider sharing it with someone who might need to
hear these words too.
Until next time, keep learning, keep growing, and most of all, keep finding your way.
If you're looking for more content, you can subscribe to my Live and Learn Patreon, which
is as simple as heading over to patreon.com slash live and learn.
There you can absorb the free content, purchase single episodes, or become a subscriber for
just $5 a month.
Don't forget to follow Life's Next Lesson Plan on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
This is where I share more behind the scenes content, and like I mentioned today where
I will share with you the lunar rover and how we get her ready for our first adventure.
And I am still counting down my last days in the classroom.
We are in the final stretch.
If you have a topic or a guest idea, head over to life's next lesson plan dot com and
let me know.
Keep those Ask the Teacher Anything questions coming.
I just love them.
Thank you again for being here today with me.
For this vulnerable episode.