How To Eat An Elephant

Hi, welcome to my live stream. My name is Brittany Hagan and things are chaotic at my house at the moment. It's so amazing to say my house. I just moved into my house. This has been a goal for a while now and I have achieved it and I'm very excited about it. But everything is all over the place and I am feeling all sorts of feelings, which is super funny. Okay, so let's talk about who I am and why I have a little bit experience in this realm is. My name is Brittany. I've been sober for 15 years.

I'm an army veteran. I was a combat medicine. Now I have a radio show, which by no means means anything. It doesn't mean I'm qualified for anything. But I do love talking about goals and mental health and where we're all at. Let's talk about it. I wanted to talk about eating an elephant, which is like such a gross analogy. But it works, right? Some of the grossest analogies do work. So let's talk about what eating an elephant is. It's something so big that you kind of look at it and go, well, that's.

That's not. That's not doable at all. And I'm experiencing that in my life in a few different realms. And it's so hard, right? Like, okay, so as I said, I just moved into my own house. Me and my three year old and my cat, my two dogs, they're not helpful. My three year old, my cat, my two dogs are absolutely not helpful. So I should quit saying we moved in because I am moving us in slow and steady. It just happened on Saturday and I have. There's something you need to know about me is I'm hyper productive.

But, like, am I? Because I love getting things done. I love, like, fast pace. Like if we're gonna move a big thing or if you want me to run really fast or like clean really hard, I'm really good at that. But the slow burn stuff, I have realized, is not my expertise. Mostly because, like, I don't like seeing that things don't get done. So I bought this house. Spoiler alert. It did not come with a fairy godmother or anybody to finish putting all the stuff away. I did pay for movers to move it all in, and that was a blessing.

And now I have boxes everywhere and stuff everywhere. Like, this is the only clean corner that Kevin is currently sitting in. Today's about patience, about pacing and giving yourself some d*** grace when progress doesn't seem visually as far along as you'd like it to be. So let's talk about our big goals now. Mine is very palpable. One of mine is very palpable. Getting this house together. Like, I don't want to come home to boxes every day. I don't want to wake up and trip on things every day. But there's other things going on.

We've got your mental health, sobriety, parenting career. Big stuff that feels almost impossible, right? Like, imagine waking up today, which some of you are doing, and saying, I need to be sober for 10 years. I'm sorry, what? That's. That's an insane goal. I mean, most of us do want that mentality, right? Of like, things should be done yesterday. It feels good. We want the glow up, we want the peace, the done and dusted, all those things. But the thing about these big goals is the reason that they are so like, so so wanted, so excitable.

So something that's like, God, you know, not everybody gets this is they are the crock pot projects. They are big, they are slow. They, they do mean you show up every day, maybe not at 100, but like 60, 70% every day. And it's that consistency, that slow getting there thing. Like, if this was a matter of me just being able to sprint down the street and get something done or like do four push ups and go that the thing is done, then it wouldn't even be that exciting because a lot of people could do it, right?

So if you look at a whole element fella fill event, we're gonna panic, right? But that's why we have to break it down bite by bite. I really do feel like we have to think of a new saying. Maybe we'll work on that, like as a group. Because I don't even know the idea of even biting into an elephant. And like I'm imagining it's dead, right? Like, that's so scary. Am I to have to both kill any this elephant? Anyways, I digress, which is something that I do now. Here's another really annoying thing about these big things we have in our life.

Be it sobriety, be it moving into a house, be it getting the fit body you've always dreamed of. I don't know, whatever this big thing is that you want is that you're not just doing that. Like, I don't have the world just on pause and I get to spend day in, day out getting all these boxes and put away. No, life continues to move on. So you've got this big thing. Plus I'm sure a full life right? Like if you're somebody who is achieving much you, I mean in my case I have a job, I have a show that I'm trying to continue to make better and keep my job.

I love keeping, keeping a job, especially when you buy a house. And then I have this three year old, right? She's magic, pure magic. Love hanging out with her. And I also have my mental health and I like to stay fit and eat healthy and I don't know, sleep. So it's like there's so many things going on. It's, it would be really, I would blow up my whole life if I was like, I need to get this house put together now. Which my brain is telling me by the way. So that's why I'm doing this live stream about this is that my brain is telling me stop everything.

But all these things, my daughter, my job, my sobriety, my physical and mental health are also a priority. And I, I put so much time and effort into all of those. So the idea of kind of sacrificing that for achieving this goal in a made or achieving this task is putting my house together in a made up timeline. That's for me. I go, then what? That doesn't make any sense. Like I'm willing to blow up my life for my life. Yeah. So I, and this one's a hard one for me because like I know if I had all week I could get this thing together.

But again, at what cost? Like I like playing with my kid, I like getting sleep, I like keeping my job. So there are days where I have literally 15 extra minutes of and I saved me time but now like productive time and that's where it goes. All of that matters and it all adds up. And all Those little mini 15 minutes, those mini goals, we're going to talk about the little bites in a second. But like that all matters, which can be hard, right? Especially if you're a high functioning person who likes seeing results.

Today my goal was to get a couple boxes broke down. Like not even put them away but like just get them out of the main area and break them down. And that's what I did today. And then I jumped on here and like that's hard. Let's talk about those small little bites when you're doing the work and the process isn't fast, it's brutal. You're doing the work, but it doesn't look like anything yet is a really, really hard place to be. And I think one of the hardest ones I think is sobriety. Like I said, I'm 15 years sober.

I have. It's really fun now because I kind of forget how long I've had it. Because in the beginning, though, man, you just want to fast track everything, be it relationships, be it finances, like, you're in a good place, but past you still has stuff like that are consequences. I remember I was like. I think I was two or three years sober, and I had done a deployment, and I had to come back and put ignition interlock on my car, that little, like, breathalyzer thing. And I'm like, excuse me. I'm so sober.

I've done all this work, and, like, I don't want to. I don't want to take these steps back. And it sucked. It sucked. And maybe. Maybe there was a lesson to be learned there. And I think, like, it got drilled into my head that, like, even though I thought I was in one place, I'm really not within Law's eyes, within financials eyes and all these things. And with some of my relationships, like, I may, day in and day out, feel like a new person, but that progress hasn't hit the things that I wanted to yet.

That's hard. That's so hard. I do think out of all these things that we're talking about, like, sobriety is the hardest because you are proving yourself every day. But nobody's with you day in and out. Nobody's in your head. Nobody knows that you're thinking different, being different, acting, moving differently. So nobody knows you're jumping on this app and learning about yourself. And so that progression is so freaking hard. So let's talk about what little bites look like. What are these little bites?

For me, it could be hanging one picture. It could be unpacking one box for somebody dealing with sobriety stuff or mental health. Could be calling a friend, making that choice. It could be showing up for yourself for the Making a coffee that is a little extra in a glass instead of, like, mass drinking it. It's. It's those little things clean one corner of the room. And, you know, sometimes. Hey, Shannon. Happy Wednesday. Sometimes. What I find super helpful. And this is, like, the most basic. You've heard this so many times, and I don't even care because it's just lovely.

This make a fricking list so you have something that you can cross off. So, like, when you feel like you're not getting anywhere in your sobriety days, I mean, people love that X on the calendar. People love the idea of today, I'm gonna go for a walk. And you write walk. And then you get to cross it off or check. I like the check. Cause I like seeing the list still. That's where there's some magic that happens. You can physically see that you did something that go towards your goal that day and it's very magical, it's very fulfilling.

And I know it's stupid, right? It's a list. Honestly. Sometimes I'm in such a place where I will have already done the thing, but I just wanted to see that I did something. So I'll write it out and already give it a check. Even though the thing's already done, it just feels good. And then on top of it just know like. And we talked about this in the beginning too. The really, really, really, really really wanted goals are the ones that take long. It's just a fact, right? Like, you know, I think running is my favorite example besides sobriety.

Sobriety is a hard one, right? Because it's not as tangible. But let's say you want to run an eight minute mile. You're not going to get out there and run an eight minute mile. Eight minute miles, at least for me. I mean I'm sure some of you people can, but like calm down. Eight minute miles are something that you earn day in, day out, show up and get there. And it takes a while. Takes a couple summers maybe. You know, we're Minnesota, so that's why I say summers. It, it's a goal that you have to show up for for yourself every day.

Sobriety is one of the probably most important ones. It is so sometimes tedious, sometimes doesn't feel like the world is reacting to where you're at. And that can be so hard. But just know like you're getting there, you're getting there and you're taking this down one step at a time. It's hard to not shame yourself for being done. There will never be an ending point for some of our goals. And that's really hard too. But, but just like be proud you started. Because I was talking to somebody about this too.

It was so interesting is that, you know, people say like, oh my God, but that goal is five years out. It's still gonna be five years out. If you start in five years. What like somebody said it to me cause I was thinking about going to schooling and I was like, yeah, but it's gonna take a year. And she said no matter what, that year is gonna go by. And if you don't sign up in one year, it's still gonna take a year. That like hit me in a way where I Went frick. I just sign up right now, and I'm going to.

Obviously, that impacted me a lot where I went frick. Yeah. So keep going. Keep moving. Progression. Pick up one bite today. Just one. That's all you need to eat this g****** elephant that is on your plate. Again, I cannot imagine, like, is this dead out somewhere? I live in Minnesota. I can't imagine this dead out in my yard. And again, like, I don't know, is the elephant alive? You still have to kill it. So many questions. Progress isn't about doing everything. It's about doing something. It's about showing up for yourself.

And remember, you're not lazy. You're not lazy because that day you don't get anything done. You're also living. You're also thriving. You're also. I mean, thriving. That's aggressive with me right now. You're also getting the things done that you literally have to anyways on top of it. So maybe you don't get a box done that day. Maybe you don't get the things you want, but you're going to bed on at a decent time. You're doing something for yourself. So also, like, I do feel like you can invite people over to help eat the elephant, because that's what my game plan is.

Like, we're gonna have a d boxing party. I lie because I actually want to know where all these things go, and it's driving me nuts when people come in and move. So my name is Brittany Hagan. I hope that you got something from this. And good luck with your elephants. All right, I'll see you later, Kevin. Say bye.