Mind Time is HERE 🎉
Brew your favorite cup of caffeine and light your favorite candle because it's time to celebrate!
... Okay, you might not be on my level of excitement quite yet, but you'll get there once you realize how Mind Time is going to change your life 🙌🏻
What is Mind Time?
Mind Time is my NEW podcast! This podcast has been a labor of love to create and I can't express how excited I am for it to FINALLY be available for you to listen to 🎧
This podcast is a new outlet for me to do what I've been doing with the Kimberly Brooke Wellness Blog in a more authentic & vulnerable manner. I will be sharing all the mindset goodies that'll help you go from surviving to thriving without having to make radical changes to your current life.
... But What About the Blog?!
Don't worry! The blog will still continue on and will house the highlights from my podcast episodes, so if you're someone who has to read something instead of listen to someone to grasp what's going on (as I often am), you'll have this resource to keep returning to!
Let's get started with the highlight reel of the first episode of Mind Time ✨
What to Expect from Mind Time
So, here's how it's going to go each episode:
First, we'll do a self check-in. This will be a few questions for you to get oriented with yourself, get yourself in the present moment, and get set up to have a good day- whether you're listening to this in the morning to start your day or at night to wind down your day.
After that, we will go into Kimberly's Corner- where I'll share life updates and some recommendations because songs, books, quotes, all that stuff is my love language and I love to share!
Finally, we are going to get into the nitty gritty of what we are talking about.
Today, that's going to be...
Why You Should Be Here!
Because let's be real, we've all started something new before, whether it's a book, a class, a movie, and thought, "Why am I watching this? Why should I be here? Why am I interested? Am I even interested?"
I think taking a look at who I'm creating this for might help you decide if this is the right space for you (no hard feelings if not)...
As a former marketing student, we usually will create a customer avatar for when we create a new offering. And so my customer avatar for this podcast was actually me!
Because I've been in your shoes. I've...
Been completely lost as to how to navigate the trials that life has thrown at me
Completely diminished the trials going on in front of me because they weren't "too bad" compared to others' experiences
Felt foolish in my struggles & emotions because I wholeheartedly believed there was no reason to be struggling
(Wrongfully) thought the people I looked up to didn't struggle with the things I was struggling with (because I was looking at the highlight reel of their life)
Not felt good enough because I felt I was the only one struggling
Lost my love for myself based on the opinions of others
Starved my body of the love it deserved because I placed my value in performance
Sound familiar? If you can relate to any of these feelings, you're in the right place- even if you feel you've moved past these experiences. (Trust me, even if you feel like you've moved past, there will be times that old thought patterns/habits arise and you'll have to handle them all over again...)
This is where I come in! While I still struggle with many things on the list above and some I haven't thought of in the moment, I've put in the work on my mindset and can confidently say I can move through anything my mindset throws my way (in time) because I have the tools to do so. Want some of those tools for yourself? Then stick around!
How I Got Here
Before we dive into the real work, I wanted to take the rest of today's episode to talk about my experience finding mindset & wellness work and infusing my life with the vital practices I use today.
So sit back, relax, and take a deep dive into the journey of Kimberly Brooke 🍵
The first place I want to start is moving out to college. The reason that I skip literally my whole childhood is because this was a huge defining moment in my life. Not to say that there were no defining moments in the 18 years previously, but I'm sure we'll get into some of my childhood experiences in later episodes.
Moving to Gainesville was both detrimental (in the moment) and an awakening. I felt completely isolated- like I was in an incubator. But just like en egg growing, I now know this incubator was allowing me to grow into my true self by giving me opportunities to explore avenues that I never had before college while going through the challenges of navigating my new life.
For the first time ever, I was living by myself, taking college classes, and working a part-time job. It was crazy stress, but also crazy rewarding in that I became a stronger version of myself.
Unfortunately, it took a while for me to reap the rewards. Freshman semester is where most people hit rock bottom, and boy did I fall in with that stereotype. I put on a lot of weight, experienced more stress than ever before with school (school had always come easy to me), and started experiencing bouts of depression.
I found myself wishing more than anything that I was just back home. I went home every weekend in hopes of continuing to get tastes of that life that I've left. I just wasn't ready to leave the nest, I guess 🤷🏻♀️
Eventually...
I found myself trying & falling in love with new experiences I was able to have in Gainesville. For the first time ever, I was able to build my own household full of only things I enjoyed and work off of only my schedule instead of considering what other members of my family had going on during the day-to-day.
This was the little seed from which my wellness tree has blossomed! Soon, I ventured outside of my carefully curated apartment to find more things to add to my wellness roster. This looked like...
Being social by joining a dance club on campus
Connecting my mind & body through yoga
Rekindling my love for simply dancing in hip hop fitness
Finding my way to meditation, which led to an appreciation for mindfulness
Beyond all my new activities, I got the privilege of learning to enjoy my own company. As a kid, I was always busy, busy, busy on the go, like Crazy Town, USA. And don't get me wrong, I filled my schedule in college for sure. But there were times, whether it was to do work or it was just for the night, I was by myself.
At first, it was upsetting because I felt I had no one to really talk to, so I had to learn how to be by myself, sit in the stillness that comes with that, and learn to love this version of me.
This all happened over, I'll say, a three-year span, and I ended up thriving, really.
I'll always say my turning point was when I got my new apartment in Fall 2019. I can vividly recall baking my "famous" cookies and belting show tunes and just feeling like I was at home with myself.
I had about 6 months with that version of myself before a huge setback came in the form of COVID-19. A good 16 months there (March 2020-July 2021) was a really dark time for me as we grappled with the new normal while losing really dear loved ones.
During this time, I went from knowing who I was & loving myself (especially being alone with myself) to being back with my family at home in the middle of a pandemic, which was a huge added stress.
However, looking back, I wouldn't trade those times for anything. As stressful as it was, I got time with my family that I never thought I'd get again and feel like really won't happen ever again as we've gotten older.
I decided to move to Jacksonville in August 2020 with my then-boyfriend, which I thought was going to be a step towards a new normalcy for me. Unfortunately, just one month later, my family got news that rattled us to the core: My Grandpa Tony (Dad's Dad) was diagnosed with cancer. This event was just the first in a series of health issues (and eventual deaths) in my family.
As someone who doesn't process grief well, having to handle the most grief I've ever had to handle at once was beyond difficult to process, and my mindset & wellness surely took a hit.
There were times I couldn't get out of bed or set myself to a task. Therefore, how could I expect myself to do yoga/a meditation and sit with my thoughts when all my thoughts wracked me with grief?
So- I had to rebuild. My turning point came in Fall 2021 when I got my first full-time job as a Fourth Grade Teacher. Fourth grade was my favorite year of elementary school, which was largely in part due to my teacher (shoutout Ms. Kling!) and I wanted to provide a positive, memorable experience for these kids that've gone through so much dealing with the pandemic.
No matter how challenging teaching has been, and especially in that first year coming from out of field, I will always credit that, and especially my first class, to saving my mindset. Without them to work for & love, I don't know where I'd be today. I cannot imagine myself without these experiences that I've received from them.
I definitely pulled myself up that year, but unfortunately what goes up comes down. I fell down again in Fall 2022, which I'm learning is completely okay & natural as we all have peaks & valleys in this life.
And so once more I worked really hard and made some tough changes to pick myself back up and find my way to a life I'm passionate about living. During this time, I started going to therapy, which was HUGE for me because I never allowed myself the opportunity to be completely vulnerable with someone and bare my imperfections.
With this experience, I started to feel weights come off that I didn't even know were there! I also started to find my flow and understand that we experience a litany of emotions- many of which don't make sense and don't have to have a reason. Furthermore, I really gained an awareness of how much harm I was doing to myself in the long run by pushing my "irrational" emotions away and not allowing myself to feel through them. (If this is something you struggle with too, let me help!)
And now my friends, we've arrived at the present day. I am currently working on embracing my emotions & releasing control (hello perfectionism! 👋🏻) in order to live the life of my dreams- and you're part of it!
Thank you so much for your support of this new venture! I look forward to sharing more mindset & wellness goodies with you on Mind Time 💛