Let It Be

Most weeks Kel and Brooke sit down to chat with a topic in mind, and they have a decent idea of where the conversation will end up. Then there are conversations like today's.    They could have spoken about the things they've been learning recently, or the ways in which information has changed their points of view. Instead, they went the literal route and started off talking about school! Kel loved school and missed about 5 days in total, while Brooke was often found loitering in the sick bay, coming up with reasons why she wouldn't attend the next day.    Interestingly though, both Kel and Brooke had similar learning experiences throughout school and both needed to develop their critical thinking skills significantly as young adults.    The conversation does eventually come back to how Brooke and Kel each prefer to learn, as well as the cycles of learning they each find themselves in. Sometimes they can't get enough new information while other times you'll find them curled up in bed reading The Hunger Games for the 67th time.     Head over to http://www.letitbe.fm to learn more about Kelly and Brooke and subscribe to the show!  

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Brooke is a reforming perfectionist who takes issue with the idea of a 'perfect' anything, while this year Kel published a book called Practical Perfection. So when the topic of perfectionism came up recently the girls had two immediate thoughts: 1) why hasn't this come up before? And 2) this is gonna be interesting.    Recently Brooke had a big lightbulb moment, as she realised her perfectionistic tendencies had actually been holding her back. It was only when she actively began shedding the idea of perfect that she was able to make great strides in so many areas of her life that had been stuck for years.    Kelly, on the other hand, has become very adept at managing her perfectionism, rather than trying to banish it completely. She also is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the different types of perfectionism, how they affect us (and those around us) and the different strategies needed to either manage or move away from them when they become damaging.   Head over to http://www.letitbe.fm to learn more about Kelly and Brooke and subscribe to the show!

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  Occasionally Brooke and Kel like to take a week off their signature navel-gazing conversations and tap into a lighter, more personal topic. This week they're talking about downtime. That is, what they do in theirs, how they protect it and why family downtime is different to personal downtime (spoken like true introverts!)    Brooke recognises that it's important to be organised throughout the week in order to have downtime over the weekend, but also recommends a lowering of standards in order to take some of the pressure off.    Kelly and her family fiercely protect their weekends and she also talks about the shift her and her husband have made in getting off their laptops in the evening hours.    They also talk about their favourite TV shows, what activities they like to do in their downtime and why early mornings are the saving grace of their busy days.    It's another fun one! Head over to http://www.letitbe.fm to learn more about Kelly and Brooke and subscribe to the show!

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Today's episode is another one based on a listener email, this time from someone struggling under the weight of others' expectations.    Kelly has some fantastic insights into both how to deal with these expectations and how to frame them when we start to feel overwhelmed. As well as highly practical ways of facing up to the issue rather than letting it fester and become a bigger issue than it needs to be.   While Brooke is a huge proponent of the motto, "Not my problem,"  she understands that it's undeniably more complicated than that and suggests tapping in to our priorities in order to see what we will and won't feel pressured by.    It's another curly one, and the girls have a great chat about their own experiences in managing expectations, as well as the lessons they've learnt over the years.   Head over to http://www.letitbe.fm to learn more about Kelly and Brooke and subscribe to the show!

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Last week Kelly received an email from a listener struggling with constant worry. And considering Kelly could worry for Australia, the girls thought this would be a great topic for today’s episode. 

Brooke is more of a reformed worrier, coming to realise there is very little power in constant and obsessive worrying. She understands that there are times where it is a legitimate response but for the vast majority of her time she simply asks if worrying will help change things, and she’s discovered that the answer is more often no than yes.

Kelly, on the other hand, has a whole range of strategies in place to minimise the impact worrying has on her life and she walks through some really practical suggestions for anyone who finds themselves consumed by worry. 

 

 

Head over to http://www.letitbe.fm to learn more about Kelly and Brooke and subscribe to the show!

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Brooke and Kelly are often asked if they really practice simplicity in life all the time, and the answer is a resounding no. But rather than feel like a failure because of it, both Brooke and Kel quite like the idea of going against their best advice, at least some of the time.   In this episode they talk about the idea of backsliding into previous bad habits and why that can actually be a good and powerful reminder of why they made changes in the first place. They also talk about how much better they are at recognising a backslide now, and why that's really the key in making long-lasting change, rather than the ability to stick with it 100% of the time.   Head over to http://www.letitbe.fm to learn more about Kelly and Brooke and subscribe to the show!

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Brooke has been fairly open throughout these podcasts about her struggles with confidence, and today Kel is determined to dive into the topic in more depth.    They talk about their upbringings, self-talk and possible sources of confidence (or a lack thereof) and Brooke has a lightbulb moment when Kelly talks about the difference between arrogance and confidence.    Brooke also talks about the importance of "faking it" as a way of moving forward in spite of the nasty voice inside her head, and credits that as the reason she's able to get up and create things in public every day.   She also draws loads of inspiration from other creatives who openly share similar self-doubts, while still creating incredible work. It inspires her so much to realise people she looks up to struggle with the same issues, but continue to create regardless. And maybe that's the key? Hearing the voice, acknowledging it, but moving forward regardless.    Head over to http://www.letitbe.fm to learn more about Kelly and Brooke and subscribe to the show!

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Kelly talks this week about her goal of living a life without regret, which brings about a really interesting conversation about what regret looks like, what things are worth regretting, and specifically, the moments that both Brooke and Kel have regrets about.    Both ladies share some of those, and also how they manage to move past them. Acceptance, apology, forgiveness (of ourselves as well as others) all come in to play, and it's a fascinating look at how each of them process those gut feelings of having screwed up.    On the flip side they also talk about the regret of doing nothing, or of not having tried, and both agree that the biggest regrets they have are often tied up in inaction or fear, rather than trying and failing. Which really is one of the best takeaways from this episode - it's better to have tried and failed than not tried at all!    (Of course, there is some dreadful dancing that Brooke very heartily regrets too.)    Head over to http://www.letitbe.fm to learn more about Kelly and Brooke and subscribe to the show!

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Brooke and Kelly have discovered that one of the pitfalls of having existential, navel-gazey conversations every week is the very real risk of appearing overly earnest. So while these weekly chats are definitely a highlight, in today's episode the girls talk about something they both love dearly - books!   Not only do they discuss what genres they enjoy reading and which they avoid, but also the where and how of reading too. Brooke is now a strictly physical book in the hand type reader, while Kel is happy with her iPad with the occasional real book.   Brooke also talks about her complete lack of self-help reading these days (is self-help book burnout a thing? It should be) and Kel pleads with Patrick Rothfuss to JUST. RELEASE. HIS. NEXT. BOOK.   Kelly and Brooke share a love of dystopian fiction, and fangirl over Hugh Howey and his Wool trilogy for a while, before leaving with a list of comfort reads that they both routinely come back to. Some of those are pretty surprising, and most not the slightest bit comfortable on first glance.   Needless to say, this episode is fun and loose and more than a little enlightening.

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As expert navel-gazers, Kelly and Brooke can sometimes seem a little serious, so when a listener wrote to Kelly and asked us about her personal fear of becoming too serious, it seemed like a good topic to discuss.    Unsurprisingly, Kelly and Brooke come at this from different angles, with Kelly talking about her desire to be respected and taken seriously, while Brooke realises she wants essentially the opposite - to be thought of as funny and carefree.    They do share the same advice on how to avoid the trap of over-earnestness and becoming THAT person at the dinner party though, and the endlessly useful suggestion that people are really thinking about us far less than we think they are anyway.   Head over to http://www.letitbe.fm to learn more about Kelly and Brooke and subscribe to the show!

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