Keith and Laura sift through the messy space between work and home, routine and holidays, intention and reality. Using a full Thanksgiving week of traditions and family time as their backdrop, Laura and Keith explore what it really means to stay grounded when life gets full rather than perfectly balanced. 

Accountability with CareKeith names the exhaustion that can come from a “vacation that needs a vacation,” especially when his routines are disrupted. He reflects on the two ends of burnout: pushing non-stop without rest and, on the other side, slipping into low motivation and avoidance. For him, the work is noticing this tension in the in-between and choosing more compassionate accountability. That looks like reframing chores such as snow shoveling as built-in movement, remembering that life is “constant work,” and using tools like journaling and a “to-done list” to see progress instead of only gaps. Keith returns to a core conviction: taking care of himself is what allows him to show up in service of others. 

Imperfect Action and Minimum Effective Dose
Laura shares how packed her days became with pies, lefse, talent shows, deep cleaning, and getting the house and tree ready, and how easy it is to judge herself for missing planned workouts or journaling. Instead of letting perfectionism win, she chooses to recognize the physical and emotional effort in those days as real activity and contribution. She leans on ideas like the “minimum effective dose” — allowing short, consistent workouts and simple grounding routines to count — and uses stars on her calendar as a visual reminder of how often she’s actually showing up. For Laura, the in-between is where goals evolve, traditions are honored, and self-compassion keeps her moving forward.

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Living In-Between | Balancing Roles, Responsibilities and Energy

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The show notes were created with assistance from Perplexity AI, which helped generate and organize key points based on the podcast transcript.