(energetic orchestral music)
(bubbles popping lightly)
(sighing tiredly)
- Okay, I'm gonna tackle these tasks.
I'm finally doing it.
So, let's start off with this one, "Make a website."
I wanna thank Google Domains
for sponsoring this portion of the video.
So, I have a book club called "Curl Up Club,"
which I started during lockdown,
and I wanna make things official
by creating a website for "Curl Up Club."
Enter Google Domains.
So, in order to have a website,
you need a web address, aka domain, and a website.
So, the first step I'm gonna do is I'm gonna grab my domain.
This is kinda like internet real estate, you know?
Like, you know when you go on social media,
you like grab your username?
That's what a domain name is like,
but for the entire internet.
Luckily, Google Domains makes this process very seamless.
I was able to secure the curlupclub.com from Google Domains.
Honestly,
if creating a website has always intimidated you, don't be.
Technology has come a very long way.
It's easy to get started, it's easy to transfer it,
and it's easy to connect all the other Google tools
you need for your business.
It's also secure and reliable.
Google Domains offers the exact same infrastructure
used by Google, like these,
so you can focus on running your business
rather than doing complicated backend stuff.
So right now,
my Google Domains website is under construction
because I literally just got it right now.
However, once it's fleshed out,
it's gonna be the destination for Curlies
to connect with one another, to get more resources
like sign up for discussions, get book recommendations.
So, if you have been wanting to start a website,
just do it now.
Grab your domain name with Google Domains,
starting at $12 a year.
Yes, that is a buck a month.
You can also get 20% off your first year
if you go to my link, that's domains.google/jennim.
I'm also gonna leave that information
in the description box, so pop it open.
Thanks again to Google Domains
for sponsoring this portion of the video.
Now, let's get back to my list.
(relaxing music)
(friends chatting happily)
(relaxing music continues)
- [Sam] The White Rabbit jumps around your pallet
with its acidity and light finish.
- White Rabbit Chardonnay.
What is in the chardonnay, if you don't mind?
- Well, I'm glad you asked actually.
Oh, light, crisp.
Perfect with some soft cheeses, which we have as well,
so it's fait.
- Look at that.
Ah, cheers to that, to soft cheeses.
- Ooh, it's a bit of me, folks.
It's a bit of me.
- [Ben] So, so far, the one's winning overall.
- [Sam] But, the next one's called Honey Pie.
- [Ben] Oh, come on then, Honey Pie.
- So, sweet, crisp, and sumptuous.
- Sumptuous, that's what I like to hear.
- Ooh, I like that adjective.
- Ooh, I like that. - Cheers.
- Cheers, guys. - Cheers, cheers.
- I like this.
- That reminds me of elder flower.
- Mmm! - Yeah!
It gives you the elder flower notes.
- Yeah, I might have to get them to update that
on the description.
(soothing music)
- (laughing warmly) It might not all the way open, here.
- Ooh.
- There you go. (laughing happily)
- That makes sense, thank you.
I was like... - You're welcome.
(soothing music continues)
(Codi speaking gently in background)
(exhaling heavily)
(birds chirping happily)
(soothing music continues)
- [Codi] An audible exhale out.
(exhaling slowly)
Good.
(soothing music fading)
(Post-It unsticking)
(metal clicking gently)
(gentle rhythmic music)
(door shutting gently)
- Alright, let's sort this laundry out.
How many of you guys actually enjoy folding laundry?
I really do.
I don't know why.
I think the only times I don't enjoy doing it
is when I'm like extremely busy.
So, yesterday's breathwork session was unbelievable.
Oh my goodness.
This is something that, you know,
it's like everyone knows that breathing is important,
like you need to breathe to live.
But, I genuinely had no idea
that I can control my body and my mind through my breath.
This whole breathwork journey started this year actually.
This was when I was just in the grips of postpartum anxiety.
Like, I had never felt that anxious before.
I got to a point where I was just so wretched and miserable
that I was willing to do absolutely anything
to stop feeling this way.
But, before I went down the prescription drug route,
I wanted to see if there were alternative behavioral tools
I can do first,
and breathwork was one of the things that was on the list.
Your breath is kind of like the gas or the brake pedal
for your entire body and mind.
Like, if your mind is going crazy,
and you're having all these intense thoughts,
and you just wanna get out of there, use the breath.
That's the way to kind of hack your mind,
to kind of restart it again.
So, when I was feeling really anxious,
I would do like slow box breathing
to kind of slow everything down,
and to get my body into that relaxed parasympathetic mode
which is like the rest and digest.
It's a big shame
that our body doesn't come with an instruction manual.
But, if it did,
I feel like breathing/respiration would be there 100%.
My husband, Ben, he is like the breathwork king.
Every morning, he does breathwork.
I am definitely more of like a group class gal.
If there is like a group work thing, like I'm there.
I love when someone can just like instruct me to do things,
but I'm trying to get more in the habit of doing it myself.
Most of the things that I'm washing is just pajamas,
underwear, and socks, and workout stuff.
Yeah, that's pretty much it.
So, this is the current state of my closet.
You know, it's not bad, but it's not great.
I think this is probably
a good representation of my mental state right now.
What do you currently use for birth control?
Are you on the pill, do you have the IUD,
do you have the implant?
Let me know.
Right now, I am just tracking my menstrual cycle every day
with my temperature, and then this app will tell me
if I'm fertile or if I'm not fertile.
So, I've been doing this pretty consistently
for a couple of months now.
So, it's kinda cool.
So far, it's been working.
I'm not PMSy when I'm on my period,
it's always like the week before my period,
or maybe like a week and 1/2 before my period.
And as I'm learning more about the menstrual cycle,
I'm realizing it affects my mood.
For example, after my period, which is the follicular phase,
this is when I feel the most stable.
I feel grounded, I feel okay.
I feel like this is the time
where I should be probably planning out my whole month
or like the next couple of weeks
because I'm not in a manic state at all.
I feel like I'm very grounded and sensible.
Like, she's probably the best person to manage me
and figure out what my schedule should be.
But, I turn into a different person when I've ovulated.
This is when girl's feeling restless.
Like, I wanna go out, I wanna be seen, I wanna socialize,
everything seems like a good idea.
It's like my body saying like, "Girl, you need to get out.
Let's get pregnant, let's do it again."
But, after like a week of feeling like that,
when I'm towards the end of my luteal phase,
this is when I am so sensitive.
I feel like the world's caving in.
This is where I feel very doubtful
about the work that I'm doing
or the decisions that I'm making.
And yeah, that's usually when I have the PMS.
So, it's really awesome to have this app
that tracks exactly where I'm at in my menstrual cycle.
It just gives you more data
on why I might be feeling a particular way.
I'm also very curious about seed cycling,
which is when you change your diet
or I guess you eat certain things
depending on where you are in your cycle
with different seeds.
I don't know, I wanna read a book about this
so I can get more information on it.
But, it's wild, it's absolutely wild.
Like, the menstrual cycle is so powerful.
Oh my goodness!
(gentle calming music)
(gentle calming music continues)
That took a lot longer than expected, but it's done.
My closet is now organized.
Ta-da!
On the topic of books and reading, these days,
it's just been taking me a little bit longer
to finish a book because my time is limited.
Either way, I did finish one book,
which is called "Man's Search for Meaning,"
by Viktor Frankl.
This is also our book club select, which was incredible.
It's written by a psychologist who was in Auschwitz,
and he was observing how people were reacting
to having their humanity ripped away from them,
their clothes ripped off, their hair shaved off,
covered in lice, randomly getting killed.
And he invented a new type of therapy
by observing why some people survived in this situation.
And the essence of his theory
was that if you have a reason to live, like a purpose,
it could be anything, it can carry you through
whatever hardship that you're going through.
So, he was on this forced work march,
and he was feeling weak so he collapsed.
And a soldier came, and he started to freaking get his rifle
and just hit him, just being like, "Get up, get up, get up!"
And he had seen this soldier kill people by not getting up.
And so, there was a part of his mind that was like,
"Well, I'm gonna die anyway, so I guess this is it.
This is the moment that I'm gonna die."
But then, he imagined himself on a stage,
giving a speech about this very experience,
and how it was transforming everyone in the room
in a positive light.
And that's what got him to get up.
And it gave him the strength
to just continue on this work march.
And then, he ended up being
a really famous psychologist and philosopher,
talking about this very experience.
So, that was such a trip.
I think this is one of the most profound books
I've ever read.
- [Codi] We met Ash through a mutual friend.
- [Ben] Oh, nice.
- [Codi] At this...
- Our friend, Codi,
is going to do a little sound session for us.
- Mmm, so excited.
It's our first sound bath together, isn't it?
- Yeah, I've actually done one sound bath,
but it was a Zoom sound bath, so.
- It's not the same.
- Oh my gosh, I'm so happy that you've never-
- I know, this is my first in person one.
- So, we'll just start
with a couple rounds of grounding breath
to get us in our bodies.
So, I'll have you bring your awareness
down into the base of your feet.
And then, we'll take a deep, grounding, nurturing breath in
from the base of the feet
all the way to the crown of the head.
(inhaling gently)
and we'll hold the breath at the top,
softening all of the muscles in the body.
Audible exhale.
(exhaling loudly)
And just landing in an open state of receptivity.
And I'll see you on the other side of the sound journey.
(healing chiming ascending)
(chiming echoing gently)