Bonus Solo Episode: 2024 Check-In With Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman

In this episode, let’s check in on those 2024 goals in a truly non-stressful way. You got this.

Summary

In the episode of "On the Outside," host Taylor Rae discusses the importance of mental wellbeing and goal setting for 2024, also acknowledging the stresses related to the start of a new year under societal pressures. She recommends self-reflection and shares her own self-care strategies. She outlines a four-point reflection plan, which comprises identifying a daily habit, and mapping out short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals. She gives personal examples for each category: physical activity as a daily habit, completing her podcast's first season as a short-term goal, starting a family as a mid-term goal, and becoming a recognized advocate for inclusivity as a long-term goal. Taylor emphasizes the concept of continuous self-improvement over the need for being 'fixed'.

Transcription

Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman

Hello. Hello. Welcome back. My name is Taylor Rae and this is another solo episode of “On the Outside”. This episode is coming at you February and we're doing a little 2024 check in. But honestly, whenever you're listening to this episode, I feel like this is just a great moment to pause, to reflect, to take a step back, to take a little breather to say, OK, self, how am I doing out here?

Step one. I want you to tell you wherever you're at whatever moment you're in, you're doing great. And honestly, I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you because you are taking this moment either on your commute while you're cooking dinner, while you're just relaxing, while you're cleaning the house, while you're just laying on the couch, you're taking this moment to hang out with your BFF and that's me.

So I'm proud of you for taking this pause in your day. Going into a new year can always be really stressful. And that's for so many reasons. One capitalism, it's coming for us every single time in January. There's something to buy, there's something to change. There's something to do. There's a way to be different. There's a new planner, there's a new app, a new organizer, a new workout plan, a new diet.

There's new research in a way that you should eat different. There's a new greens powder, a new drink. There's new supplements. You should go for walks every day, incline, walk, outdoor walk, see sunlight, don't see sunlight, blue light, no, blue light, blue light, red light therapy. There's so, there's so many things and it's a lot.

But I just want to tell you that we don't even need to do half of those things. Really. This episode is just as much for you as it is for me, girl. And you know, when I say girl, I mean it as a gender neutral term because I call my husband girl and he is a cisgender, heterosexual man.

But girls for everyone, we're all girls in my book.

There are a few points that I want to touch on today that are really simple that helped me with my goal setting. Next week, I have an episode that I think I'm gonna title how I Hold it all together or something like that, that I'm gonna do a little bit more of a specific deep dive into how I manage doing so many different things in my day to day life.

This is less about those granular specific time managing, organizing habits and routines and more just about big picture checking in with ourselves, something that we can do at any time throughout the year. And really, there's just four points I want you to consider. One is a daily habit, just one. And ideally something that we can stack on top of another habit.

Two is a short term goal, three is a midterm goal and four is a long term goal, those four points. And I'm gonna use myself as an example on how I just use these little benchmarks to check in with myself because there can be such an overwhelming amount of things that we put on our plate around goals and habits, but doing something like this, that's really simple. Kind of allows us a moment to really hone in on what is most important.

So for me, my habit is movement every day. I am planning on continuing to have it stack that on to after my morning routine. I immediately move my body my morning routine as of now, it's had so many different iterations is really simple. Again, I'm gonna go more into those granular details in next week's episode, but I'm habit stacking. I finish my morning routine. I move my body.

It's either go straight downstairs to the gym in my building or it's throw my yoga mat down and do whatever kind of movement I can do at home or it's walk out the door and go for an outdoor walk. Whatever the options are endless.

I could take a class with a friend, I could, whatever. But I'm trying to incorporate that habit into my everyday life. So it's not a five day a week workout routine though. I have that. It's not my two day a week boxing routine with my trainer though. I have that. It's really just moving my body every day.

So even on a rest day, it can be a long walk with Rollie.

Right. It could be a walk with my husband. It can be listening to my favorite podcast and going outside. It can be facetime doing chair yoga with my mom, my mom's loving chair yoga and I love that for her. It's really less about the rigidity of my physique and my physical strength building and all of those things and more just about moving my body every day. That's a habit I really want to implement.

So what is a habit that you're thinking of? Maybe something that you set for your 2024 goals? Maybe you're not about New Year, new goals, which I love for you. But I think there's always a habit that could be nice to incorporate into our day to day. So that's 0.1. Take a moment, sit with it. Think about it. Love that for you. 0.2 we're going for a short term goal for me.

It is simple. My short term goal is to make it through season one of this podcast, honey. It is to release all 35 episodes.

Can you imagine going into your first, your first season of a podcast and saying it's gonna be 35 episodes.

That's me. That's what I decided. That's what I'm doing here. I am. That's my short term goal. I'm keeping it simple. That's what's right in front of me. And I know that that's what's the most important thing to me right now.

I'm in grad school. I have a family. I have so many things.

I have financial goals. But you know what?

That's my short term goal because that's the most important thing.

That's right in front of my face.

What's my midterm goal?

Honestly, my midterm goal is to start a family. That's something that is on my mind and on my heart that me and my husband are really excited for. And I've wanted to be a mom since my first niece was born when I was 14. I was like, wow, being a mom is going to be amazing and I have an incredible mom. She's the light of my life. She's my best friend and I am really, really, really, really excited about that chapter in my life.

So that's my midterm goal, not coming around just yet, but on the horizon, hopefully, God willing and you know, everything, everything will work out the way it's meant to. That's my midterm goal. My long term goal. I mean, honestly, like save the world, my, my, my long term goal that for me is the one that always really trips me up. But my long term goal is really to become an expert in having and facilitating conversations around inclusivity and amplifying marginalized voices.

Like I want to have a TED talk, I want to speak to large groups of people. I want to speak around the world. I want to speak at universities. I want to continue this podcast and build it and grow it and help people feel seen and navigate tough conversations. And that's my long term goal. That's really the biggest hope that I have for my career, which is also so much a part of my just regular life.

It's, it's my job and my passion is all wrapped into one and it's really just so at the center of who I am. So I, I think that's what I'm choosing for my long term goal goal today. How about you? How your 2024 going so far? We're a month in. I know there can be so much pressure I listed just rattling off all of the things, all of the fix yourself, things that I've seen being promoted to me. Remember, you are not something that needs to be fixed.

You are always getting better as long as you want to, you are always growing as long as you want to and the best is yet to come. I really try and believe that in my own life and I'm really believing that for you. Let's keep manifesting the best that we can imagine for ourselves. That's my plan for 2024. I'm so happy that you're here. Thanks for hanging out with me in this solo chat. See you out there.