- The importance of real rest and fully disconnecting to truly experience it
- Both of our experiences in managing work, life, stress, and taking vacations
- Shifts we have noticed in the work culture around taking breaks, vacations, and managing childcare
- Reflecting on the positive impact this time away had on each of us
Capture Your Confidence
Confidence to Step Away (How We Took a 2 Week Vacation and Didn’t Die)
Imagine our surprise when both of us managed to take a vacation at the same time, without even planning it. Yes, it happened! We both just came back from a refreshing two-week vacation and learned the power of truly unplugging — no laptops, no emails, just pure rest. And guess what? We came back more energized and effective than ever. Remember, taking time off isn't just a luxury; it's essential for your well-being and productivity. Tune in for fresh insights into how taking a purposeful break can elevate your impact and confidence. Today we cover:
[MUSIC PLAYING] Women in the 21st century are facing a crisis, a confidence crisis. Recent studies have shown that women's confidence actually decreases with experience. And 67% of women say they need more support in being confident. We're committed to changing this, one conversation at a time. Because when women show up to their lives with confidence, everything is better. Organizations run more smoothly. Families experience more harmony. More things get done. And this isn't just some you can do at cheerleading session. This is a confidence intervention. We're your hosts, Stephanie Hannah and Whitney Abraham, two successful mothers and entrepreneurs that are here to help you understand what you need to do to capture your confidence. [MUSIC PLAYING] She's back. The 30 annual State of Women Conference will be held on October 10. And it's the conference for ambitious women looking to dial up their impact, scale back their stress, and create the connections that will fuel their next bold move. The State of Women Conference is an all-day personal and professional development program with a focus and confidence to equip and elevate women who are called for more. This is for you if you know the value of getting in the room with like-minded women for a day of growth and connection. If you're interested in sponsorship, you can email Whitney at WhitneyAbraham.com. And if you'd like to join us live, you can visit the link in the show notes to purchase your ticket. Welcome back to The Capture Your Confidence podcast. We are coming to you, friends, fresh off a two-week vacation. Both of us. Yes, at the same time. In what world, right? And we didn't even try on a line of vacations. No, it just happened. I did a little mini vacation, but really, I did take time off, both from my full-time lawyer job and also from business stuff for two full weeks. And I took a one-week vacation. And subsequently, I had the kids off of camp for two weeks. So the second week was kind of a minimalist business week. And on my trip, I didn't even take my laptop. What? Yeah, which was wild for me because I've literally never taken a trip, even a vacation where I didn't basically work while I was there, or at the very least, like work an hour a day or keep my call schedule. I literally moved calls, didn't take a laptop, didn't plan for content. Not only did I not plan, I plan ahead for my clients, but I didn't even put out content on my own while I was out. Like, I mean, your girl took a break. Yeah, and we're back. We're here to tell you we're alive still. How did it feel for you? It took me what I've been running my own business out for eight and a half years. This is the first time that I felt ready to do it so much, though, that I remember on our 10-year anniversary, which was three years ago, I wanted to take a vacation. I remember this. I was nuts. So I wanted to take a vacation, and I kept telling myself that I was going to, but I actually made myself physically ill because I was so anxious and stressed out about being away and being disconnected from work that I'm not lying to you. I was throwing up. I was so nauseous about being disconnected. So to go from that to leaving my laptop at home, really leaning in, being joyful about it, and feeling good, if that's not the testament to therapy, I don't know what is. Yes, I mean, talk about some self-growth. And you, even leading up to it, I mean, I felt like, obviously, we planned podcast episodes, and you were planning things in your other businesses, but it wasn't taking over in the months leading up. It was like, this is a thing that's here. It's just like, the holidays. Just some time, plan time off. And we're just working around it like we do other things. I remember whenever I was working for other companies, and I would take vacation, and I would just do what I could up until that point. And then I was like, well, I'm out of the office, and I'll get back to it when I get back to it. And when I own my own business, for some reason, that strategy went absolutely out the window, and I was like, well, it has to appear that I've never, that I didn't miss a beat, and that everything has to happen. I don't know why I believed the narrative that I wasn't allowed to take a vacation, or allowed time off from my business, but even like it didn't take holidays. Like there would be national holidays, but I would still work on them. Like what is this martyrdom of, I don't know, it's so weird. But anyway, here we are eight and a half years later, three solid years of therapy, and we can take a real vacation now, team. - Yeah, I mean, and live to tell about it, and also come back feeling good. - Right, this is the way it's supposed to be. You're supposed to rest. Literally, I can't tell you how many DMs of people being like, you look where fresh. I had the laugh because I'm like, what do I look like? Wow, I must have been haggard, I don't know. - Yeah, but you know, I mean, and I think the, not just kind of the balls to take the vacation, but the permission to give yourself the fact that you can create an environment where the whole thing is okay. There's no negative around it. - What's the culture of taking vacations when it comes to like your industry in terms of the courthouse and like lawyers, I think especially too, like what's the culture around that? - Yeah, so I would say legal field is definitely different than government legal. I think there is a lot of this. I have to bill certain amount of hours. That's the expectation. I will say I do think organizations try to be better because they don't want people to leave them 'cause they need people to do the work. I have noticed at the courthouse filings definitely have been down in terms of motions and different things that we have to deal with in June and especially July and probably some of August. Some very refreshing thing that I have been hearing as we have been scheduling cases for August is people will just flat out say, I don't have childcare those two weeks. So can we reschedule this for September? - I love that we're there, right? I love that that's not a thing that we have to hide or pretend like we're not trying to juggle. - And every single time that request comes through, the answer is yes. I have never heard an opposing lawyer or the court or anyone say, no, that's not possible. - That's freaking awesome. Yeah, I mean, I just, I think back to all those years where when you took a vacation and was like, ah, I'm out of the office and you literally like set your out of office and you like slang your laptop shut and you walk up and you're like, I'm blowing this popsicle stand. Like I don't understand why I wasn't able to adopt at least some moderate level of that energy for vacationing beforehand, but I think we're back. I think we're back to slam the laptop life. - I know and it's funny. So when you say out of office, this is a joke among some friends, lawyer friends and I because it is comical to know people who are taking vacation but then they're out of office lists like 18 ways that you can still reach them. - So it's like not entirely a vacation, like I'm out of office, but if you need something, talk to this person. If they don't know it, you can talk to this person. Okay, here are my cell number, yup, my cell number. This is where I'll be staying, call me if it's an emergency. - And the thing about our industry, like there is no emergencies, right? There's perceived emergencies. There's like actually not real emergencies. We're not like fire police, like physicians, like an emergency room. - It's gonna be okay. - Yeah. - So that is kind of a funny thing, but I will say I have gotten a couple out of offices where people say, I'm on vacation. I'm not checking this email, talk to you in a week. - I love that, short to the point. It's the equivalent of the sentence, no, right? - Yes, no is a complete sentence, right? I'm out of the office is a complete sentence. - Okay, so what do you notice about the way that you feel coming back to work after having taken a two-week break? - I appreciate certain things about it, right? Especially when you're two weeks off with your kids full-time. I always, I remember my mom looking forward to Mondays and going to work is easier than being with you on the weekends, and now I get it. I think that you come back, to be honest, I know that I'm in a great role because like I wanted to go back to it, they missed it a little bit. And you kind of come back with like a new energy to kind of make it through this next vlog until there's another break. - Yeah, I noticed like how excited I was to get back to talking to my clients. I noticed how I didn't feel the weight of, I thought I was gonna feel the weight of like all the stuff to do, but I didn't. And whether that was a, whether that was a, an outcome of good planning or just like a, it'll get done when it gets done kind of a thing. I'm not really sure what I can attribute that to, but my pants didn't feel on fire. And even though I do feel that I'm drinking from a fire who's a little bit coming back to a lot of stuff done, I feel totally capable and I have the bandwidth and the energy to do it, which is different because every other trip I've ever taken to the past, I felt like, oh God, I'm overwhelmed. I don't know how I'm gonna get back into the driver's seat. - Yes, and I think both either on the front end or the back end of a vacation, there it can sometimes be that feeling of, is this even worth it, right? I used to feel that a lot. And I think all of the stuff that we talk about in terms of saying no and pulling back and cutting back and doing what's in alignment with your values and only staying true there, it makes it easier to take time off because you're not juggling all of this not important, all this unimportant stuff on the side, you're able to truly take a vacation and not feel the pains of, is this worth it? Because there's so much to do on the front end and so much to do when you get back. - Yeah, I mean, my theory is that when I came back from trips beforehand where I was trying to vacation, but I was still showing up in a pretty significant capacity, I just came back even more exhausted, right? Because I was trying to do everything, like soak it up and have fun while also being available days or questions or when you actually take a real break and you do let your brain kind of rest and turn to mush, then you get to actually experience the benefits of rest and you come back with more energy to handle it. - Yeah, who? - Absolutely, right? Look at us, we're just solving all sorts of mysteries here. - Have you heard that real? You haven't, 'cause you don't watch the internet. Have you heard that real where it's like, oh, I wasn't sad, I just needed a holiday and it just shows people on vacation. Yeah, that honey, take a summer break. - Indeed, so hopefully you guys have been able to take a break at some point this summer. - We are gearing up for one of the most exciting fall seasons. We have so many incredible people coming on the podcast. We have our conference and so many fun things that are happening in the fall and we wanted to be able to start that season with the energy required to do it to the best of our ability. - Yes, so hopefully you are able to find the joy of rest and then come back even stronger. It was hard to you guys soon, bye. - Thank you for listening to the Capture Your Confidence podcast. If you've loved it, do the thing you do. Share it with a girlfriend, subscribe, rate, leave a review if you would be willing to do that. We are so happy to be able to support you on your journey to confidence and we will not stop until every single woman that we come in contact with knows her own power and she walks firmly in it. 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